Novell Teaming 2.1

February 19, 2010

When you begin to use Novell® Teaming, the first thing you might want to do is set up your personal workspace and create a team workspace. This section explains how to get started with Teaming by accomplishing these important tasks.

1.0 Starting Novell Teaming

  1. Launch a Web browser (such as Mozilla* Firefox* or Internet Explorer*).

  2. Specify the URL of your corporation’s Teaming site.

    Login Screen
  3. In the User Id field, specify your Teaming username.

  4. In the Password field, specify your Teaming password.

    If you do not know your Teaming username and password, contact your Teaming administrator.

  5. Click OK.

2.0 Getting to Know the Novell Teaming Interface and Its Features

When you first launch Novell Teaming, you see your personal workspace, which includes the following toolbars and features:

Figure 1 Teaming Interface

Teaming Interface

2.1 Understanding the Navigation Toolbar

The Navigation toolbar contains the following features:

Search: Enables you to search for entries, places, or people. Search functionality is helpful if you are looking for a subject-matter expert, or if you want to see what information is available concerning a particular topic.

Find: Enables you to locate people, places, and tags that you know exist on the Teaming site.

My Workspace: Click the My Workspace link to return to your personal workspace.

Favorites: Click the Favorites drop-down list to add a place as a favorite, or to quickly visit your favorite places on the Teaming site.

My Teams: The My Teams drop-down list enables you to quickly navigate to all of the team workspaces where you are a member.

2.2 Understanding the Main Sidebar

The main sidebar contains the following features:

Micro-Blog: Enables you to capture quick thoughts and to inform others of what you are currently working on.

Track This Person/Track This Workspace/Track This Folder: Enables you to track the person, workspace, or folder that you are currently viewing.

Share This Workspace/Share This Folder: Enables you to share the workspace or folder with another Teaming user.

Recent Places: Displays the places that you have most recently visited.

Workspace: Displays the workspace that you are currently viewing, and all of the sub-workspaces and sub-folders.

Folder Options: Enables you to change the folder view and some other folder-specific options.

Team: Enables you to view team members, manage the team, and send them e-mail messages.

Tag This Workspace/Tag This Folder: Enables you to create a personal or community tag on the workspace or folder that you are currently viewing.

Personal Preferences: Enables you to change various personal preferences, such as the way entries are displayed, the default document editor, and more.

Send E-Mail: Enables you to send an e-mail message from Teaming. By default, the message has a link to the page that you are currently viewing.

Clipboard: Enables you to add people to the clipboard, so that you can have quick access to their names when necessary.

Trash: Displays all deleted items in the current workspace or folder that have not yet been purged. You can restore or purge deleted items.

2.3 Understanding the Workspace Toolbar

The Workspace toolbar and the Folder toolbar occupy the same space in the Teaming interface. The Workspace toolbar is displayed when you are in a workspace, and the Folder toolbar is displayed when you are in an individual folder of that workspace.

The Workspace toolbar contains the following features:

What’s Unread: Displays all of the entries contained in the workspace that you have not yet read.

What’s New: Displays all of the entries contained in the workspace that are new.

Manage: Provides various functions that enable you to manage the workspace, including adding new folders, managing access control, configuring the workspace, and more.

Who Has Access: Displays who has rights to access the workspace.

Modify Profile: Enables you to modify your personal profile information, such as your e-mail address, phone number, and picture.

For more information, see Modifying Your Profile.

2.4 Understanding the Folder Toolbar

The Workspace toolbar and the Folder toolbar occupy the same space in the Teaming interface. The Workspace toolbar is displayed when you are in a workspace, and the Folder toolbar is displayed when you are in an individual folder of that workspace.

The Folder toolbar contains the following features:

What’s Unread: Displays all of the entries contained in the folder that you have not yet read.

What’s New: Displays all of the entries contained in the folder that are new.

Manage: Provides various functions that enable you to manage the folder, including adding new folders, managing access control, configuring the folder, and more.

Who Has Access: Displays who has rights to access the folder.

E-Mail Notification: Enables you to subscribe to the folder. When you subscribe to a folder, Teaming notifies you via e-mail of the activity that takes place in the folder.

2.5 Understanding the Relevance Tabs in the Home Page of Your Personal Workspace

The home page of your personal workspace contains various tabs that are designed to help facilitate your work. Use these tabs as a central location where you can quickly get informed on new entries, upcoming tasks, your daily meetings, and more.

Overview: Contains an Accessory Panel that lists entries from your Guestbook, Blog, and Photo Album folders.

What’s New (Teams, Tracked Places, Site): Enables you to quickly see new entries in your teams, tracked places, or across the entire site.

Tasks and Calendars: Enables you to view tasks that are assigned to you, as well as today’s events from your tracked calendars.

Recent Entries: Enables you to view entries that you have recently posted, and entries that you have recently visited.

Micro-Blogs and Shared Items: Enables you to view the micro-blog entries of the people you are tracking, as well as items that people have shared with you.

Profile: Displays your personal profile information. Click Modify Profile in the Workspace toolbar to change and add information.

3.0 Setting Up Your Personal Workspace

Before you take advantage of all of the features and functionality of Novell Teaming, you might want to customize your personal workspace.

3.1 Modifying Your Profile

You might need to manually update your profile in order for important contact information to be seen, such as your e-mail address, phone number, time zone, and picture.

NOTE:If you are unable to modify your personal information (such as your Teaming password) as described in this section, it is most likely because your personal information is being synchronized from an external directory server. You must consult your Teaming administrator to make any changes.

  1. In the home page of your personal workspace, click the Profile tab.

    If you are a new user, your profile does not currently contain much information.

  2. Click Modify Profile in the Workspace toolbar.

    The User page is launched.

  3. Change your password, e-mail address, phone number, time zone, language of the interface, upload a picture, and more.

  4. When you are finished modifying your profile, click OK.

3.2 Presenting Your Professional Credentials

One advantage of Teaming is the ability to find experts on any particular subject within your organization. You, as a Teaming user, have the ability to be a subject-matter expert. If you want people to know what skills and past experience you have, you can post that information in a Blog entry in your personal workspace.

  1. Select the Blog folder in your personal workspace.

  2. Click Add Blog Entry.

    The Blog Entry page is displayed.

  3. Specify the following information:

    Title: Provide a title for the blog entry, such as My Skills and Experience.

    Description: You can paste pertinent sections of your resume, or you can simply type the information directly into the field.

    Attachments: You can attach your entire resume, or any other files that you think might help other users understand your professional strengths.

  4. Click OK.

    You have now created a blog entry to inform other Teaming users about your skills and professional experience.

4.0 Creating a Team Workspace

By default, everyone in Novell Teaming has rights to create a team workspace.

Team workspaces are the most common type of workspaces. They facilitate team objectives by enabling team members to quickly share files, share ideas, and work together more efficiently and effectively.

To create a team workspace:

  1. Expand Home Workspace in the Workspace tree, located near the top of the Teaming interface.

    The Home Workspace directory is the highest-level folder in the workspace tree, and might be named something specific to your organization.

  2. Click Team Workspaces.

  3. Click Add a team workspace.

    The Add a Team Workspace page is displayed.

    If you do not see this option, your site administrator has not permitted you to create a new workspace at this level. Continue to expand the workspace tree, following the path of your organizational unit, then click the name of the directory where you want to create the new team workspace.

  4. Specify the following information:

    Title: Provide a title for the workspace.

    Team Members: Specify the team members.

    You can specify individual users, entire groups, or add names that are on your clipboard.

    Workspace Folders: Select the folders that you want the workspace to contain.

    If you later decide that you want to add additional folders, you can add them at any time.

    Announcement: (Optional) Select the check box, then type a message in the Announcement Text field.

    This message informs team members about the existence of the workspace, and can also explain the value of the workspace.

  5. Click OK to create the new workspace.

5.0 Using Novell Teaming Folders

Novell Teaming includes multiple types of folders that enable you to organize the various kinds of information in your workspaces.

5.1 Discussion

Use discussions as a way of obtaining comments and feedback to questions and thoughts that you might have. You can start general discussion threads in the Discussion folder in your personal workspace. For discussion threads that are more specific to a project and team, start the discussion thread in the Discussion folder of an appropriate team workspace.

5.2 Blog

Blogs are a good way to express your thoughts about topics that are important to you. For example, if you are working on a project and are responsible for a certain aspect of that project, you can update your team on your individual progress by posting a blog in the Blog folder in the team workspace. Also, you can use the Blog folder in your personal workspace to post your professional credentials and skills.

5.3 Calendar

Teaming enables you to create a Calendar folder in any workspace that you desire. You can maintain a personal calendar in your personal workspace, and then add separate calendars in your team workspaces to keep track of events that are specific to that team.

5.4 Guestbook

The Guestbook folder in Teaming is a place to store all of your guestbook entries. By default, users can sign your Guestbook by clicking the Overview tab on the home page of your personal workspace. This is a quick way for your friends and co-workers to communicate with you.

5.5 File

File folders in Teaming make it easy to store and keep track of your files. You can store personal files in the File folder in your personal workspace, and team-related files in your individual team folders. This makes it easy to share files with your teammates and others who might be interested in viewing them.

5.6 Milestone

Milestone folders track the progress of several task folders. Although you can use milestone folders outside of the scope of a project workspace, they are most often used in those workspaces.

5.7 Micro-Blog

The Micro-Blog folder in Teaming is a place to store all of your micro-blog entries. Use the Micro-Blog feature to capture quick personal notes, or to inform others of what you are currently working on. This provides a greater transparency, so those you work with know what you are doing, and how they might offer assistance to help you accomplish your tasks.

You can navigate to someone else’s Micro-Blog folder to see what they have been working on, and possibly provide help by sharing your knowledge and experience.

5.8 Mirrored File

Mirrored File folders reference a file system on an external server, instead of the Teaming file system where other Teaming information is stored. Mirrored File folders can reference any WebDAV or local file path.

5.9 Photo Album

Photo albums store and display pictures. You can store your personal photos in the Photo Album in your personal workspace, and team-related photos in the Photo Album of the team workspace.

5.10 Survey

Survey folders store surveys that you or other Teaming users have created. Surveys enable you to poll team members, or any other Teaming users, about issues that are important to you, your team, or your company.

5.11 Task

Task folders keep track of the progress made in completing work assignments. Teaming enables you to create a Task folder in any workspace that you desire. You can maintain a personal Task folder in your personal workspace, and then add separate Task folders in your team workspaces to keep track of tasks that are specific to that team.

5.12 Wiki

Wiki folders contain wiki entries. A wiki is a set of related entries coauthored by folder participants. For example, the best known wiki on the Internet is Wikipedia*. Other examples of possible wiki content are glossaries, or policies and procedures.

6.0 Using Help Mode

Novell Teaming has a unique way of helping you to learn about product pages and tools.

6.1 Launching Help Mode

  1. Click the Teaming Help icon Teaming Interface, which is located on all workspaces, folders, and entry pages.

    When you click this icon, Teaming enters Help mode.

6.2 Getting Help about a Topic

When you enter Help mode, Teaming dims the page, displays the Help mode control panel, and presents information icons Teaming Interface next to each section of that page for which there is Help information:

  1. Click the information icon over the portion of the page about which you want more information.

    Teaming displays a panel of information about the particular topic.

  2. When you are finished reading the panel, click the Close icon (X) in the upper right corner of the panel to close it.

    or

    Click another information icon to read about another topic.

6.3 Using the Help Mode Control Panel

Teaming enables you to minimize and maximize the Help mode control panel.

Minimizing the Help Mode Control Panel

You might find that you want more room on the page to click information icons. If you choose, you can minimize the Help mode control panel.

  1. Click the Currently displayed (down-arrow) icon.

Maximizing the Help Mode Control Panel

You can display the contents of the control panel after you have minimized it.

  1. Click the Currently hidden (right-arrow) icon.

6.4 Viewing the Manuals

To view manuals from the Help mode control panel:

  1. Click View manuals in the control panel.

  2. Click All Teaming Users for end user documentation, or click Teaming Administrators for administrator documentation.

  3. Click the linked title of the manual that you want to view.

6.5 Exiting Help Mode

  1. Click the Close icon (X) in the Help mode control panel.

    or

    Click any dimmed part of the page.

7.0 Legal Notices:

Copyright © 2009-2010 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, photocopied, stored on a retrieval system, or transmitted without the express written consent of the publisher. For Novell trademarks, see the Novell Trademark and Service Mark list. All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. A trademark symbol (®, TM, etc.) denotes a Novell trademark; an asterisk (*) denotes a third-party trademark.