This chapter provides an overview of Collaboration and the administrative tasks you perform to manage Collaboration projects and objects. It includes the following topics:
Collaboration is part of the BEA AquaLogic User Interaction suite of products. Collaboration integrates directly with the AquaLogic Interaction portal to take advantage of portal functions such as search, user identification and authentication, and group management. Collaboration extends the portal functionality by providing online work spaces that enable users to collaborate on projects.
Some of the features Collaboration provides include:
Document management and library services
Notifications, subscriptions, and alerts
Project and process management
Role-based project security
Task assignment and calendars
Threaded discussions
Overview of Collaboration Components
The following table describes the Collaboration components you must install and configure before you can use the procedures provided in this guide to manage Collaboration projects and objects.
Table 2-1 Summary of Collaboration Components
Component
Description
Collaboration Database
Stores Collaboration data such as calendar, task, discussion, and subscription information. It also stores information about the documents used by Collaboration. The Collaboration database does not store these documents; they are stored in the Document Repository Service.
For information on setting up the Collaboration database, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for BEA AquaLogic Interaction Collaboration.
Collaboration Web Application
Enables end users to access Collaboration projects and their contents via the Collaboration portlets. The Collaboration web application also enables some administrative actions, such as configuring access to projects and their objects.
For information on installing the Collaboration web application, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for BEA AquaLogic Interaction Collaboration.
Image Service Files
Include all necessary images, styles, user interface controls, Java applets, and online help for Collaboration. Install these files on the same machine on which the portal’s Image Service is installed.
For information on installing the Image Service Files, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for BEA AquaLogic Interaction Collaboration.
Groupware Service
Enables integration with the following groupware servers:
Microsoft Exchange
Lotus Domino
When Collaboration is integrated with a groupware server, users can synchronize their Collaboration calendar with a groupware calendar and perform various groupware tasks from within Collaboration.
For information on installing the Groupware Service, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for BEA AquaLogic Interaction Collaboration.
Collaboration is designed to integrate with the AquaLogic Interaction portal. When Collaboration is installed, a number of administrative objects, activity rights, and the Collaboration Administration Utility are created in the portal.
The following table describes the AquaLogic Interaction components that are used by Collaboration.
Table 2-2 Summary of AquaLogic Components
Component
Description
Portal Database
The portal database stores portal objects, such as user and group configurations, document records, and administrative objects. The portal database does not store the documents available through your portal. Source documents are left in their original locations.
For information on setting up the portal database, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for BEA AquaLogic Interaction.
Administrative Portal
The administrative portal handles portal setup, configuration, and content. It enables administrative functions, such as creating and managing portlets and other web services.
For information on installing the Administrative Portal, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for BEA AquaLogic Interaction.
Portal
The portal serves end user portal pages and content. It enables end users to access portal content via My Pages, community pages, the Knowledge Directory, and search. The portal also enables some administrative actions, such as setting preferences on portlets or managing communities..
For information on installing the portal, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for BEA AquaLogic Interaction.
Image Service
The Image Service serves static content used or created by portal components. It serves images and other static content for use by the AquaLogic User Interaction system.
Whenever you extend the base portal deployment to include additional components, such as portal servers or integration products, you may have to install additional Image Service files. For information on installing the Image Service files for those components, refer to the documentation included with the component software.
For information on installing the Image Service, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for AquaLogic Interaction.
BEA ALI Search Service
The Search Service returns content that is indexed in the AquaLogic User Interaction system from the portal, Collaboration, and Publisher. The indexed content includes documents, portlets, communities, and users as well as many other AquaLogic User Interaction objects.
For information on installing the Search Service, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for AquaLogic Interaction.
ALUI Directory Service
The ALUI Directory Service enables AquaLogic Interaction to act as an LDAP server, exposing the user, group, and profile data in portal database through an LDAP interface.This enables other ALUI products (and other third-party applications) to authenticate users against the portal database.
Automation Service
The Automation Service runs jobs and other automated portal tasks. You run jobs to perform tasks such as crawling documents into the Knowledge Directory, synchronizing groups and users with external authentication sources, and maintaining the search collection.
For information on installing the Automation Service, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for AquaLogic Interaction.
Document Repository Service
The Document Repository Service stores content uploaded into the portal, Collaboration, or Publisher.
For information on installing the Document Repository Service, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for AquaLogic Interaction.
API Service
The API Service provides access to the SOAP API.
For information on installing the API Service, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for AquaLogic Interaction.
AquaLogic Notification Service
The AquaLogic Notification Service sends e-mail notifications to users.
The AquaLogic Notification Service is not required for users to employ the Email a Project feature. However, if the AquaLogic Notification Service is not running, the Email a Project feature is less useful. For more information about Email a Project, see Configuring Email a Project.
For information on installing the AquaLogic Notification Service, see the Installation and Upgrade Guide for AquaLogic Interaction.
Overview of Collaboration Security
Collaboration involves managing access to Collaboration functionality as well as managing access to Collaboration projects and their content. This includes:
Activity security, in the form of activity rights. For more information, see Activity Rights.
Project roles, which are used to control access to Collaboration projects. For more information, see Project Roles
Access levels, which are used to control access to functional areas and objects in Collaboration projects. For more information, see Access Levels.
In addition to the security available through Collaboration, you must also secure your hardware and back-end systems (for example, your portal and Collaboration databases) to fully protect your portal. You should follow all security guidance provided in your hardware and software documentation.
Overview of Collaboration Projects
Collaboration lets portal users work together by sharing documents, calendars, discussions, and task lists. These elements are combined together to form a Collaboration project, which is the main unit of Collaboration.
Collaboration lets you create multiple projects that are customized to the needs and goals of individual users. After you have set up a series of projects, users can select the projects they need to accomplish their work. When a user selects a project, Collaboration displays information about that project and makes the project’s functional areas available to the user.
Each Collaboration project has its own set of objects and properties that are not shared with other projects. For example, documents added to Project A belong only to that project. Users in Project B have their own set of documents, and do not see those that belong to Project A. Similarly, each project has its own task lists, discussions, messages, and calendar.
Collaboration objects are defined as the following:
Table 2-3 Types of Collaboration Objects
Collaboration Object
Description
Project
Common work spaces for online collaboration for project teams. Projects are the containers for the other Collaboration objects.
Announcement
A way to convey important information to project members.
Discussion
A virtual forum where project users can hold online conversations. Discussions are comprised of messages.
Document Folder
A container used to organize documents, similar to folders on a file system.
Document
A file of any type that have been uploaded to Collaboration.
Event
An occurrence of importance in a project.
Task List
A set of tasks that define units of work to be completed by an assigned user.
Overview of the Collaboration Browsing User Interface
This section describes the user interface for Collaboration browsing users. It includes the following topics:
Collaboration contains a set of portlets that provide access to projects and the Project Explorer. The following sections describe the two types of portlets.
Community Portlets
These portlets are placed in communities and allow group access to projects, providing access to multiple projects or functional areas within a project:
Table 2-4 Types of Community Portlets
Portlet Name
Description
Community Announcements
Displays important announcements about a project.
Community Calendar
Displays the events, tasks, and milestones of a project.
Community Discussions
Displays a project’s discussions, which facilitate online communication among project users.
Community Documents
Displays documents associated with a project.
Community Projects
Lets users see all of the projects assigned to a community.
Community Tasks
Displays project tasks and task lists.
Project Search
Lets users search the content of text documents and object properties within a project.
User access to projects and functional areas within a project depend on the roles and access levels assigned to each user. For information on access levels, see Access Levels.
My Page Portlets
These portlets can be placed on My Pages by individual users:
Table 2-5 Types of My Page Portlets
Portlet Name
Description
My Announcements
Lets users view project announcements.
My Calendar
Lets users add calendar items from various projects.
My Discussions
Lets users view selected discussions.
My Documents
Displays documents from selected projects.
My Project Search
Lets users search for items in multiple projects.
My Projects
Displays a list of selected projects.
My Tasks
Displays all tasks assigned to a user.
Collaboration Profile Portlet
The Collaboration Profile portlet is added to user profile pages to add Collaboration functionality. It should not be added to community pages or My Pages.
Project Explorer
The Project Explorer lets users view all projects to which they have access in a single window. Based on levels of access, different project functionality is accessible within a universal toolbar. If a user does not have permissions to perform a certain task, that task is unavailable in the toolbar.
The Project Explorer contains the following areas:
Table 2-6 Project Explorer Areas
Project Explorer Area
Description
Toolbar
Provides access to all of the Project Explorer functionality.
Folder Tree Window
Displays the Project Folder hierarchy within Collaboration.
Details Window
Displays information about the selected Project or Project Folder.
List Window
Displays the contents of the selected Project Folder.
Figure 2-1 Project Explorer
The Project Explorer is accessible from either the My Projects portlet or the Community Projects portlet. Users can add the My Projects portlet to their My Page. Community Managers can add the Community Projects portlet to a community.
Application View
The application view displays the functional areas and objects of a single project in one window. Selecting a tab changes the view. Each functional area has specific actions that can be enabled or disabled for a given role by assigning a Collaboration access level.
The application view can contain the following tabbed panes corresponding to the functional areas of a project:
Table 2-7 Types of Application View Tabbed Panes
Application View Tabbled Pane
Description
Overview
Displays a summary of the project, including recent announcements, documents, and discussion messages.
Calendar
Displays project events and tasks.
Tasks
Displays the task lists in the project.
Documents
Displays documents that have been uploaded to the project.
Discussions
Displays the discussions in the project.
The following image displays an example of the application view of a project:
Figure 2-2 Example of a Project’s Application View
Only the functional areas that are included in the project appear in the project’s application view. For more information on setting the functional areas of a project see Selecting the Functional Areas for a Project.
Advanced Collaboration Features
The following advanced features allow Collaboration to be used with the Windows desktop and other common applications:
Table 2-8 Descriptions of Advanced Collaboration Features
Advanced Feature
Description
Groupware Integration
Lets you configure and test a back-end groupware server so users can integrate Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes calendars with Collaboration.
Desktop Integration
Lets users integrate Collaboration with the Windows desktop.
Microsoft Project Import
Lets users import Microsoft Project files into a Collaboration calendar.
Overview of the Collaboration Administrative Objects and Tools
This section describes the administrative objects, activity rights, and tools that are created in the portal when Collaboration is installed. It includes the following topics:
Collaboration uses the following types of administrative objects:
Content Source
Group
Portlet
Property
Remote Server
Web Service
These objects are created when the Collaboration migration package is imported during the installation process and are accessed through the Administration section of the portal. By default, they are created in a folder named Collaboration. If you have upgraded from an earlier version of Collaboration, these objects may be located in a different administrative folder.
For information on each object type, see the Administrator Guide for AquaLogic Interaction.
For information on each individual Collaboration administrative object and how it is used, see the description of each object in the portal.
Collaboration Activity Rights
Collaboration uses activity rights to control access to Collaboration functionality. The Collaboration activity rights are created when the Collaboration migration package is imported during the installation process. Activity rights are accessed and managed through the Activity Manager in the Administration section of the portal. For more information on the Collaboration activity rights and how to assign activity rights to portal users, see Granting Activity Rights to Users.
Collaboration Administration Utility
The Collaboration Administration Utility is used to manage global settings that affect the functionality of Collaboration across all Collaboration projects. The Collaboration Administration Utility is created in the portal during installation and is accessed through the Select Utility drop-down list in the Administration section of the portal. For more information on using the Collaboration Administration Utility, see Working with the Collaboration Administration Utility.
