Understanding Collaborative Workspaces
This chapter introduces collaborative workspaces and provides an overview of:
Workspace homepage
Workspace menu
Workspace modules
Understanding Collaborative Workspaces
In Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal, a collaborative workspace is a virtual team room. You can create a workspace to facilitate the completion of any project that requires a team to work collaboratively to accomplish its goals, even if team members are in disparate locations.
Some collaborative projects focus on temporary issues that require short, intense collaborative sessions, such as closing a sales deal or an open problem incident. Other projects may be ongoing, such as coordinating the work for a department.
Workspaces can be created to manage many different collaboration scenarios. Some examples include:
Supplier relationships — Managing the ongoing relationship with a supplier with contextual links to one or more transactions related to that supplier.
Customer relationships — Managing the an ongoing relationship with a customer with contextual links to one or more transactions related to that customer.
Period closing processes — Managing the process to close an accounting period such as end of month, end of quarter, or end of fiscal year.
Sales opportunities — Managing a specific sales opportunity from prospect identification through deal close.
Proposal development — Managing the process of developing and delivering a proposal.
Problem resolution — Managing a specific problem incident.
Department management — Managing the information and processes for a particular department.
Understanding the Workspace Homepage
The workspace administrator can configure the workspace homepage to display pagelets relevant to the content of the workspace, including pagelets associated with each workspace module. The workspace homepage displays the modules selected for the workspace in the menu on the left and pagelets selected for the workspace homepage in selected columns as shown in the following example:
Understanding the Workspace Menu
The workspace menu displays the modules selected for use in that workspace in the Menu pagelet as shown in the following example:
Understanding Workspace Modules
The workspace administrator configures which modules are active in a workspace simply by selecting check boxes on the module administration page as shown in the following example:
The modules available in a workspace include:
Welcome module.
When the Welcome module is selected for a workspace, then the Welcome pagelet displays the welcome text on the workspace home page.
Wiki Content module.
Use the Wiki Content module to collaboratively author wiki content for the workspace. The Wiki Content module provides features such as version control and multi-language support that allow continuous and collaborative refinement of the content. The rich text editor is used to edit the wiki content, which also displays in the Wiki Content pagelet.
Discussions module.
Use the Discussions module to participate in discussions relevant to the workspace. The Discussions module enables workspace members to post discussion topics and replies, and provides the complete history of interaction on a topic. Members can also monitor recent discussion postings using the Recent Discussions pagelet that displays on the workspace homepage.
Documents module.
Use the Documents module to publish, optionally approve, and view shared documents relevant to a workspace. Members can monitor recent document postings using the Recent Documents pagelet that displays on the workspace homepage.
Blogs module.
Use the Blogs module to participate in the blog for the workspace. The Blogs module enables workspace members to create news and multithreaded commentary on topics relevant to the workspace. Members can also monitor recent blog postings using the Blogs pagelet that displays on the workspace homepage.
Links module.
Use the Links module to create a collection of links relevant to the workspace. This collection displays in the Links pagelet that displays on the workspace homepage.
Action Item Lists module.
Use the Action Item Lists module to maintain action item lists and action items defining responsibilities for individual workspace members. Members can also monitor current action items using the Open Action Items pagelet that displays on the workspace homepage.
Calendar module.
Use the Calendar module to maintain the workspace calendar and events to coordinate the activities of the workspace team. Members can also monitor current events using the Upcoming Events and Calendar pagelets that display on the workspace homepage. Moreover, the Calendar pagelet can simultaneously display events from multiple calendars available from all portals, sites, and workspaces.
Members module.
Use the Members module to get information about and communicate with workspace members. The Members module provides access to member profiles, as well as links to initiate email and instant messaging with members. The Members module is required in all workspaces.
Related Data module.
Use the Related Data module to access a collection of pagelets relevant to the workspace. This collection of pagelets is compiled by the workspace administrator.
Polls module.
Use the Polls module to create questions for the workspace poll. Members can respond to the poll and monitor poll results using the Poll pagelet that displays on the workspace homepage.
Browse Workspaces module.
Use the Browse Workspaces module to browse the workspace hierarchy or search to find other workspaces. You can create new workspaces or child workspaces in this module.
Administration module.
The workspace administrator can use the Administration module to define workspace properties, manage workspace membership and security, select workspace modules, define contextual data relationships, and further customize the workspace. The Administration module is required in all workspaces.