Working With the Related Discussion Service

This chapter provides an overview of the Related Discussion related content service and discusses how to:

• Manage a discussion forum in the Related Discussion service.

• Participate in a discussion forum in the Related Discussion service.

Understanding the Related Discussion Service

Using the Related Discussion related content service, you can collaborate to share critical data about a transaction or a transaction instance. Similar to standalone forums in Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal, forums in the Related Discussion service also provide a platform that groups can use to discuss topics of interest. Participants can post discussion topics, such as issues, suggestions, or questions, and receive replies and feedback. Discussion forums enable multiple relevant individuals to contribute to the review and resolution of a question.

For example, on a purchase requisition process page, you can discuss all vendors or a specific vendor. In this example, the vendor name or ID could serve as the context of the discussion, meaning that as the you navigate to other POs raised to that vendor, all the discussions pertinent to the vendor can be discovered through a search. The discussion postings can also be discovered through search whenever you choose to create a new requisition for this specific vendor. In this example, the information helps buyers benefit from the collective intelligence gathered on this vendor—in the context of the business process—when and where they need it the most.

Managing Discussion Forums in the Related Discussion Service

This section provides an overview of how a discussion forum is created in the Related Discussion and discusses how to:

• Manage a discussion forum.

• Assign discussion forum participants and privileges.

• Create a discussion forum policy statement.

• Manage linked posts.

Understanding the Creation of Discussion Forums in the Related Discussion Service

Depending on the security model, discussion forums in the Related Discussion service are created in different manners with different moderators:

• Related content security — The first user to access the transaction after the service has been assigned creates the forum by default and becomes the forum moderator. In addition, the PAPP_DISCUSSIONS_ADMIN role is added as a forum moderator, and the PAPP_DISCUSSIONS_CONTRIBUTOR role is added as a forum contributor.

  After the default user and roles are created, the forum moderator is responsible for adding additional members and privileges for access to the forum.

• Transaction security — The first user to access the transaction after the service has been assigned creates the forum by default and becomes the forum moderator. In addition, the PAPP_DISCUSSIONS_ADMIN role is added as a forum moderator, and the PAPP_DISCUSSIONS_CONTRIBUTOR role is added as a forum contributor.

  If the PeopleToolsTransactionSecurity application class is used to provide the transaction security via the user-role-permission list model, then no additional members need to be added to the forum. All other users who have been granted access to the component via a permission list get access to the discussion forum as a contributor.

Pages Used to Manage Discussion Forums

Managing a Discussion Forum

Access the Manage Forum page (on the Forum Privileges page, select the Manage Forum page).

Use the Manage Forum page to view the properties for a Related Discussion service discussion forum. You cannot change properties once a forum has been created.

Assigning Discussion Forum Participants and Privileges

Access the Forum Privileges page (in the Related Discussion service, select Forum Actions, Manage Forum).

Use the Forum Privileges page to ssign discussion forum participants for the Related Discussion service by user or role. When the forum is created, three members are added automatically:

• PAPP_DISCUSSIONS_ADMIN as a moderator by role.

• PAPP_DISCUSSIONS_CONTRIBUTOR as a contributor by role.

• The user who first accessed the forum as a moderator by user ID.

Creating a Discussion Forum Policy Statement

Access the Forum Policy page (select Forum Policy on the Forum Privileges page).

Use the rich text editor to enter any policies that apply to the discussion forum.

See Also

About the Rich Text Editor

Managing Linked Posts

Access the Manage Linked Posts page (in the Related Discussion service, select Linked Posts, Manage Linked Posts).

Use the Manage Linked Posts page to access or delete linked posts.

Participating in Discussion Forums in the Related Discussion Service

This section discusses participating in discussion forums in the Related Discussion service and how to:

• Access discussion forums.

• Add or edit a discussion post.

• View a discussion post.

• Delete a post.

• Send email notifications to forum participants.

• Use tags in a discussion forum.

• Search in the Related Discussion service.

• Link posts from another discussion forum.

Pages Used to Participate in Discussion Forums

Accessing Discussion Forums

To access a discussion forum in the Related Discussion service, do one of the following:

• On the transaction page, select Related Information. Then, select Related Discussion.

• In the related content frame, select the Related Discussion tab.

Use the discussion forum homepage to participate in the forum.

Note. Certain functions are available on this page only if you have been granted contributor or moderator privilege for this forum.

Adding or Editing a Discussion Post

Access the Create New Topic page (click the Forum Actions menu in the Related Discussion service; click the Add Topic link).

Access the Add a Reply page (click the Reply link on the post details page).

Access the Discussion page (click the Edit link on the post details page).

Use the Create New Topic page to add a new discussion topic to a discussion forum.

Use the Add a Reply page to add a reply to any discussion post (topic or reply). The Add a Reply page has the same fields as the Create New Topic page.

Use the Discussion page to edit a discussion post (topic or reply). The Discussion page has the same fields as the Create New Topic page.

Viewing a Discussion Post

Access the post details page (click the link for a post on the discussion forum homepage or in the post details page).

Use the post details page to view the details for a discussion post (topic or reply).

Deleting a Post

To delete a post from a discussion forum:

1. Go to the post details page for the post that you want to delete.

   Note. If the post includes a reply, only the forum moderator can delete the post (and any associated replies). The contributor who added the original post will be unable to delete it.

2. Click the Delete link.

3. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete that post and any associated replies.

Sending Email Notifications to Forum Participants

Access the Notify Members page (click the Notify link on the post details page).

Use the Notify Members page to compose and send an email message to discussion forum participants. The To field is automatically populated with addresses for all members of the discussion forum who have defined an email address in their system profile.

Note. The email will contain a link to the discussion forum. Only members of the discussion forum will be able to access the forum through the link.

Using Tags in a Discussion Forum

In a discussion forum, tags can be added and managed in the Tags section at two levels:

• At the forum level on the discussion forum homepage.

• At the topic level on the post details page.

In addition, the Tags section on the discussion forum homepage includes a tag cloud showing all tags (forum level and topic level) added to this discussion forum. The following example shows the Tags section from a discussion forum homepage:

In this example, user profile is a tag at the forum level. password, user ID, and general tab were added as tags at the topic level.

Creating, managing, and using tags is discussed in this PeopleBook.

See Working With Tags.

Searching in the Related Discussion Service

In the Related Discussion service, you can perform three types of searches:

• Related Forums — Search in all discussion forums in the Related Discussion service.

• Current Forum — Search in this forum only.

• EP Forums — Search in all standalone discussion forums in PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal.

This section discusses how to:

• Search in Enterprise Portal forums.

• Search for contextual information in related forums.

Searching in Enterprise Portal Forums

To search in Enterprise Portal forums:

1. Enter the search text in the Search field in the Related Discussion service.

   Use * as the wildcard character.

2. Select the EP Forums scope.

3. Click the Go button.

   The following shows an example of search text and scope with the cursor over the Go button:

   The Search Results page is displayed. The following shows the results of this example search:

   Use the Search Results page to review search results, to access other posts and forums, and to link to discussion posts.

   Include Summary	Select this option to show summaries in the search results.
   Search Results	Click a link to view that discussion forum and post in the related content frame.
   Link It	Important! Link It links appear for a search type of EP Forums only. Click a Link It link to link the selected post to this discussion forum. Note. A Link It link does not appear for a post that has already been linked to this discussion forum or for the titles of other discussion forums.

Searching for Contextual Information in Related Forums

To search for contextual information, context fields must be mapped when the Related Discussion service is assigned to the transaction instance.

See Mapping Fields for the Related Discussion Service.

To search for contextual information in related forums:

1. Enter the search text in the Search field in the Related Discussion service.

   Use * as the wildcard character.

2. Select the Related Forums scope.

3. Click the Go button.

   The following shows an example of search text and scope with the cursor over the Go button. In this example, the search term is objects, data that does not occur in the discussion topic title or summary, or in the key field for the transaction.

   The Search Results page is displayed. The following shows the results of this example search. The results include summary information that displays the topic title, topic summary, and context data such as the key field and additional context fields. The search term objects occurs in the description field only, which was added as a context field for this transaction.

   Use the Search Results page to review search results, to access other posts and forums, and to link to discussion posts.

   Include Summary	Select this option to show summaries in the search results.
   Search Results	Click a link to view that discussion forum and post in the related content frame.

Linking Posts from Another Discussion Forum

To link to a post from an Enterprise Portal discussion forum:

1. Access the Search Results page by performing a search in the Related Discussion service.

   Note. Select a search scope of EP Forums to access posts that can be linked in the Related Discussion service.

2. Click a Link It link to link the selected post to this discussion forum.

See Also

Searching in Enterprise Portal Forums

Viewing the Forum Policy Statement

Access the Forum Policy page (click the Forum Policy link on the discussion forum homepage). Use the Forum Policy page to review the policy statement for the discussion forum.