In this article:
- Introduction
- Create workspace instances and workspaces
- Workspaces web part settings for Modern experience
- Workspaces Module settings
- Overview of templates for the Workspaces module
- Integrate project metadata from the Enterprise Workspaces module with Teams
- Introduction to integration tool
- Installation guide
Introduction
Introduction to Projects
The module can be used for e.g. collaboration on areas of interests, for foras, collaboration with external partners, team sites or for collaborating on and managing projects.
The Projects module allows for the creation of an endless amount of project units. From each project unit, an endless amount of project spaces can be created.
E.g. you might want one project unit for each of your customers. From a project unit for a customer you can, then, create a project space for each of the customer’s projects.
Each project unit is created as a site and will include a page that provides an overview of all project spaces in the unit. From this page, users can find specific spaces by using filtered search.
Users, with permission to do so, can create new project spaces simply by clicking the + icon in top of the overview.
From this overview, users, with the permissions to do so, can view and edit project roles and metadata and delete project spaces, all with a very little effort and just a few mouse clicks.
Web parts can be used to feature each user’s active and favorite project spaces.
Under active project spaces, the active project spaces, the user is a member of, will be displayed.
The project space is where the coordination, planning, and communication around a specific project or area of interest takes place.
Each project space has its own site. These sites are based on either a publishing site with SharePoint’s project features enabled or on Office 365 Groups. On top of this, Enterprise adds a list of web parts to manage metadata, roles, documents, and tasks. The template for a collaboration space, included in the Projects module, comes with all these relevant web parts.
In a project space, the owner of the space can define roles for a project and manage which colleagues that have access to the project space. Members of the project space can manage tasks, share information, and share and work on documents.
Also, Enterprise web parts as Noticeboard news list and the picture slider can be added to the project spaces, that are built on SharePoint sites, to provide communication functionality between members of the site.
Create workspace instances and workspaces
You won’t need a specific site design to create a Workspaces instance in SharePoint’s modern experiences. Instead, this happens in the process of setting up the Workspaces Overview web part on a page.
In the web part settings, you either create a new Workspaces instance or you connect the web part to a Workspaces instance already created. Connecting the web part to an already existing instance, the web part will show workspace data from this instance. Of course, in the initial process of setting up the Workspaces module, no Workspaces instances will be created and you create a new Workspaces instance.
Perform the following actions to create a Workspace instance:
1) Enter the web part settings of the Workspaces Overview web part by clicking the pencil icon.
2) Click “Create a new instance”.
3) In the dialogue, enter:
a) Title
b) URL – leave default value, which is the current site the web part is placed on, or change to a different existing site if you want your workspace instance to be associated with a different site than the default value.
c) Select a sample configuration. Sample configuration defines the default workspace type of the instance.
Community will create the instance with a default workspace type called “Community”. This workspace type is, per default, a classic SharePoint site with the roles “Community Manager”, “Community Team”, and “Guest”. Default metadata is “Description”, “Area”, “Image”, and “Keywords”. All default values can be changed and configured.
Projects will create the instance with a default workspace type called “Workspace”.
This workspace type is, per default, a classic SharePoint site with the roles “Workspace Manager”, Workspace Team”, and “Guest”.
Default metadata is “Phase”, “Description”, “Start”, “End”, “Status”, “Image”, and “Keywords”. All default values can be changed and configured.
None will create a workspace instance with no default workspace types.
After clicking “Create”, the new workspace instance will be created and can be configured in Enterprise Configuration Center.
Per default, the overview web part will show workspaces from the instance you have just created. This can be changed in the web part configuration.
Create a Workspace
Offering web parts and features that enable collaboration and knowledge sharing, a workspace is the actual room where people can collaborate – this may be e.g. on a project in a team or forum.
Workspaces are associated with a specific Workspaces instance and each instance can include an endless number of workspaces.
To create a workspace perform the following steps:
1) Go to the landing page of the Workspaces instance that you want the workspace to be associated with.
2) Here, you will find the ‘Overview web part‘ that provides users with an overview of and tools to manage all workspaces associated with a Workspaces instance.
3) In the top of the web part, press the + Create icon.
4) You will now select the workspace type of your new workspace. These workspace types are defined by the Enterprise intranet administrator.
5) Enter the metadata required by the workspace type and press create to create your new workspace. The metadata required for a specific workspace type is defined by the Enterprise intranet administrator.
Depending on the workspace type, this will create either:
a) a classic SharePoint site,
or
b) a modern team or communication site.
If the workspace type creates a SharePoint site, the default workspace type template setup is based on a publishing site with SharePoint project features enabled. The site comes with a landing page that works as the home page for the project, forum, team site, or what else you could be using the project space for.
Per default this home page includes five web parts that enable users to mange metadata, roles, documents, and tasks. These are three SharePoint and two Enterprise web parts:
1) The ‘Project Summary’ is a SharePoint web part that provides a high-level view of the events and tasks involved in a project.
2) ‘Tasks’ is a SharePoint web part that provides a list of tasks to be done and enables users to create new tasks.
3) ‘Documents’ is a SharePoint web part that allows users to upload and share documents.
4) ‘Metadata’ is an Enterprise web part that displays project metadata.
5) ‘Participants’, an Enterprise web part that displays all roles and the users or groups set on this roles.
Add existing team sites to a Workspace instance
It is possible to add an existing Modern Team site to a Workspace instance. If you look into the Enterprise API’s, there is a call for site updates, where you can insert the URL of a modern site. Make sure your Workspace instance is correctly set up, and then enter instance/{id}/sites. Make sure that the ExternalResources is left empty and a Workspace will be created without creating new SharePoint sites.
To configure and set up a workspace instance:
1) Click on the workspace instance that you wish to set up.
2) Now, you are presented to a page with four tabs each offering options for configuration:
The first tab has the name of the workspace unit. Here you define the role required to create workspaces to the unit and administrators of the unit.
Under the second tab ‘Workspace types’ you define the type(s) of workspace(s) that can be created for the unit.
The third tab ‘Metadata’ lets you define metadata for the project unit.
The fourth tab ‘Role replacement’ enables you to transfer workspace roles to other users.
To archive project instances:
You can archive project instances which means that you can hide e.g. test and unused instances from the instance overview.
To archive a project instance, you simply click the archive icon next to a project instance. This will move the instance to ‘Archived instances’. From here, you can make the project instance active again, also by clicking the archive icon.
New projects can’t be created in an archived project instance. However, projects, already created on this instance, will still work as before.
To define who will have the right to create new workspaces for a project unit:
1) Click on the project unit, you wish to configure, under the ‘Administration’ area in the Enterprise Workspaces module. Settings for Site Creation Permission (some workspaces are created as sites) will be located in the top of the first page you land on.
2) Under ‘Site creation permission’, you have three options for permissions:
1) ‘Enterprise administrators and Instance administrators’, which means that only either administrators of Enterprise or the project unit can create new project spaces for it.
2) ‘Everyone’, which will make every user of the intranet able to create new project spaces for the project unit.
3) ‘Specific people and groups (inclusive Enterprise administrators and instance administrators)’. If you select this option, administrators of Enterprise, administrators of the project unit, and selected users and/or groups will be able to create project spaces for this project unit. You will be asked to define which users and/or groups should have this permission.
You can use the Workspaces module for endless purposes and to collaborate in a variety of ways. Therefore, the module allows you to configure workspaces exactly as you wish. Also, you can create several types of workspaces to meet all the different needs you have for collaboration in different contexts.
To configure workspaces, you define one ore more ‘workspace type(s)’. A workspace type allows you to define site templates or group, roles, and metadata for the workspaces created for a project unit.
You can define as many workspace types as you wish for each workspace unit. When creating a new workspace, users can base the workspace on one of the workspace types created for the specific workspace unit.
To define the workspace type(s) for workspaces of a workspace unit, do the following:
1) Click on the workspace unit, you wish to create workspace types for.
2) Then, click on the tab ‘Workspace types’.
This will get you to the workspace type administration. From here, you can change the name and abilities of existing workspace types or create new.
Enterprise includes a default workspace type called ‘Collaboration’.
To create a new workspace type or change an existing, perform the following steps:
1) Click the green ‘Create workspace type’ button to create a new workspace type. To change an existing, click on the workspace type you would like to change.
2) This will take you to the workspace type administration. Here, you can define name, description, site or group, templates, structure, roles, and metadata for the workspace type.
Define name, site, and description of the workspace type:
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To change the name of a workspace type: On the landing page of the workspace type administration, simply type in the name you have chosen for the workspace type, in the text box ‘Name’. ‘Image’ lets you use an image that users, creating a workspace, will see as part of the description of the workspace type. ‘Description’ lets you enter a text description of the workspace type that users, creating a workspace, will see. You can tick under ‘Noticeboard channels’ to have a Noticeboard channel created wit every new workspace. The permissions for the Noticeboard channel will mirror that of the workspace. In this way, the channel can work as a communication channel between the workspace members. A ‘Parent Noticeboard channel’ can be chosen for the Noticeboard channel. E.g. if you want to sort all Workspace Noticeboard channels under ‘Workspaces’. Note: As the permission settings for each workspace will be reflected in the permission settings for the corresponding Noticeboard channel. This means, that even though the Noticeboard channels created for workspaces will be listed among all the Noticeboard channels in your solution, you can not change permission settings for these channels from Noticeboard’s administration. |
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The site/group and template you use for a workspace type define the configuration of a workspace. E.g., this could be configuration about which type of SharePoint site (team site, publishing site, modern site etc.), features to activate, web parts to be added, lists to be created, site columns to be created, content types to be created. You can use Enterprise and SharePoint site templates as well as modern team sites with Office 365 Group. Custom site templates can be created by the use of Wizdom module templates. To define the site or group of a project type: First, you are offered to choose between basing it on classic and modern SharePoint. |
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Selecting modern SharePoint, you are met with the following options. ‘Template’ lets you select a template for the workspace between the modern templates available in your solution. |
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Define Project Roles
A project type, also, offers you to define roles for project spaces created with this type. E.g. you can define roles like ‘Guests’, ‘Editor’, ‘Collaboration team’, ‘Project manager’ etc. with a different set of rights in regard to the project space with this project type.
A role is similar to SharePoint’s permission levels including extra Enterprise specific permissions.
>Project roles are defined on project type level. This mean that for each project type, you can create an individual set of roles.
1) Under the project type administration, press the ‘Roles’ tab. This will navigate you to the role administration. Here you create and define the roles for the project type and their respective level of rights.
You can create as many roles as you like.
2) Press ‘Create role’ to define a new role, or click on an existing role to edit it. A window will pop up and let you define the role in question.
3) The role administration window is split into multiple sections.:
Basic information:
In the first section you define basic information as name of the role and sort order.
Membership:
This section allows you to select types of participants that can be added to the role.
Choose between:
‘People only’ which will only allow individual users to be added to the role.
‘Groups only’ which will only allow groups of users to be added to the role.
‘People and Groups’ which will allow individual users as well groups of users to be added to the role.
Selecting ‘Allow multiple’ will make it possible to allow several users and/or groups to be added to the role. If this field is not selected, only one group or user can be added to the role.
Under ‘Default value’, you define the particular user(s) and/or user group(s) that are added to the role by default.
Ticking ‘Add current user’ will automatically add users, that create project spaces of this project type, to the role.
App permissions:
Under ‘app permissions’, you define whether or not members of this role are enabled to edit metadata and assign roles to this project type.
Own role permissions:
Here you define whether users with this role will have rights to add and/or remove other users to/from this role.
Noticeboard permissions:
If this is enabled, a Noticeboard channel can be created for project spaces created on a SharePoint site.
Under this section, you define whether or not the role will have permissions to read and/or write news from this channel.
SharePoint permissions:
In this section you define SharePoint permissions in regard to lists permissions, site permissions, and personal permissions.
In top of the section, you can apply SharePoint’s default permission levels by selecting between levels in a drop-down list. These settings will, then, be applies to the lists, site, and personal permission settings further down the page.
You can make changes to these default permission settings by ticking and/or unticking boxes under the sections for lists, site, and personal permissions.
You can set up your own custom permissions by selecting appropriate boxes under the sections for lists permissions, site permissions, and personal permissions.
Finalize by clicking ‘SAVE’ to save your changes, ‘CLOSE’ to close the role without saving your changes, and ‘DELETE’ to delete the role.
Under the metadata tab, you can manage metadata specific for a project type.
You can add or remove metadata created on project unit level or create metadata for the specific project type.
Metadata created on project type level can’t be selected in the overview web part and, therefore, not displayed as column.
Metadata can help you tag project spaces with relevant data.
Metadata defined on project unit level will be shared metadata that can be used across all collaboration project types in the project unit. Only metadata specified on this level can be selected in the overview web part and displayed as columns.
To define metadata for a project unit, perform the following tasks:
1) Click on the project unit, you wish to define metadata for, under the ‘Administration’ area in the Enterprise Collaboration Engine module.
2) Then, click on the tab ‘Metadata’.
3) This will take you to the metadata administration area where you can either create or edit metadata. Click on the ‘Add metadata’ button to create a new metadata term. Or click on the edit icon in line with an existing metadata term to edit this term.
Transfer Workspace Roles
In situations where an employee changes role or job, the role this person has had in one or several projects might needs to be taken over by a different employee.
The role replacement tool in Enterprise Workspaces module allows you to transfer a role from a user or group of users to another user or group of users, only with a few clicks from the module administration in Enterprise Configuration Center.
To transfer a role:
1) Go to the ‘Administration’ area in the Enterprise Projects module, click on the project unit you’d like to configure and then on the ‘Role Replacement’ tab.
2) Use the tool to first find the user or group of users you’d like to replace by a different user or group of users.
3) Mark the role(s) of the user or groups of users you’d like to transfer.
4) Finally find the user or groups of users that you would like to apply the role(s) to.
Define templates for the Workspaces module
In Wizdom Configuration Center, you can define and customize the look, feel, and functionality of the Projects module by the means of templates.
The Projects module includes a selection of pre-defined templates the module’s web parts. These templates control the look, feel, and functionality of the web parts.
Site templates for the Projects module defines features to be activated, web parts to be added, pages, documents, folders, lists, and libraries of the site, as well as other specific actions like code to be executed.
A site template can be assigned to a project type so that creating a new project space of that project type will create a project space configured as the site template describes.
You find an overview of all templates for the Projects module’s web part under the ‘Templates’ area in the Projects module administration.
From here, you can configure existing web part templates and create new.
Overview of templates for the Workspaces module
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Project Overview The template named “OverviewSites” controls the look, feel, and functionality of the ‘Overview’ web part. This template lists project spaces with a star icon for users to mark favorite project as well as search and filtering options to find projects. The template also offers a button that lets users create new project spaces.
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Overview Columns The template named “OverviewColumns” controls the columns of the ‘Overview’ web part. This template lists project in rows with information about title, description, practice area, and confidentiality.
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Search Filter The template named “OverviewFilters” controls the search filter. The function that allows users to search projects filtering by project metadata:  |
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Create New Project Space Window The template named “NewSiteDialog” controls the dialogue box that takes users through the process of creating a new project space.
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Favorite Projects The template named “Favourites” is a template for the Favorites web part. The template displays a personalized list of project spaces that the user has marked as favorites.
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Previously, the Workspaces module was not fully connected with Microsoft Teams, which made it difficult to manage metadata and store valuable information. Now, we have taken the first steps towards integrating Microsoft Teams with the Enterprise Workspaces module.
In order to create a seamless experience and an efficient work environment within both Teams and Workspaces, our developers have released an extension to the Workspaces module. The update lets you integrate project metadata from Workspaces into the Teams application.
The app works as a tab inside the team. From this tab, team members can manage and get an overview of project metadata – exactly like they are able to see project information from the web part in a SharePoint site.
But, more importantly, from a governance perspective, in setting up the app for a team that is not yet connected with Enterprise, you automatically connect the team with an Enterprise Workspace. This means the team will now be included in the Enterprise workspaces overview and governance mechanism.
By integrating project metadata from the Enterprise Workspaces module with Teams, this update of Enterprise includes features that represent the first step in our vision to deliver a complete governance layer for Microsoft Teams.
The app is a web part extending Teams, and requires manual installation which the following section will guide you through.
Installation guide
The new feature is an additional tab that becomes visible in Teams once the intranet administrator has completed the installation.
1) In the Enterprise Configuation Center, find the Workspaces module and click your way to ‘Administration’ to edit your Workspace instances.
2) In the list you will see all the workspace instances your intranet holds. Click on the one you want to install the app to.
3) Then click ‘Workspace types’ and chose the type you want to edit.
4) You will then be presented an overview of the workspace including the name, image, description, and its template.
5) Under ‘Office 365 group options’, make sure that the box ‘Include Team’ is ticked and a team will be created as part of the group.
6) Next, there is an input field called ‘Teams App ID’ where the app ID should be inserted. The ID number can be received once it has been uploaded to the catalogue. The intranet administrators are the only ones who can provide users with this ID number.
Download the App and retrieve the ID number:
1) Download the App package zip file that is presented in the module settings.
2) In the Teams client find the ‘Apps’ and click ‘Upload a custom app’. The entire zip file must be uploaded, and you can choose between uploading to the whole tenant or to a selection of people.
3) Locate the app in the store once it is uploaded uploading and click ‘Copy link’.
4) The link will contain a string of letters and numbers that is the App ID that needs to be provided in the App ID field. Link example: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/app/[APPIDNUMBER].
5) The uploading of zip folder must only be done once, whereas the ID string must be inserted several times among users and across different Workspace types.
6) As soon as the App ID is inserted and the box ‘Include Team’ is ticked any new Workspace of that type will create a Team.
Note: You can also integrate existing Teams with Workspaces by clicking on the ‘+’ in the Microsoft Teams environment under the ‘Teams’ tab (if it fails, make sure that the team’s files are located on SharePoint by clicking on the ‘Files’ tab and files in SharePoint).
Find the Enterprise Metadata app in the library.
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