Community administration

This topic is organized into the following sections:

About communities

An eRoom community is a site within an eRoom site. It might be one of several communities at your site. Each community has members and/or facilities, and can be isolated for privacy.

All eRoom members belong to one home community, but can be guests in other communities at the site. Each facility belongs to one community, but communities can have multiple facilities. All roles and permissions defined in the community are shared across all facilities in the community.

About administering a community

Community administrators belong to a permission group that site administrators assign members to on a per community basis. Site and community administrators can delegate community administration to other community members by adding them to the "Community Administrators" group. Members in this group have the following permissions:

Note: A site administrator can grant or revoked these individual permissions on a community administrator's Member Information page.

Community Settings (which you access via your My eRooms page, or a URL) has the following categories of settings for administering your community:

Command buttons in Community Settings

The "OK", "Cancel", and "Apply" buttons on every page act on Community Settings as a whole.

If you move from one Community Settings page to another (via links in the left column), eRoom 'remembers' your changes but only applies them when you click "OK" or "Apply". However, unless you click "OK" or "Apply" before doing one of the following actions, eRoom discards your changes (you are prompted in these cases):

Note: On Community Settings pages, you can change a setting by clicking either the selection widget (radio button or check box, for example), or the corresponding text label.

Community Settings: General

Name (site administrator only)

If you need to change the name of a community, enter the new name in the Name box.

Options

Community rules

These settings are inherited from the site-level defaults, and only the site administrator can change them.

Option

When on (check box selected)

Initial setting

can have local members

New members can be created in the community. Otherwise, when this setting is turned off, only guests and external-membership directory members are allowed in the community, and all UI for creating new members is disabled.

On

require email addresses to be used as login names

Require new local members and all external members to have an email address and use it as their login name. If this setting is turned on and there are already local members, those users can still use their login name to login to the site. Existing external members, however, will be required to use their email address as login name after a member-list directory sync (which eRoom performs when you add or edit an external-membership directory connection in the community). This setting can be changed at the community level.

Off

Documentum Server links

If you have eRoom Enterprise, and if you, as community administrator, have permission to define a Documentum Server connection in your community, you can specify which community members have permission to create and edit Documentum Server links -- either all members in the role of participant or above, coordinators only, or community administrators only.

Note: If only administrators can create and edit Documentum Server links, then community members in the role of coordinator and below cannot create or edit Documentum Server-linked files. In that case, members might still be able to edit the actual files, depending on their access rights to those files.

Permissions

These permissions are granted at the site level for community administrators. Only site administrators can change them in individual communities.

Permission

When on (check box selected)

Initial setting

create and import facilities

Community administrators can create and import facilities to their communities.

On

create directory connections

Community administrators can create and edit external-membership directory connections.   

Off

add/remove guests

Community administrators and coordinators (with modify community member list permission) can add guest members to or remove guest members from the community member list.

On

rename facilities

Community administrators can rename facilities in their communities.

On

rebuild facility indices

Community administrators can manually rebuild facility indexes (for searching eRoom contents) in their communities. Otherwise, this is a background process that runs automatically, according to the Scheduler's settings.

On

change eRoom size limits

Community administrators can change the site-wide default size limit for new eRooms in their communities.

Off

define a Documentum Server connection

Community administrators can

  • define an independent Documentum Server connection for the community

  • remove a Documentum Server connection

  • specify which community members have permission to create and edit Documentum Server links (depending on their role)

With this permission off (check box cleared), communities must use the site-wide Documentum Server connection, and anyone with appropriate access rights can create and edit Documentum Server links.

Off

Discussion comments display

Pick whether you want authors' organization names to appear with their member names when they write comments on eRoom pages.

eRoom features

Default size limit

If community administrators have permission to change eRoom size limits, you can specify a size limit (in MBs), for new eRooms in the community, or override an existing default size limit.

If you specify a size threshold and click "apply to existing eRooms", members in any eRoom over that limit will be unable to create new items or files until the eRoom's size is lowered below the limit.  

Notification emails

Pick the initial setting for the option community members have to receive email notification either in HTML format or as Plain text. Members can change this setting for any eRoom or item for which they choose to receive change reports.

File protection

If you select the "File protection" check box, the only members who can delete a version-tracked file or turn off version-tracking for a file are the eRoom's coordinator and administrators. With file protection turned on, you can also specify that New files are always version-tracked (and the corresponding option disabled on the Add File page).

Privacy

Your community is either public, restricted, or private. Only site administrators can specify a community's privacy level.

Note: If your community member list is sensitive, your community should be private to ensure confidentiality. Otherwise, when administrators of other communities add guests in their communities, they can still see your member list (or search for names of members), even if you explicitly remove "can see member list" permission for a guest in your community who also happens to be an administrator of another community in your site.

Banner Graphic

Individual eRooms can have custom logos at the top of every page. If they don't, eRooms display a default logo, or banner, instead. You can specify a different default banner for eRooms in the community, in place of the default banner that eRoom provides. To do so, select the Use custom default banner check box, and then click "Browse" to locate and select the .gif or .jpg file you want to use.

Note: The default size of the space for your banner is 600 pixels wide and 36 pixels high. However, there are UI customization variables you can use to specify a different-sized custom banner.  

Community Settings: Documentum Server

Documentum Server linking in your community is on when the check box for "Use a Documentum Server connection in this community" is selected.

To use the site-wide default Documentum Server connection:

  1. Pick "Use the site's default Documentum Server connection".

  2. To choose a subset of the available repositories, click "filter" to open the Filter repositories page. You can subtract but not add to the set of repositories available through the site's default connection. When you click "OK", the names of the selected repositories appear next to the Available repositories label.

To use a different Documentum Server connection than the site-wide default connection:

Pick "Define a Documentum Server connection in this community".

Specify the Login name and Password for the dedicated Documentum Server account (with 'super user' privileges for each selected repository) that eRoom uses.

Click the "test" button to verify whether the account name and its password are valid for all the selected repositories. The Test Repositories page reports these results.

Note: Changing this account for the site or community means that event notifications for existing linked files must be updated on the Documentum Server in order to enable synchronization of linked folders.

When you change this account, eRoom displays the following warning: "The Documentum Server account for eRoom administration has changed. Existing Documentum Server-linked content needs to be updated in order to continue to work properly. From a command line, please enter: 'ERDMReconciler -e'. Note that this upgrade could take a very long time to complete."

ERDMReconciler.exe is located in the eRoom server subdirectory, which must be on the path if it is not the current directory.

If there are a large number of existing linked files, this command can potentially take hours to run. For this reason, eRoom does not automatically run this command, but leaves it to the administrators discretion. For example, you might want to run the command during off peak hours. Be aware, however, that between the time when the Documentum Server account is changed in eRoom, and when ERDMReconciler is run, eRoom might not correctly synchronize files added to or removed from linked folders.

To configure the Primary docbroker and (optionally) the Backup docbrokers for the community, click "edit" to open the Configure docbrokers page. Specify just one primary docbroker, which is read, by default, out of the DFC settings file. You can specify multiple backup docbrokers by entering one per line in the text box. Use the syntax docbrokerName:portNumber. To specify the default port (1489), don't enter a portNumber. When you click "OK", the "filter" button is enabled for specifying the Available repositories for the site.

To pick the repositories you want available to eRooms in your community, click "filter" to open the Filter repositories page. If you leave the check box for "(new repositories)" clear, only the repositories you pick are available (example). Conversely, if you select the "(new repositories)" check box, you make all repositories available except the ones you don't pick (example), including any new repositories that later become available through the Docbroker in use.

When you click "OK", the names of the selected repositories appear next to the Available repositories label.

Specify the optional Webtop/DAM URL (Documentum Server and Documentum Webtop versions 5.1 or later, Internet Explorer only) and/or WebPublisher URL. Doing so enables the "Go to Documentum Server" and "Content Properties" commands on right-click file item menus, which opens the Webtop or WebPublisher client.

Documentum Server search

If you have a Documentum client URL specified for your site or community Documentum Server connection, you can enable members to access the Documentum Server search page from eRoom by selecting the "Show a link to the Documentum Server's search page on the eRoom's site search page" check box.

Pick which URL the Documentum Server search will use: Webtop/DAM URL or WebPublisher URL.

Specify the repository for eRoom members using Documentum Server search.

Pick an optional label for the link to this location that appears on the Search All eRooms page. If empty, eRoom uses the repository name.

Require file properties

If you have a Documentum client URL specified for your site's Documentum Server connection, the site administrator can require that members specify certain mandatory properties for specific types of files linked to the Documentum Server from eRoom. With the "File properties are required when files are linked to the Documentum Server" check box selected, the WDK Properties component opens in a new window for every such file during the linking process.

If your community uses its own Documentum Server connection, this option can be set for the community.

To specify which document types have mandatory properties, click "choose" and pick the document types. The list of document types are an aggregate list of the templates provided in the "eRoom Templates" (case-sensitive) directory on each repository available in your site or community.

If mandatory properties are required, when a linked file is added to eRoom (either manually, or automatically because it's added to a linked folder or to a regular folder with a default Documentum Server location), eRoom tracks the mandatory property state of the document in the repository. The states are as follows:

When you try to view/edit/copy a linked file, the result depends on which state the document is in, as follows:

See also: Modifying properties of Documentum Server-linked files

Linked folders

If you have permission to define Documentum Server connections in your community, you can decide whether Only administrators can create Linked Folders. If this check box is selected, the Linked Folder option on the Create Item page is visible only to site and community administrators.

Community Settings: Facilities 

On this page you manage the facilities in your community. You can edit Facility Settings, move or reprovision facilities, create, delete, and import facilities. You can also create eRooms.

eRoom uses facilities to organize the eRooms in each community. A community needs at least one facility in order to have eRooms (some communities organize members only).

In the list of all facilities in the community, you can see how many eRooms each facility has. Click the number (n) in the eRooms column to see a list of those eRooms. That list shows each eRoom's name and URL; each name is a link to the eRoom.

Advanced installation only: The facilities table lists the eRoom (web) server, file server, database server, and indexing server specified for the facility when it was created. It also shows the provisioning group for each facility, or "(None)" if no provisioning group is assigned to the facility.

Template facilities

A template facility, if available, is the basis of new facilities in a community. A site-level template is stored as "Samples.erf" in a special "~Templates" directory at the root of the file server designated for templates, and a community-level template can be designated by naming it "<community name>.erf".

When you create a new facility, eRoom first looks for a community-level template facility. If there is one, the new facility is based on that. Otherwise, eRoom uses the site-level template. If there is no template facility at either the community level or the site level, eRoom creates an empty facility with no eRooms.

Note: Site administrators manage template facility files outside of the eRoom, using the file server's file system.

To create a new facility:

  1. If you are a site administrator or community administrator with permission to "create and import facilities", go to the Facilities page of Community Settings, and click .  

  2. On the Create Facility page, type a Name for the new facility. As you type, eRoom automatically fills in the URL (which you can edit, if appropriate). In place of eRoomServer in the sample URL on the page, the URL for eRooms created in the facility will show the actual eRoom server name.

  1. The next step depends on which installation of eRoom you have, what the provisioning rules are at your site, and whether you are a community or site administrator.

eRoom creates the facility based on a community-level template facility, if there is one, or a site-level template, otherwise. If there is no template facility at either the community or site level, the new facility is empty (it has no eRooms).

Moving or reprovisioning a facility (site administrators only)

If your site has more than one community, you can move a facility to a different community. This moves any eRooms in the facility to a different community, but does not move members.

If you have eRoom Advanced installation with multiple servers, and if there is more than one server of each type (web, file, database, and index), you can change the servers a facility uses (this is called reprovisioning).

Another way to reprovision a facility (eRoom Advanced installation only) is to change its provisioning group, if there is more than one assigned to the community.

Note: Before you can change a facility's file, database, or index server, you must first lock its current web server.

To move a facility to a different community:

  1. In the row of the facilities table for the facility you want to move, click .

  2. On the Move Facility page, pick "Move to another community" and click "OK".

  3. On the Change Community page, pick a new community from the list and click "OK".

  4. On the Move a Facility page, confirm that you want to move the facility, and note that moving a facility does not move members.

    When you click "OK" you return to the list of facilities. The facility no longer appears there but in the list of facilities for the community you moved it to.

To change the servers a facility uses:

  1. In the row of the facilities table for the facility you want to move, click .

  2. On the Move Facility page, pick "Change servers" and click "OK".

  3. On the Change Server Assignments page, you can change the facility's web server (as long as there is more than one), and if the current web server is locked, you can change its file, database, or index server (as long as there are more than one of the type you want to change).

    When you click "OK" you return to the list of facilities. The server columns are updated to reflect your changes.

To change a facility's provisioning group:

  1. In the row of the facilities table for the facility you want to move, click the link in the Provisioning Group column.

  2. On the Change Provisioning Group page, pick a provisioning group from the drop-down list.

    When you click "OK" you return to the list of facilities. The Provisioning Group column shows the facility's new provisioning group.

Notes about moving/removing servers

When you reprovision the index, database, or file server for a facility, you must also move associated files. This section describes where to find those files.

If you move a single facility from index server A to index server B (via the Facilities page of Community Settings), then you only need to move that one facility's index files. In this case you see this message:

You have specified a different index server.

You won't be able to search this facility until you either rebuild the full-text index (this can take a long time), or move the index files to the new server. The index files contain this guid in their file names: Facilityguid. You will not be able to find this guid anywhere in eRoom, so please make a note of it.

The index files can be found in the directory on index server A specified by the env.FULCREATE option located within the <InstallDir>\Full Text\bin\hsserver.conf file. Just pick the ones with the facility guid in their filenames, and move those to the index directory on server B (as specified by server B's registry).

If you remove an index server (via the eRoom MMC snap-in), you are asked which server you want to reprovision its facilities to. You then see the following message:

Please select an indexing server to store the indexes for this server's facilities. In order to be able to search this facility, you can either rebuild the full-text indexes for each facility (can take a long time), or move the index files to the new server.

To move all facilities from index server A to index server B, move all index files to avoid having to rebuild all the facilities' indexes. The index files can be found in the directory specified by the env.FULCREATE option located within the <InstallDir>\Full Text\bin\hsserver.conf file on each of the index servers.

If you remove a file server, you just move the entire contents of the old file share to the new one. If you are moving only one facility, there should be a folder under the file share with that facility's URL name. Move just that folder.

Similarly, if you remove a database server you move all the databases to the new database server. If you move just one facility, just move that facility's database. The database name might not exactly match the facility's URL name, and it is specified in the following message:

You have specified a different database server.

The site will not be in working order until you manually move the database (eRoom_myfacname) to the new server.

Deleting a facility

In the facilities table, the "(delete)" column lets you remove a facility from a community. Click in the row for the name of the facility you want to delete.

Deleting a facility means removing everything in the facility -- all the eRooms and their contents. Since deleting a facility cannot be undone, make sure that is what you want to do.

Note: You can export the facility to a backup .erf file before deleting it. By importing a facility to a community later, you can retrieve information from eRooms in a deleted facility.

Editing Facility Settings

In the list of facilities on the Facilities page of Community Settings, click or the facility's name to open Facility Settings.

Facility Settings: General

Facility Name & URL

If you need to rename a facility and/or its URL, enter the new name in the Name box. Community administrators can only rename a facility if they have permission to rename facilities (initially set at the site level) in their communities.

Note: eRoom URLs include a facility name, so if you change a facility URL, be sure to notify all members of eRooms in that facility so they can update their links.

Facility Indexing

eRoom indexes text in all pages and files in the facility so that members can search them. You can rebuild a facility's index at any time by clicking "rebuild index". This control is available for community administrators only if they have permission to rebuild facility indices (initially set at the site level) in their communities. Otherwise, this section does not appear in Facility Settings.

Template Databases

Click "template databases" to open the Template Databases page. This is where you create, edit, delete, and store all template databases for eRooms in the facility.

Notes: About the Template Databases page:

To create a database template:

You create or edit a database template mostly the same as you would create or edit any database. The main difference is that only administrators can create and edit database templates, and you perform these tasks in a special folder in the facility, where databases are the only things you can create or edit. The other difference is that, at the facility level, the Create/Edit Database wizard for database templates has a few extra options.

Tip: When you create a database template, name it so members will recognize its type ("Issues -- customizable" or "Issues Tracker -- enterprise", for example).

  1. In the Template Databases section of the General page of Facility Settings, click "template databases" to open the Template Databases page.

    On this page, databases are the only items you can create, and deleting a database removes it permanently from the facility.

  1. Start the Create Database wizard by clicking "create".

    Or, right-click on an empty area of the item box and pick "Create Item" from the pop-up menu.

  1. To create a regular, customizable template or an enterprise database template, you use the same Create Database wizard that you use in an eRoom, but with an extra step. On the last page of the wizard (the Template Database Type page), pick the type of database you want to make the template: Customizable or Enterprise.

    To create an approval-process template, you use the same procedure that you use in an eRoom.

  1. When you click "OK" to create a regular database template, it opens to its summary page so you can add or modify sample entries.

    When you click "OK" to create an enterprise database template, you return to the Template Databases page since you cannot create any entries in a template database of this type at the facility level.

    When you click "OK" to create an approval-process database template, you return to the Template Databases page because you cannot create any entries; a template database of this type can have no sample entries.

To edit a database template:

  1. On the Template Databases page, right-click an existing database and pick "Edit" from the pop-up menu to open the Edit Database wizard.

    Or, you can click to open a customizable database, and then click at the top of its summary page to open the Edit Database wizard.

    If you click an enterprise database, the Edit Database wizard opens directly, since you can only edit the properties of a database in this facility area.

  1. The Edit Database wizard that you use at the facility level has an extra choice for converting the template from one type of database template to another (either from an enterprise template to a stand-alone, non-approval-process database, or vice versa).

    This might be useful if you want to temporarily or permanently standardize a customizable template as an enterprise database in order, for example, to collect all budget requests from all departments in your facility.

    Or, you might want to make an enterprise database available as a customizable template if, for example, it is no longer used as a facility-wide standard, but individual members use it as a starting point for creating and customizing a personal or project-specific database.

  1. When you finish your edits, click "OK" to update the database.

Facility Settings: Custom

Custom fields

In addition to built-in properties for items -- Title, Owner, Modified Date, and Size -- administrators can define a set of custom fields for use on items in any eRoom in a facility. Members can use the fields to provide specific information on items and can search for information in the fields.

To add a custom field to a facility:

  1. In the Custom Fields section of the Custom page of Facility Settings, click "add a custom field".

  2. Enter a name for the field, and pick its data type:

  1. Click "OK" to define the field.

Once you define a custom field for the facility, the Custom Fields command is available to eRoom members.

When members choose the "Custom Fields" command for an item, the Edit Custom Fields page opens. Those on the Edit list can enter information in a custom field for the item. Otherwise, they see a read-only version of the custom fields.

To delete a custom field, click the delete button () in the list of custom fields.

Custom Icons

You can change the default icons for eRoom item types, and you can add custom icons for any type of eRoom item.

To change the default icon for an item:

  1. In the Custom Icons section of the Custom page of Facility Settings, click the type of item whose icon you want to change.

  2. On the Change Icon page, click the icon you want to use for the item's default.

  3. Click "OK".

    The new default icon now appears in the icons table.

To add and remove custom icons:

  1. In the Custom Icons section of the Custom page of Facility Settings, click "add a custom icon".

  2. On the Add Custom Icons page, specify the .gif files you want to upload, and click "OK" (select "Upload, then add another" if you want to upload more than the first two).

  3. Pick an icon and click "OK" to set a new default.

    If you choose a custom icon as a default and later delete it, the first standard icon for that item becomes the default again.

Community Settings: Members

On the Members page of Community Settings, click "community member list" to see all members in the community. From the community members list, and with appropriate permissions, you can add guests to the community, delete local members, add new local members, create new local groups, or (if you are a site administrator) move local members to another community.

Also, on the Members page of Community Settings, you can add members to or remove members from the community's permission groups. Members in each group are initially determined by the Site Settings for initial permissions for members in new communities. The community-level permissions and corresponding groups are:

You can grant permission to (or remove permission from) All members of the community, or just Selected Members. To change the members in a permission group, click in the row for that group. Select or clear check boxes for the groups or members you want to add to or remove from the permission group, and then click "OK".

Community Administrators

Apart from the individual permissions, site and community administrators can specify who in the community has community administration privileges -- those who do are in the community administration permission group, which grants members in that group all of the above permissions. Click to pick members for the community administration permission group.

When choosing community administrators, think about which community administration tasks you want to delegate, and how your communities are organized. Communities can manage members only, eRooms only, or a combination of both. For example, suppose you have all internal employees as members of Community1, all external clients as members of Community2, and you set up Community3 with project eRooms where groups of members from the other communities do their work. In this case, you might designate people with NT Domain or LDAP directory experience to manage membership for Community1 and Community2, granting the member and member list permissions, but not permission to create eRooms (that is, no community administrators). For Community3, however, you might designate a community administrator to manage guest membership as well as eRoom creation.

Community Settings: Directories

If community administrators have permission to create directory connections (initially set at the site level) in their communities, they can add, edit, and delete external-membership directory connections using controls on the Directories page of Community Settings. Without that permission, the controls are only visible in Community Settings to the site administrator.

See: Enterprise directories for details about managing external-membership directory connections.

Community Settings: Licenses

Your eRoom license count controls how many people can use eRooms in the site. Members who have never logged into an eRoom do not take up licenses, so your license count does not limit the number of accounts you can create. This licensing scheme allows you to add a larger pool of potential members than there are licenses.

Once a member logs in, a license is taken up that is not released unless that member is deleted, deactivated, or the authenticated directory to which they are connected is changed.

If a member tries to log in for the first time, and there are no more available licenses, an error says to contact the administrator.

Community Settings: Rights Management

If your site has rights management enabled, you can enable it for your community on the Rights Management page of Community Settings. If rights management is disabled in your site, rights management is disabled in all communities and eRooms in the site and you cannot enable it.

Allow community members to use rights management policies to protect files

Select this option to enable eRooms in your community to optionally use rights management.  

This option is initially off. If it is never selected, no rights-management settings for an eRoom, folder, or eligible file are shown in the community.

If rights management is enabled for your site, you can disable it in your community by clearing this option and saving Community Settings. In this case, rights management is disabled in all eRooms in the community.

While rights management is disabled, no new eligible content in the community can be protected. Existing protected files remain protected, however, and you can still edit their actual policies. Once rights management is disabled, eRoom and folder policies no longer affect the files they contain. Therefore, actual policies for protected files might differ from the their effective policies while rights management was enabled. Existing protected files continue to be identified (in large icon view) by a "protected" symbol (), and by notation on their Access Control pages. New files have no rights-management settings.

If rights management is disabled in a site and then re-enabled, rights management is re-enabled in all communities in the site that used rights management before it was disabled.

If rights management is enabled for your site but disabled in your community, you can re-enable it by selecting this option and saving Community Settings. In this case, rights management is re-enabled in all eRooms in the community that used rights management before it was disabled.

If any eRooms or folders are set to automatically protect files, all existing, unprotected Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat files in those eRooms or folders are automatically and permanently protected by the rights-management policy in effect.

Community Settings: Project Plans

Use the Project Plans page of Community Settings to control whether your community uses default site-wide working days and holidays for project plans, or uses custom days unique to your community. Individual project plans, however, can override either site-wide or community-wide defaults for working days and holidays.

If you use the site-wide working days and holidays, you cannot change them for your community. In this case, any updates at the site level become community-wide defaults, and any existing project plans that use default days are also updated.

To use custom days:

Community Settings: Extensions

If extensions are available to your community (specified on the Extensions page of Site Settings), and if availability is set at the site level to "Off but can be turned on" or "On but can be turned off", you can make them available to particular eRooms or to the entire community, or restrict their availability. However, some extensions (Event Handlers, Custom Viewers etc.) can be restricted only at the community level and may not be restricted at the eRoom level.

To make an extension available for eRooms or the entire community:  

  1. On the Extensions page of Community Settings, locate the extension you want to make available.

  2. Specify one of the four "Availability" modes.

  1. Click and pick the eRoom or eRooms for which you want the availability setting to apply.

  2. Click "OK".

  3. When you are finished setting availability for extensions, click "Apply" on the Extensions page.

Community Settings: Usage Reports

eRoom 7 can log sessions and usage statistics in a site-wide usage database and provide Web-based administrative reports. You can also export the usage reports as comma-separated Excel spreadsheets.

See: Usage reports