Using Discussion Groups

This feature is deprecated and should no longer be used, but may still be available for reasons of backwards compatibility.

Overview

The discussion groups feature provides the ability to facilitate discussion groups.

• You can create any number of discussion groups.
• You can Internet enable a discussion group, connect to your web site, and the public can participate in the discussion.
• Multiple discussions can be combined into a single discussion view.
• When a new discussion item is added, it is flagged with the “new” flag for all users. Once a specific user has reviewed the item the flag is removed for that user.
• You must be in a role associated with the Manager Permission - Create Discussion Groups in order to add discussion groups.

Discussion List

1. Click the Communications, Discussions menu.

The Discussions list is displayed. If no discussions have yet been created the list will be empty.

2. Click the New Discussion tab.

The New Discussion window is displayed.

The following information is set for each discussion:

• Name - The narrative name for the discussion.
• Description - Longer description that will be displayed to the right of the name in the discussion list.
• Workflow - Associated a workflow that will trigger when a new event is added to the calendar.
• Internet Enabled - Allows the calendar to be viewed outside SmartSimple. When this option is selected a URL field will be displayed.
• Read access organisations - List of organisations that are allowed to read the contents of the discussion.
• Write access organisations - List of organisations that are allowed to add new entries to the discussion or edit existing entries.
• Read access roles - List of roles that are allowed to read the contents of the discussion.
• Write access roles - List of roles that are allowed to add new entries to the discussion, or edit existing entries.
• Discussion Template - This option is only displayed if you Internet Enable the calendar. Any HTML formatting code you wish to associate with an Internet calendar.

3. Enter the required details.

Discussions Sharing Rules

The rules about sharing discussions are exactly the same as sharing calendars.

If you do not share the discussion then you will be the only person that can access the discussion.

• If you share the discussion with “Everyone”, then everyone inside and outside the organisation can participate in the discussion.

Sharing Discussions using Organisations

• If you share the discussion with specific organisations, then only those organisations can see the discussion.
• Setting the security to Read access allows the organisation to read the discussion.
• Setting the security to Write access allows the organisation to edit and add entries to the discussion.

Sharing Discussions using Roles

• If you share the discussion with specific roles, then only those roles can see the discussion.
• Setting the security to Read access allows the roles to read the discussion
• Setting the security to Write access allows the organisation to edit and add entries to the discussion.

Viewing a Discussion

• The hyperlink in the name column allows the discussion to be selected for display or editing.

1. Click the Discussion name.

2. Any topics associated with that Discussion group will be listed.

3. There is also a New Topic button at the top of the screen to allow users to create new topics.

Viewing a Topic and Posts

• Once in the Topic list view then there should be a hyperlink in the Topic column. Clicking this allows the topic to be selected for display or editing.

1. Click the Topic name.

2. Any posts associated with that Discussion Topic will be listed.

3. There is also a New Posts button at the top of the screen to allow users to create new posts.

Entering a Discussion Topic

The New Topic window that appears allows you to complete:

• A subject field.
• A description or body field used to store the actual topic details.
• The Save button used to save the discussion topic.

You can only create topics to discussions where you have write access/permission.

1. Click the New Topic button from within the Topic list view.

The New Topic window is displayed.

2. Enter the Subject.

3. Enter the Body.

4. Click the Save button.

The new topic is added.

Entering in a New Discussion Response

The Post Reply window allows you to complete:

1. Click the Post Reply button from within the list of posts for a specific topic.

The reply window is displayed.

3. Enter a reply.

4. Click the Save button.

The new reply is added.

5. The posts can be sorted by clicking on the Newest to Oldest or Oldest to Newest button. The buttons are interchangeable depending on the current order in which the posts are sorted.

Very important tip! - If you don’t permission a role to see the discussion menu, then they will not be able to see the discussions even if you give them access.