]po[ Forum

The ]po[ forum package allows for threaded discussions associated to projects, companies, users and other business objects, effectively converting ]po[ into a online collaboration platform.

All forum items are indexed by the full-text search engine, allowing for quick retrieval.

The “Speech Act” Metaphor

The Forum Module is based on the notion of so called “speech acts”. Speech acts are elements of the human language that capture how we communication with other persons based on different types of sentences or utterances that we can make. Certain speech acts are mapped to “Topic Types” in ]project-open[. Each type is designed to support a particular communication model. The following table gives a brief overview about the different types and provides a recommendation on how to use them.  

Discussions Containers

Normally all discussions happen as part of a

• projects.

All members of the project can see discussions of the project, as long as they have access permissions to the discussion (see below). However, forum discussions are also available for other objects including

• customers and providers,
  
• users and
  
• configuration items.
  

Forum Permissions

The permissions of the forum package are controlled by a number of privileges. Administrators can use these permissions to separate customers from staff and from providers, while project managers may act as discussions moderators:

• add_topic_public
  Allows the user group to create global messages (normally reserved for administrators)
  
• add_topic_group
  Add essages for the entire project or discussion container
  
• add_topic_staff
  Messages to staff members of the project
  
• add_topic_client
  Messages to the clients of the project
  
• add_topic_noncli
  Message to non-clients of the project
  
• add_topic_pm
  Message to the project manager only

Typically, customers only get the "add_topic_pm" permission and freelancer "add_topic_noncli". However, these permission are configurable, so that they can be adapted to less rigid environments.

Permissions on Discussion Threads

Forum discussions can form threads when people reply to an initial topic. In this case all permissions and notifications are inherited from the topmost partent topic.

Notifications

The forum package allows to notify other users for every update or creation of a new reply.

Forum Fields

• Owner (creator/ client)
• Responsible (responsible for overall resolution)
• Asignee (resolving partial aspects)
• Priority
• Due date
• % Completed
• Owner requires update reports (all, major, none)
• Privacy Scope (private, project, public)

References

Related Object Types

• Forum Topic Object Type

Tutorials

• Forum User Guide 

Package Documentation

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