How do I start a Forum?
If you are in the role of Producer or Facilitator, you can start the Forum by clicking on either.
The green “Start Event” button at the top of your Dashboard which will take you to the list of Templates.
From the Templates page, you can then Select any Template and click the green “Start Event” button to immediately start a Forum with the template
This will open a pop up window where you can name your Event and schedule the start time for your Event.
Finding a Template
If you know the name of the Template you are looking for you can search from the Templates page using the top search bar.
To narrow your search, you can filter the Forums on the top right bar.
Using Template Filters
You can filter Templates in a few different ways. At the top of the Template page you can filter by:
Template Groups - Browse templates by job role, team or function
Class - Virtual Classroom Course Forums for SPCs
Idea Engine
Decision Engine
Public Templates - Templates available to everyone
Private Templates - Custom templates only available to you
Shared Templates - Templates only available to your organization (only available for SLS Enterprise customers)
What is the difference between a single-forum event and a multi-forum event?
Single forum events are intended for one group of people to attend and offer input. A multi-forum event is a forum where you may have multiple groups going through the event at the same time. The difference between these can be thought of as a single team doing a team event, such as a Retrospective vs. an entire ART where multiple groups are going through a Retrospective.
How do you set up a single-forum event?
To set up an event, find the template you’d like to use. At the bottom of the template icon you’ll see three buttons: Play, Schedule, and More.
Clicking Play prompts you to name your event and then causes the event to start immediately.
Clicking the Schedule button, which looks like a calendar, will also prompt you to name your event but will also lead you to more event settings.
Here are the steps:
1. Name your event.
2. Confirm the date, time, and time zone for your event.
3. For a single-forum event where one team or group will be participating in the event, toggle on Single-forum.
You can also choose to toggle “Lobby” on or off. If you toggle Lobby on, it will enter everyone into a pre-forum chat until you admit them. Leaving it toggled off means everyone enters directly into the Collaborate forum.
4. Click “Schedule the Event” on this dialogue box. This will lead you to other event settings, which will first show you the Event Settings tab with the name, timing and timezone. You can edit these again if needed.
5. Decide on a Join Time here. This designates how much before the event participants can join the forum and is set to 10 minutes as a default. You can customize this for your event.
6. You can also find the Event url—copy this and send it out if you want to send messages to participants. To the right of this, notice Timebox, Lobby, and Event Notification. Set the timebox for your event. Use the copy button next to the event notification to copy an email you can send out to participants about the event.
7. When you’ve completed these event settings, click into the People and Access tab. You can customize who is allowed into the forum by entering names, emails, or team names from your enterprise account. Similarly, you can add names, emails, or team names of anyone you would like to exclude from the event.
Just beneath the options to allow/exclude participants, you will see a list of invited people and teams. You can choose roles such as participant, reviewer, or facilitator for anyone on that list. Choosing someone as the facilitator will remove the facilitator role from anyone else who was designated as facilitator previously.
To the right of the Allowed and Excluded people selections and list you will see toggles for Default Access, Public Results, and External People. These are toggled to on and off based on typical usage patterns but can be changed for your event.
Leaving Default Access toggled to on gives all participants access to all event data, including results. Toggling Default Access to off will allow participants to see only basic information about the event such as when it started and ended.
Leaving Public Results toggled to off allows Only validated users with Results Access will be available to view the forum results page. Toggling Public Results to on means the forum results page will be publicly viewable for anyone with access to the forum results url.
Leaving External People toggled to on means external guests will be allowed to participate in this event. Toggling External People to off means external guests will not be admitted, even if you send them the link. Allowing External guests isi useful in situations of working with customers, advisory boards, and other groups outside of your enterprise.
8. Finally, decide on Participant Verification for your event. Setting this at Unverified means participants will be asked to enter a name and email, setting it to verified means means participants will be asked to enter a name and email and that their email will be verified with a authorization token, and setting it to Anonymous means participant’s input cannot be attributed to them and there is no checking for participants emails and no requirement for participants to enter any contact information.
Once you’ve customized all of your settings your event is ready for participants and can be found under “Events” on your left side Collaborate menu.
How do I invite people to a Live Forum?
From the Forum, click the People button on the left side navigational bar. A Drawer will slide open with the list of people currently ing the forum and an option to Invite People.
You can invite people by sending them direct emails with your Template link. You can also copy your Template link to share by clicking on the Forum code at the top of your screen. This will copy a link to your clipboard which you can share with other people.
A modal will open with options to draft and send an email, or you can copy the link to and paste it anywhere you need for your team.
How do I invite people to a Forum that hasn't started yet?
From your Dashboard, scroll down to the section on Upcoming Events
OR
From the Events page, use the top right filters to filter for Upcoming.
When you find the future event you're looking for click on the date.
Clicking the template image will bring you to details about the template. Clicking the green Start button will start the forum immediately.
You will be brought to the Event Details page where you can make changes to the event, Copy just the URL or Copy the Event Notification.
Or you may invite people directly from the app from the People & Access tab.
You can add entries to the list by searching for their name or email address. If you are part of an SLS or SAFe Enterprise, suggestions of people in your organization will show up as you type. Click the green + to add the participant.
All invitees will be added to the Forum as a Participant by default, unless another role is selected
How do I invite external people to the Forum?
As a SAFe Community Member, you can invite others to use the forum. You can also share the Template link by copying the Forum code to your clipboard and sending it out externally. You can do so by either sharing the link or inviting them directly via email as shown above.
How many people can I invite to my Forum?
SAFe Collaborate is designed to have the entire ART be able to participate at once. The Scaled Agile Framework recommends an Agile Release Train be about 50-125 people
What are the different roles within a Forum?
There are four different roles within a Forum:
Producer/Admin: the creator of the forum, selects the settings of the forum and chooses the roles of the users. Note the producer by default is also the facilitator.
Facilitator: can change the forum settings (e.g. item types, regions, etc.)
Participant: can add items to the board
Reviewer: can only view the board
How can I work with the rest of my team?
As a Community member, you can add up to 10 people including yourself to your Team. Form the left side navigational bar, Select Teams.
Click the green + to add the email address of users to invite to your Team.
You will be given a pop up to enter the email address to invite to your Forum.
Click Send Invites
Can I only invite these 10 people to my forums?
No. The Teams feature is meant for sharing custom templates and images with your internal teammates. Teams is not meant for students you are teaching or your whole organization. You can invite your whole ART to forums with the above steps, or all your students via the Virtual Classroom.
I’m a Facilitator. Why can’t I start a Forum?
NOTE: This is not the limit of who you can invite to forums. You can still invite people who are not on your Team, up to your entire ART. Log out of SAFe Collaborate and log into your Community Platform and click on Implement > Access SAFe Collaborate. Accessing SAFe Collaborate directly through your Community Platform aligns your SAFe account as a Collaborate user.
My attendees are having trouble accessing the join link. What do I do?
SAFe Collaborate is only available to members of the SAFe Community. So users may need to login through the SAFe Studio then Navigate to Implement > Access SAFe Collaborate in order to have their membership recognized. If they are not currently a member, they can purchase an annual membership HERE.