How to set up a Collaboration Forum

Firstly, start by creating a Forum Profile to configure key settings such as various navigation buttons, layout, rules, key icons and line colours. You can have different types of forums as part of the same profile, for example, a Project and Issues forum alongside your Collaboration forum.

Control > Settings > Forum Profiles

Here are some of the key fields, with help text, that you will need to configure on the Forum Profile:

• Name - Enter the Name that you wish to call this Forum Profile. This will not be reflected on the display side (more for admin purposes).
• [ ] Auto-Subscribe To Threads - Select to auto-subscribe users who create or reply to a thread. This is by default on, but it may be desirable to turn it off for some communities.
• Suggest Thread Link - For users who do not have permission to create a new thread, you can add a link to direct the user to a dynamic form to request access or suggest a thread topic.
• Popular Topic Count - Enter the number of popular topics to display on the Topics Filter menu. There is a maximum limit of 100. Popular Topics are determined by the total interest score for all full member contacts. It will only list the topics if there are threads that have been assigned to them. If left blank, popular topics will not be displayed
• Topic Filters - Select up to two topic lists to filter the thread results. This will allow the users to refine their thread search.

Key icons for Collaboration Forums:

• Create Thread Icon
• Search Icon
• Filter By Topic Icon
• Subscribed Icon

When using a Collaboration Forum type, you could build an Influencer Channel where the page will reflect a leaderboard with most active and engaged users participating on your Collaboration Forum.

Key settings to set up the influencers page:

• Exclude Security Groups - Select the Security Groups you want to exclude from the influencer listing. e.g. exclude your staff, non-members, sponsors or suppliers.
• No. Of Contacts Leaderboard - Enter the number of contacts to display on the Leaderboard tab within Influencers channel.
• No. Of Contacts My Topic - Enter the number of contacts to display on the My Topics tab within Influencers channel. The My Topics tab reflects users who are engaged or experts which matches with your Topics.
• No. Of Contacts Company - Enter the number of contacts to display on the Company tab within Influencers channel. The Company tab reflects users who are engaged or experts within the same company.
• No. Of Contacts Topics - Enter the number of contacts to display when filtering by topics within Influencers channel.
• Ranking Refresh Timeframe - Enter the timeframe in days when the ranking should be recalculated, e.g. Refresh the ranking every 7 days.
• Ranking Active Timeframe - Enter the timeframe in days to select Contacts for ranking on Influencers channel, e.g. Rank users who have contributed in the past 30 days. Maximum is 180 days.
• Thread Creation Weighting - Enter the weighting for creating a thread, this is used in determining the influence of the contact.
• Thread Response Weighting - Enter the weighting for responding or replying to a thread, this is used in determining the influence of the contact.
• Thread Like Weighting - Enter the weighting for liking a response or reply to a thread or post, this is used in determining the influence of the contact.

Notifications settings:

• Own Member Notifications - Select to always send forum notifications to the poster as well as other subscribers when posting to the forum. If not selected then members are not sent notifications when they post.

You can send a Daily and/or Weekly Summary which includes the new post and thread activities.

• Daily Summary Subject - Enter a subject line for the Daily Summary.
• Daily Scheduling Time - Select the time when the daily notification is to be sent.
• Weekly Summary Subject - Enter a subject line for the Weekly Summary.
• Weekly Scheduling Day - Select the day weekly notification is to be sent.
• Weekly Scheduling Time - Select the time the weekly notification is to be sent.
• Summary Introduction - Enter the summary introduction text for the main body of the email. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_], [_Recipient_First_Name_], [_Recipient_Last_Name_].
• Summary Item Listing - Enter the text to display a list of threads within the main body of the email. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_], [_Poster_First_Name_], [_Poster_Last_Name_], [_Poster_Job_Title_], [_Poster_Company_], [_Item_Message_].
• Summary Item Limit - Insert the number of thread items to display from the Forum into the message.
• Item Word Limit - Insert the number of words from the thread to display into the message. This is used for the summary as well as the alerts.
• Summary Footer - Enter the summary text footer for the realtime alert email. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_].

You can also set up several real-time alerts based on responses.

When a comment is made to the thread:

• Comment Alert Subject - Enter the subject line for the real-time alert when a comment is made. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_].
• Comment Alert Detail - Enter the main body text for the real-time alert email when a comment is made. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_],[_Recipient_First_Name_], [_Recipient_Last_Name_], [_Poster_First_Name_], [_Poster_Last_Name_], [_Poster_Job_Title_], [_Poster_Company_], [_Item_Message_].

When the user replies to the comment:

• Comment Reply Alert Subject - Enter the subject line for the real-time alert email when a reply to a comment is made. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_].
• Comment Reply Alert Detail - Enter the main body text for the real-time alert email when a comment is made. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_],[_Recipient_First_Name_], [_Recipient_Last_Name_], [_Poster_First_Name_], [_Poster_Last_Name_], [_Poster_Job_Title_], [_Poster_Company_], [_Item_Message_].

Receives a notification when a thread is created with user matching topics:

• Interest Alert Subject - Enter the subject line for the interest alert email. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_].
• Interest Alert Detail - Enter the main body text for the interest alert email. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_],[_Recipient_First_Name_], [_Recipient_Last_Name_], [_Poster_First_Name_], [_Poster_Last_Name_], [_Poster_Job_Title_], [_Poster_Company_], [_Item_Message_].

When the user subscribes to the thread:

• Join Alert Subject - Enter the subject line for the join alert email. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_].
• Join Alert Detail - Enter the main body text for the join alert email. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_],[_Recipient_First_Name_], [_Recipient_Last_Name_], [_Subscriber_First_Name_],[_Subscriber_Last_Name_], [_Subscriber_Job_Title_], [_Subscriber_Company_].

When the user likes the comment:

• Like Alert Subject - Enter the subject line for the like alert email, sent out to posters when their response or reply is liked. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_].
• Like Alert Detail - Enter the main body text for the like alert email. The following placeholders are available for use: [_Forum_Name_], [_Thread_Name_], [_Recipient_First_Name_], [_Recipient_Last_Name_], [_Poster_First_Name_], [_Poster_Last_Name_], [_Poster_Job_Title_], [_Poster_Company_].