Organizational Unit (OU) Workspaces 

Organizational Unit (OU) Workspaces

Organizational Unit (OU) Workspaces are only available to active volunteers and staff. Although they share similar tools and features with Standard Workspaces, Organizational Unit Workspaces are optimal for handling and archiving compliance-related documents. Access is automatically limited to the active volunteers of IEEE organizational units and staff. 

• IEEE is the owner of the Organizational Unit workspace and by default all OU workspace users are classified as moderators. So rules of owners and co-owners in standard workspaces do not apply.

• Organizational Unit Workspaces will automatically set and limit entry to only eligible active volunteers from the corresponding organizational unit such as a section, chapter, committee, etc.  

• Document retention compliance mechanism is built-in to the Organizational Unit Workspace for handling/archiving IEEE-compliant documents but non-compliant files will be treated as in any other standard workspace.  

• Once an Organizational Unit workspace is created (related to the 'organization'), there will be no ability to create a duplicate. 

Organizational Unit Workspace Topic Index:

A. Capabilities

B. Features & Functions

C. Creating new Organizational Unit workspaces 

D. Inviting other users into your Organizational Unit workspace

E. Viewing/Exploring

F. Volunteer Organizational Unit Workspace-File Storage Guidance 

G. Different roles: Co-owners/Moderators

H. Files Section

I. Other Topics

A. Capabilities

• Verified identity of Organizational Unit Workspace participants and current profiles, through Collabratec’s direct and real-time integration with IEEE databases

• Automatic access by only active volunteers of the organizational unit

• Unlimited centralized file storage with collaborative editing for volunteer files (when Google Drive size limits of 5 GB isn’t enough)  

• File archiving with automatic file deletion after user selected amount of time (supports compliance with IEEE file retention policies)

• Support for discussions

B. Features & Functions of Organizational Unit Workspaces

• An OU Workspace is accessible by all volunteers in that OU. Access is granted and removed automatically based on officer reporting to ensure uninterrupted access to files and discussions

• Every volunteer of the OU Workspace has equal permissions and is able to delete, move and edit files and folders. 

• Other Collabratec users can be invited to the OU Workspace to collaborate with OU volunteers. Their access will be automatically removed in 30 days. If additional access is required, they can be invited to the workspace again (there are no invitation limits).

• Volunteers can upload files to an OU Workspace from a local computer or from an optionally attached service such as Google Drive (default), Box, or Drop Box.

• Each OU Workspace has a special restricted access folder only accessible by the OU’s Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. This folder can be used to store confidential files only visible to the executive committee members.

C. Creating new Organizational Unit workspaces

To reduce redundancy and ease the transition between incoming and outgoing organizational unit volunteers, only one OU Workspace can be created for an organizational unit. This ensures that all of the OU files and related discussions are in a single location and are always accessible by the current OU volunteers.

Any officer of the organization unit can initiate the creation of the Organization Unit Workspace, but each OU Workspace has a special restricted access folder only accessible by the OU’s Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and is automatically added when an Organizational Unit Workspace is created.

See OU Workspaces Creation Tutorial images 1 and 2 on the right. For detailed instructions, view the Organizational Unit Workspace Tutorial document.

D. Inviting others into your Organizational Unit Workspace

Other Collabratec users can be invited to the OU Workspace to collaborate with OU volunteers. Their access will be automatically removed in 30 days. If they require additional access, they can be invited to the workspace again (there are no limits on how many times they can be invited). 

The different types of Organizational Unit Workspaces a volunteer can automatically participate in are dependent on the volunteers’ IEEE affiliations.

E. Viewing/Exploring Organizational Unit Workspaces

Any active volunteers can access an OU workspace for their specific Organizational Unit.

IEEE volunteers and staff can see a list of existing accessible OU Workspaces by navigating to the Workspaces screen and selecting “IEEE Organizational Unit/Archival” under the “Participation” filter on the left side of the screen. If you do not see an OU Workspace for your organizational unit, it is likely that it has not been created yet. 

F. Volunteer Organizational Unit Workspace-File Storage Guidance 

File archiving is available to support compliance with IEEE file retention policies. Files archived in an OU workspace cannot be edited or removed prior to the specified retention period expiration. Archived files are automatically deleted after the specified retention period. 

G. Different roles: Co-owners/Moderators

Unlike standard workspaces, the owner of the Organizational Unit workspace defaults to IEEE. All participants of the OU workspace are classified as Moderators, even for the volunteer who created it. There are no official owner or co-owner roles.

H. Files Section

File compliance mechanism is built-in to the Organizational Unit Workspace for handling and archiving IEEE-compliant documents. Non-compliant files will be treated the same as any other standard workspace. 

Each OU Workspace has a special restricted access folder only accessible by the OU’s Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. This folder can be used to store confidential files only visible to the executive committee members. 

I. Other Topics

For information on the following topics, please reference the IEEE Collabratec Info Pages-Workspaces

• Uploading files and folders from local storage and online storage including bulk folder upload

• Shared file editing setup and functionality

• Attaching online services   

• Posting content

• Project tracker and project management tool

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