What's new for Workspaces in SAP Build Work Zone?

[Vera_Gutbrod]

Recently new features were released to streamline the creation process and the member handling of workspaces in SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition. Among these features you will find:

• a new workspace creation dialog
• the removal of external workspaces as a separate workspace type  
• a consistent user experience between private and public workspaces
• expanded access control concepts: external users can now access public and private workspaces as members

See also the information in the What's New Viewer from April 18, 2024. 

These are the major innovations for workspaces:

Removal of External Workspaces
You cannot create anymore “External Workspaces”. When you create a new workspace, you can choose between creating a public workspace or a private workspace:

What are public workspaces? Workspaces that all users can view, join and collaborate in. Members can be invited to join or they can search for the workspace using the search functionality or by browsing on the workspaces screen and then request to join. Also non-members can join a public workspace - depending on the settings defined by the administrator.

What are private workspaces? Workspaces that only those users can join, who are invited to the workspace. In general, private workspaces are hidden and can't be found with the search functionality. If you're not invited to a private workspace, you can't see it on the workspaces screen unless the workspace administrator has defined the setting to Allow users to request to join this workspace.

Migration of External Workspaces to Private Workspaces
Existing external workspaces will be migrated automatically to private workspaces. An external warning icon will be added to the workspace header to indicate that the content of this workspace is visible to external users:

Handling of External Users/Members
External users can now be invited to both private and public workspaces. External users are guests of an organization, and they should not have access to any confidential or internal information. Before external users can access the system, they must be created on Identity Authentication and be provisioned by the Identity Provisioning service to SAP Build Work Zone, advanced edition. For more information, see About External Users.

This blog post guides you through the steps to create a private workspace. In general the creation flow is streamlined, and there is no big difference between creating private or public workspaces.

How to create a workspace?

1. When creating a new workspace, choose "Private Workspace" or "Public Workspace". In this blog post we will focus on creating a private workspace:

2. Enter a unique name and a description. Select one of the templates or you can select No Template. 

Note: If the workspace is public, the description is visible for everybody in the search. When the workspace is private, the description is visible for members only after they’ve been invited to the workspace or join the workspace.

You can define if the workspace is activated on creation, or you activate it later.

Define the following settings:

• External users can access the workspace and can be invited as members.
• Allow all members to invite users. When not selected, only workspace admins can invite users.
• Allow users to request to join this workspace (for private workspaces) or Allow others to join this workspace (for public workspaces).
  

 3. Click on Next to define the member participation settings. They can be read-only, limited or full. You also define the task, upload and approval policy:

4. Click Finish and the workspace is created.

5. You can change each of the settings in the edit mode of the workspace:

6. If needed you can change the member participation setting, for example you change the collaboration level from Full to Limited:

Additional Features for Public Workspaces

Collaboration Levels for Non-Members
A non-member visibility is available for workspaces to give non-members access to the workspace content. Workspace admins have the choice: (1) to give non-members the same collaboration settings as members or (2) to use a new read-only mode for non-members. This will hide the different membership & collaboration related features for the non-members across the workspace and its content. 

Access Control Settings 
Public workspaces now offer expanded access option to non-members, and offer these access options:

• Specific users or user lists
• Specific roles (for site admins)
• All internal users
• All external users (when enabled)
• All users

If you need additional information on workspaces, you can access the SAP Help Portal:

How to create a workspace? 
How to manage workspaces? 
Workspace Settings

If you have more questions on SAP Build Work Zone, visit our FAQ page on SAP Community.

More Information on new Features and Functions

• Check out the roadmap for standard & advanced edition.
• You can find more information in the What is new Viewer for standard edition and advanced edition.
• The availability date of the new features on the preview systems and the information about how to use them can be found in the What's New on Preview Systems.

Learn more

SAP Build Work Zone on: sap.com / SAP Community
Discovery Center missions: standard / advanced edition
SAP Build Work Zone on SAP PartnerEdge

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