Who Works Where

Workspaces are a defining element of the groupware environment, and you can generate these from the menubar. For example, you can assign separate areas to marketing, human resources, or sales and assign the employees to these areas from the Spaces configuration.

The workspace settings are where you create workspace-specific workflows and specify functions and workflows. Adding content to the workflows at the same time is a good idea. As with all other Cyn.in modules, you assign the desired applications and content types to the various workspaces in the module settings. The sharing function, which is available globally on the system in the menubar, is also of benefit. For example, to share content, you just follow the Sharing link and specify the content and the group.

The workspace function provides another special feature, wherein you can create structured sub-spaces in a workspace, and employees can create their own workspaces – including sharing permissions. By doing so, you can reflect the hierarchies that exist in the enterprise. With each new space, Cyn.in automatically adjusts the workspace hierarchy. Environment users navigate the entire structure from <Cyn.in Site>/Spaces on their homepage and can interact with co-workers wherever they have appropriate permissions. The apps available in each workspace are also configurable.

Social Applications

Groupware environments basically aim to optimize communication and improve the exchange of data and information. The Cyn.in system also does justice to this requirement by implementing contextual workspaces. You can create them in the Spaces configuration, which is available on the homepage. The goal of this function is to generate crowd knowledge. An Ajax-based commenting system is used in the contextual areas, which means that knowledge can be gleaned from exchanges between employees.

From the system-wide user directory, employees can easily contact co-workers, exchange information, and collaborate on content in workspaces. Typical status information shows who is available and when. Cyn.in also uses "infocards," which contain general contact and business information and other relevant information.

This area also dynamically consolidates user activities, content, and posts generated by users on a single dashboard. Posts and other content elements can be rated by users, and the highest ranking elements are highlighted in a word cloud.

Individual Pages for Users

To increase employee productivity, Cyn.in promises several supporting features, such as individual employee dashboards for personal employee workspaces through various portlets that implement, say, content aggregators, navigation systems, statistics, and graphics. Access is from the Spaces entry on the homepage and the matching Space setting. You can also benefit from the compatibility of Cyn.in dashboards with Plone portlets, which you can integrate into the environment and deploy globally on the system.

Activity streams let you implement cross-environment messages about changed content elements. When you do so, you decide which users are automatically informed about specific changes. The supported parameters include users, content types, tags, and dates. Basically, this classic feed system comes with a task-specific distribution capability. Besides this info system, you can also configure classic email notifications in the Cyn.in system settings.

The possibilities for client connection in Cyn.in are quite limited. Besides standard web access, the groupware system only supports WebDAV, which allows desktop clients direct access to storage areas. To configure the settings, you go to the User Management area. The creator, Cynapse, had been working on a desktop client, but the work has been discontinued.