Collaboration is the key to success. Harmoni users can work with other selected team members to share and edit their constructions. This feature ensures that users can easily review and finalize definitions together. They can then transfer ownership to the Project Owner, ready to publish to the wider Harmoni community.
In this article
1. Data Preview Access
The first step in sharing constructions is to create the group of users who will share and see others' constructions. The Project Owner creates this group by adding users to the preview access group in the sharing pane. Those in the preview access group can share and transfer constructions.
- Access the sharing pane through the project entity tile or the publish/share button when you are in the project area.
- Use the Preview Access drop zone to drag and drop users to give them access to the preview mode icon.
- All users included in this zone, who also have the personalization key enabled, will see the preview icon when accessing the project.
2. Sharing Constructions Process
a. Create and share a new construction
Once a Harmoni user (Explorer or Creator) is part of the preview access group, they can share their constructions with other members of the preview access group. The steps to share a construction are simple.
- Create a construction.
- Click the share/unshare button in the design menu. (Use this toggle button to unshare a construction if you change your mind about sharing.)
- The share icon
and the label Shared appear next to the shared construction. Each element displays the share icon.
Other features
- A user can share either the whole axis or selected elements within the axis. When selected elements are shared, the axis displays the Share icon and label, and the selected element(s) display the share icon. The user who shares the constructions sees these labels.
- When a user creates their own heading and shares a construction from within this new section, the heading is also shared with other users. The heading displays the share icon and label in the user's version of the project tree.
- You can create a new element in an existing public axis. For example, you can create a combined element in a rating scale for a new Top box, and share this with others in the Preview group. However, because this axis belongs to the Project Owner, you cannot transfer this element to the Project Owner. Do not use this element in stories you intend to share with General Access users. The Project Owner must create this element in the axis. Please see Combined elements within a public axis for further details.
b. View and edit a shared construction
When a user shares their construction, the recipient sees the name of the sharer next to the axis. If the construction is included under a heading the sharer creates, then the heading also includes the sharer's name.
In this example, a constructed axis has been shared which is located within a user-created heading. You can see the user name as it appears within the recipient's project tree.
The recipient can access the definition of the construction but cannot edit the construction directly. To make changes to the construction, make a copy and paste it into the project tree.
Note: The user cannot paste the construction under the shared heading as shared items are read-only. To edit, the user must paste the construction into a published part of the project tree.
- Review the shared construction.
- If you want to make modifications, copy the construction.
- Paste the construction into a published part of the project tree.
- Edit the construction.
- Click share/unshare to share your updated construction with others. It will appear in their project tree with your user name in the label.
A Project Owner needs to click the preview icon to see the published version of the project. This displays the shared construction that exists in the published project.
Note: A Project Owner cannot edit a shared construction. Changes can be made once ownership is transferred to the Project Owner, and it appears in the unpublished project tree.
Learn more about what the Project Owner sees with Preview mode.
c. Transfer ownership
Once a user finalizes the construction definitions and wants to publish it to the wider Harmoni community, they can transfer ownership to the Project Owner.
Once transferred, the user will no longer see the construction in the published project. A user can view the transferred construction by clicking on the Preview icon to see the unpublished project, but they cannot edit it any further.
- Select the construction.
- Click the transfer to owner button in the design menu.
- To see the construction, click the preview icon.
- The construction appears with the sharer's name alongside.
Note: to transfer the heading as well, select the heading name and click transfer to owner.
Once transferred to the Project Owner, the name of the user who created it is included in the construction's label. The Project Owner can make changes to the label or the construction definitions if required, and then publish the project to share the construction with the wider Harmoni community.
A Project Owner does not see the share/unshare or transfer to owner buttons in the design menu.
d. Combined elements within a public axis
You cannot change definitions or labels of public variables created by the Project Owner, including their constructed or combined axes.
You can, however, use the combine function on elements within a public variable.
Share the combined element (you can't share a public axis), and members of the Preview Access group will see the shared element within the public axis. It is accessible in Stories for members of the Preview Access group.
However, because this axis belongs to the Project Owner, you cannot transfer this element to the Project Owner. If you need users with General Access to see this element in the Project tree and in Stories, the Project Owner must create this element in the public axis.
In this example, a Top 2 Box combined element is added to the public Likelihood to Recommend axis.
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- Explorer 1 creates a Top 2 Box element using combine items within the public axis.
- Explorer 1 selects the element and clicks the share/unshare button.
- Explorer 2 can see and use the shared element within the public axis.
3. Shared constructions in stories
Shared constructions can be used in stories by all users in the preview access group. The construction will also continue to work in stories once ownership is transferred and the project published.
- When the construction is transferred to the Project Owner, and before it is published, users need to use Preview mode
to continue seeing the construction in the stories.
- Once the Project Owner publishes the project with the new construction, everyone can see and use the construction in the published project tree.
- Stories with the new construction continue to work even if the Project Owner changes the name of the construction.
A Project Owner will not automatically see shared constructions (before they are transferred). The Project Owner needs to turn on Preview mode.
If a story that includes shared constructions is shared with a Project Owner, the Project Owner will not automatically see the story views that include the shared construction. The Project Owner is not part of the Preview Access group and must turn on the preview mode to see the publicly shared version of the project.