Collaboration is the key to success. Harmoni Explorers and non-owner Creators 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
- Data Preview Access
- Sharing Constructions Process Overview
- Combined items within a Public Axis
- Shared Constructions in Stories
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 and select a construction, e.g. an axis.
- 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 label Shared appears at the end of the label.
- Select an item you have constructed
- From the design menu, click share/unshare
- Shared items are marked with a shared label.
Share Headings
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 and the axis displays the shared label.
Share UCAs in Public Axes
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. If it is intended for public use, ask the Project Owner to create this element in the axis.
Please see Combined elements within a public axis below for further details.
Dependent Items
When you share items, if they are dependent on other items, these items will also be shared.
For example:
- Only the whole axis can be shared. If you select an element within an axis, the whole axis is shared as the element is a dependent of the axis.
- If you create a new axis (axis 1) and include any of its elements in another new axis you create (axis 2), both axis 1 and axis 2 will be shared when you share either axis.
Harmoni provides a warning that all dependents will be shared and informs you of the axis name(s).
If you unshare items with dependents, Harmoni will unshare any dependent items. You will also receive a warning of this action.
Delete a Construction you have Shared
If you create and share a construction and then try to delete the construction, Harmoni lets you know that this will impact other users. Only delete the shared UCA is you are certain others are not using it.
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.
- Use the library/editor to review the shared construction
- Make a copy and paste into a published part of the project tree
- Edit as required
- Share the updated construction
View a Shared Construction: Project Owner
A Project Owner cannot see shared constructions in their unpublished version of the project tree. They need to click the preview icon to see the published version of the project. Clicking the preview icon displays the shared constructions that exist in the published project.
- For the project owner, shared constructions are not visible in the project tree.
- To view the published project version, click the preview icon.
- The project owner can view the shared UCAs
A Project Owner cannot edit a shared construction
Because the Project Owner can only see the shared construction in preview mode, they cannot edit it. Once ownership of a shared construction is transferred to them and it appears in their unpublished project tree, they can make changes to it.
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.
The EXCL icon indicates the item is currently excluded from being published. This is the default setting when an item is first transferred. Learn more about Exclude.
Note: to transfer a heading with any user created items included, select the heading name and click transfer to owner.
- Select the construction and click transfer to owner
- Use preview to view the construction
d. Publish the Construction
Once transferred to the Project Owner, the construction appears with the EXCL icon next to the label. The Project Owner can make changes to the label or the construction definitions if required. Prior to publishing the project to the wider Harmoni community, the Project Owner must include the item.
A Project Owner does not see the share/unshare or transfer to owner buttons in the design menu.
- Once transferred, the Project owner sees the new item
- Update the construction if required
- Include the item for publishing
- Publish the project for all users to see the new item
3. Combined Items within a Public Axis
Although Explorers and Creators (non-owners) cannot change definitions or labels of public variables created by the Project Owner, they can use combine items to create new axes or elements within a public variable.
a. Combined Elements in an Axis
In a public axis, use combine items on elements to create a new net. You can then share the combined element, 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.
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.
- 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
b. Combined Items in a Grid
Within a grid, Creators and Explorers can combine axes and/or elements and share them with other members of the Preview Access Group. The following behaviors apply:
- When you share one combined item in a grid, all combined items in the grid whether axis or element are shared.
- If you have already shared items in the grid, if you add a new combined item, it will automatically be shared as well.
- Although you can transfer combined axes to the project owner, you cannot transfer any combined elements in the grid to the project owner.
- You can transfer more than one combined axis to the project owner by selecting all the combined axes you have created and clicking transfer to owner.
- If a user shares their combined axis in a grid, and the recipient then adds a combined element net to the grid, when the recipient analyzes the grid, they won't see a value for their element net in the shared combined axis. Harmoni can't create the element net in a variable that is owned by another.
- A combined axis and element have been created
- Select an item to share, all combined items in the grid are shared.
- Creating a new combined item automatically shares it.
- Select both the combined axes and click transfer to owner
- When the combined element is selected, the transfer to owner option does not appear.
4. 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.