Help > Managing Your Ecosystems

About Ecosystems

An ecosystem is a collection of related networks that you can easily manage with an administrative console. An ecosystem offers numerous advantages over having several, separate networks. For example, with ecosystems, a profile can be used across multiple networks within the ecosystem. Network members also have the option of  easily sharing files across networks within the ecosystem. (For additional information about sharing, see Working with Files.)

Ecosystems are available from BroadVision as a premium service and are available with branded or custom URLs.

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About the Administrative Console

When you purchase the Clearvale Ecosystem option, BroadVision provides you with an administrative console to manage it. The console allows the administrator to perform the following tasks:

  • Add networks to the ecosystem
  • Filter your view of networks by private and public types
  • Access your networks
  • Clone an ecosystem
  • View network members
  • View network statistics
  • Add Members
  • Manage member roles
  • Add Ecosystem Admins

A password is provided with the console, and the administrator can assign others to act as ecosystem administrators.

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Adding Networks

When you first login to your administrative console you will not have any networks within it. To add a network to your ecosystem:

  • Select Networks>Add Network.
  • Add a network name and description. The description is optional and appears beneath your network name.
  • Add an email address to associate with the network.
  • Add the URL for your network. This cannot be changed.
  • Choose a default language for your network.
  • Choose your Network Access settings by using the check boxes and radio buttons
    • Check Allow unregistered visitors to access your network and view public information if you want to allow this option.
    • Select either Public or Private network. Selecting Public creates a public network with no restrictions on email domains except for the ones you specify. Selecting Private (Business) creates a private network for your organization. Members must have an email address from the domains that you specify.
  • Check Disable Sharing if this is what you want. By default any content on a network in an ecosystem can be shared with other networks in the ecosystem. If you do not want this network's content to be shared between networks, check the disable box. (If the box is already selected and you cannot deselect, that means that the ecosystem does not allow sharing between any networks within it.)
  • Choose Joining & Invitations settings. These settings indicate whether or not unregistered people can join your network without an invitation and also who can invite people to the network.
  • Indicate whether or not content items show on the home page by default. If set to "No," administrators must manually approve of content before it displays on the home page.
  • Save when done.
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Managing Members

Members are users of a Clearvale network and are assigned roles. To manage members at the ecosystem level, select the Members tab. When you select this tab, a sub-menu appears with the following choices:

  • Manage. Use this page to search for members in different networks within your ecosystem and see which networks in the ecosystem members belong to. If you click on the Manage link next to a member's name, you can perform other tasks regarding that member:
    • View the member's profile.
    • View the member's profile picture.
    • View the member's roles for each network and update the roles if you like.
    • View recent activity by the member.
  • Add Members. Use this page to add members individually or in bulk to networks within your ecosystem. When you add a member, you select the role that person will have in the network. See Inviting Members.
  • Add Ecosystem Admin. Use this page to add a new administrator for your ecosystem. See Adding Ecosystem Admins for more information.
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Inviting Members

From the ecosystem console, you can add a member by performing the following steps:

  • Go to Members>Add Members.
  • To invite individual members:
    • Click Individual.
    • Enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite, separating each with a comma or carriage return.
    • Use the check boxes to indicate the networks to which you want the people to belong. Also use the drop-down menu to select the role for the member.
  • To send invites to a large group:
    • Click Bulk Import.
    • Browse to a .csv or .txt file that contains the emails of people you want to invite. Make sure that the emails are comma-separated values.
    • Click upload.
    • When done, click the Manage tab. From here find a member and click on the Manage link next to that member.
    • Go to Membership & Roles.
    • Click Add to Network under a network name to add a person to that network. Once added, use the drop-down to select a role for that person.
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Adding Ecosystem Admins

To add another administrator to your ecosystem:

  • Go to Members>Add Ecosystem Admin.
  • Enter the person's first and last name.
  • Enter the person's email address.
  • Click Register.

The person will receive an email invitation to the ecosystem.

NOTE: Adding a person as as ecosystem administrator does not automatically make that person a network member or administrator of any of the individual networks. The person must be added to selected networks.

 

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Cloning an Ecosystem

You may have an ecosystem whose structure you want to replicate. If this is the case, you can use the cloning feature to clone the entire ecosystem. When you clone an ecosystem, everything is cloned: site structure, content, members, roles, and so on. You can clone an ecosystem more than once. By default, cloned ecosystems cannot be cloned; the Allow Clone flag must be activated in order for the ecosystem to be clonable.

 

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