What’s Self-Service Community?
There are four different types of learning communities that can be configured in Oracle Fusion Cloud Learn. The definition and purpose of a community vary depending on its type. In this article, we will focus on the self-service community. A self-service community is a virtual space that allows learners to organize and share learning catalogs with similar motives. For instance, you can create a community dedicated to self-help topics or one that empowers women employees. Once created, you can invite other learners to join the community.
This type of community is termed self-service because learners have the ability to create and manage it themselves. In this article, we will walk through the steps required to create and maintain a self-service community. For Official Community, you can refer to this article » Learn To Configure and Use Official Community in Learning Cloud.
Learn to configure self-service community
To create a self-service community in oracle fusion cloud learn follow below navigation
Navigation : Me » Learning » My Learning Tab
You will be on My Learning Experiences landing page. Click on Actions button and you will see following two options
- Request Noncatalog Learnings : We have already discussed this and explained steps to request noncatalog learning items.
- View My Learning Communities : Focus for todays article would be in creating learning communities, so select this option.
Once you choose option View My Learning Communities you will be taken to My Learning Communities page. Here you will see following two buttons, where I’m Member Of is currently selected.
- I’m a Member Of
- I manager
We will learn about them later, at the top right corner you will notice a button called Create Community. Click on this button to create your Self-Service Community. On the Create Community page, enter details as follows
Community Details
- Community Title : Marketing Mastery Hub
- Branding Image : <You can use this image https://i.postimg.cc/bYC9ZZQJ/sscommunity.jpg >
- Description : The Marketing Mastery Hub is your go-to destination for all things marketing-related. This vibrant community brings together marketing enthusiasts, professionals, and learners to share insights, discover the latest trends, and access a curated collection of marketing courses, including digital marketing, content marketing, and more. Join us in mastering the art of marketing and stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of digital promotion.
Visibility
In this section you define who can view, join or contribute to the community. You will see following three options for privacy.
- Open : Learning community appears in search results, and anyone can view the content in this learning community.
- Closed : Learning community appears in search results, but only members can view the content in this learning community.
- Secret : Learning community appears in search results only for members of the community.
For this article go with the default option that is Open for the field Privacy. For the Member Contributions field you will see following two options.
- Disable : Only community managers can add learning items to this community
- Enable : Any member can add learning items to this community
Go with the default option that Disable.
Related Materials
In this section, you have the option to attach any additional documents that may be helpful for community members. You can also upload guidelines for community members outlining what is acceptable (dos) and what is discouraged (don’ts) within the community. The choice is entirely yours, as this is a self-service community.
Create Community
Once you are done, scroll up and click on Submit button to complete community creation. It will take you back to My Learning Communities page, but this time button I Manage is selected.
Learn to Manage Community
While I Manage button is selected, you will notice the learning community “Marketing Mastery Hub” you just created. You will notice that category of the community is “Self-Service Community”. Click on the community to open it.
On the Learning Community Details page. In the Learning Catalog section, click on Add to Catalog button and select option Select from Learning Catalog. This will open Search and Select page.
You can search for Digital Marketing Fundamentals course or any other courses you configured earlier. Click on the checkbox next to the course or any other learning items that you want to add to the community. Once done click on Submit button.
Learn to add Members to the Community
While you are still on Learning Community Details page. You will notice that just below the page header it show number of member this community has, currently its showing zero. Click on the Actions button and you will see following options
- Manage Community
- Recommended
- Ratings
- Copy Link
- Comments
- Community Details
Most of these options are self-explanatory. You can click on the first option that is Manage Community. This will take you to Marketing Mastery Hub page. Click on the Members link (side Panel). I
- Click on Add button available in the membership section.
- This will take you to Add Members page.
- Click on Add People filed and select members you would like to add to your community. Try to add minimum two members. Let’s call them Mr. Member and Mr. Manager
- Once done click on Submit button.
- You will be back to Marketing Mastery Hub page.
- In the Membership section you will see all members you just added.
- Click on the check-box against any member and Actions button in the Membership section will be activated.
- Click on the Actions button and you will see following three options, purpose is self-explanatory
- Accept Join Request
- Decline Join Request
- Remove Member
Learn to Update Community Manager
- While you are still on Marketing Mastery Hub page.
- Click on the Community Managers link.
- In the membership section you will see your name listed there as community manager.
- Click on the Add button. This will take you to Add Managers page.
- Search for the people you would like to allow to manage this community. Try to add one member who is already a member of the community. You can select Mr. Manager that you added earlier.
- Click on Submit button to return back to Marketing Mastery Hub page.
- In the Membership section now you will see two community managers.
- Select Manager you just added and click on Actions button. You will get option to Remove Manager. Don’t remove.
Self-Service Community Addition Actions
While you are still on Marketing Mastery Hub page you can click on the Actions button and you will find following options, again these options are self-explanatory.
- Request Noncatalog Learning
- Request Noncatalog Learning for My Team
- Recommend
- Edit Learning Community.
You will also see a Preview as Member button.
Click on the Actions button and select option Recommend, which will take you to Recommend Learning page. On this page first enter Comments and then select people you would like to recommend this learning community. Lets call this person Mr. Recommend. Click on Submit button. You will back to Marketing Mastery Hub page.
Explore Community as Non-Member
Login as normal employee who is neither a member, manager or recommended and follow below navigation
Navigation : Me » Learning » Search Tab
Click on Learning Type filter option and select option Learning Community, this will bring all learning community where visibility is set as open or closed. Since community we configured earlier has visibility as Open, you should see it, if you dont, change the Sort by option to Most recently added. Our learning community Marketing Mastery Hub will appear at the top.
- Click on the community name to expand it.
- Click on Learn More which will take you to Learning Community Details page.
- Go through the community details.
- In the Learning Catalog section you can see learning items added to the community, this is because visibility is set to Open.
- Before clicking on Join button notice the number of members this community has in the page header section.
- Click on Join button, number of member will increase by one.
Explore Community as Member
Congratulations!! you are now a member of the community. A member need not to go through the steps mentioned above to access the learning community. You can follow below navigation to directly access the community you are member of.
Navigation : Me » Learning » My Learning Tab
- Click on the Actions button
- Select option View My Learning Communities
- Ensure I’m a Member Of is already selected
- You will all find all communities you are member of.
- Click on Marketing Mastery Hub community to open it.
You will be on Learning Community Details page. In the Learning Catalog section, you dont get option to add new contents this is because Member Contributions for this community is set as Disabled.
Click on Actions button and you will see following options, again they all are self-explanatory
-
- Leave Community
- Recommend
- Ratings
- Copy Link
- Comments
- Report
- Community Details
You can try to give 5 star rating and a nice comment to this community.
Explore Community as Community Manager
You can login as Mr. Manager who you added to community as community manager and follow below navigation.
Navigation : Me » Learning » My Learning Tab
- Click on the Actions button
- Select option View My Learning Communities
- Click on I Manage button
- You will all find all communities you can manage.
- Click on Marketing Mastery Hub community to open it.
You can doo all activities a normal member can do but along with that you can also add new learning items in the Learning Catalog section.
You can click on Actions button and select option Manage Community. On the left hand side you will see following three options
- Catalog
- Members
- Community Managers
We have already explored these options when we created community initially. Click on the Member link and you will see a new addition, who voluntarily joined the group.
Change Visibility Options of the Community
Click on the Actions button and select option Edit Learning Community. This will take you to Edit Community Details page. Scroll below to Visibility section and update details as follows
- Privacy : Closed
- Member Contribution : Enable
Scroll up and click on Submit button. This will take you back to Marketing Mastery Hub page.
Explore Community as Recommended
Earlier we recommended this community to Mr. Recommend. You can login as that manager and follow below navigation.
Navigation : Me » Learning » Browse Tab
Click on the Recommended tab and you will notice the learning community recommended to you.
Click on the community name to expand it. You will see following three buttons
- Get Started : This will directly join you to the groups
- Learn More : You will get to know more about this community
- Not Interested : Will be removed from recommended tab
Click on Learn More option, You will be surprise to see message – Content restricted to members. Join to view.
This is because we changed the privacy setting of the community to Closed, which means only the member of the community can see the contents.
Click on the Join button to join the community. The count of total community member will increase by one. As a member, now you can also add contents in the Learning Catalog section as the Member Contributions option for the community is changed to Enable.
Explore Community as Learning Administrator
Navigation : My Client Groups » Learning » Learning Catalog » Communities
We will talk about what a learning administrator can do with respect to community in details when we will cover other types of learning communities. But for now lets only focus on self-service community.
- On the Communities page, in the search section click on Community Type filed and you will see following four community types
- Category Community
- Official Community : You can refer this article for more information » Learn To Configure and Use Official Community in Learning Cloud
- Self-Service Community
- Topic Community
- Select option Self-Service Community
- In the Community Title field enter value Marketing
- Click on Search button.
In the search result section you will find self-service community Marketing Mastery Hub. Click on community title to open it. This will take you to Marketing Mastery Hub page. On the left hand side you will see following options
- Definitions
- Assignments
- Catalog
- Self-Service Conversation
- Membership
On the top right corner, you will find an Edit button, click on that. Scroll down to User Privacy Settings section. Change the value to Open for Privacy option. Click on Save and Close button.
Click on the Membership link and you can see/update members. Do explore others options if you wish to do so, anyways we will cover them in detail in the next article.
Have Questions?
We’ve thoroughly explored the concept of self-service communities, and by now, we hope you have a comprehensive understanding of this type of learning community. Throughout this journey, we’ve learned how a learner can initiate the creation of a community and invite others to join. We’ve also delved into the various roles that members and managers can assume within the community, as well as how a learning administrator can effectively manage a self-service community.
Stay tuned as we delve into other types of communities in the near future. In the meantime, if you have any questions or require further clarification regarding self-service communities, please do not hesitate to post them in our vibrant HCM community at hcmfolks.com. Here, you can tap into other valuable resources and receive assistance from fellow Oracle HCM professionals.