Introduction
Sites are collections of knowledge in your Ondexx instance, each with their own structure, settings, and users. An instance can have as many sites as needed, for a variety of different use-cases.
This article reviews the process of creating a new site, and the initial steps to set the site up.
Creating a new Site
Sites can only be created by any user with the Create New Sites global right.
This right is likely held by a member of your IT team, or the primary stakeholder of Ondexx at your organization.
Alternatively, you can reach out to support@ondexx.com for assistance.
To create a new site, click + Add New > Site.
From there, enter the desired name of your site, and click SAVE.
When creating a new site, the option is available to duplicate an existing site rather than start from a blank slate. More information on this process can be found here: Duplicating Ondexx Sites
Configuring your Site Settings
A good place to start when setting up your new site is the Site Settings, where the most important workflow and security settings can be configured. It is best to have these configured prior to creating content or onboarding users.
To configure your site settings, click Administration > Site Management > Site Settings.
A guide to the most important settings to review can be found below. When you finish configuring Site Settings, click SAVE at the bottom right of the page.
Security
This section controls the high-level security settings for your site.
Start by selecting the Data Classification for your site, based on the type of content that will be contained in the site. The security settings will auto-adjust based on your selection, and can be customized from there.
Site Access controls which type of users can access your site—Internal or External. Setting this option to Private will leave the site unlisted from the “All Available Sites” menu, making it invite only.
Page and Component Access Controls allow you to control which modules, chapters, pages, and page components different users are able to view. If you plan to have certain content only available to certain users, consider enabling these two settings. To read more about configuring permissions, refer to this article: Viewing Permissions Overview
Settings
This section allows primary preferences to be set for the site.
Site-wide settings for Annotations, Content Export, and Search can be configured here.
We highly recommend enabling the File Manager setting, as it will allow you and your Editors to easily access the site’s file management system.
Workflows
This section controls the optional workflows available in the site.
These should be configured at the beginning of the site creation process, as they can take time to set up if enabled later.
Review this article, and determine which workflows you are interested in using in your site: Ondexx Workflows – Optional Workflows
Onboard the Site Owners
Oftentimes an Ondexx Site is created by someone other than the user(s) who will be responsible for the new site. Before continuing, the creator of the site should onboard the Site Owners (i.e. administrators of the site) to pass care of the site to the appropriate party.
- Click Add New + > Users.
- Enter the email addresses of the Site Owners to be onboarded.
- Select all users, and click Change Role.
- Select “Site Owner(s)” from the dropdown, and click Apply.
- Click SEND INVITATIONS NOW to onboard the Site Owners into the new site.
If the new Site Owners are already Active Users, they will immediately gain access to the site.
If they are new users, there may be additional steps you need to take. Refer to this article for more details on onboarding users: How to onboard new users
Configuring User Controls
After configuring your site-wide settings, you should begin considering the different kinds of users who will utilize your site.
Ondexx has several different ways that users can be managed and organized. Before you onboard your Editors and begin creating your content, you should configure what user roles you want in your site, and what users in those roles should be able to do.
Roles
Ondexx sites require that all users have a Role in a site. Roles generally describe what the user does in a site (for example, “End User” or “Editor”), and are generally where rights are assigned.
When a new site is created, you will find the following roles:
- Basic User
- Content Approver
- Content Editor
- Site Owner(s)
New roles can be added, and existing roles can be modified or removed at any time.
Consider what different users in your sites will do, and create roles to match. For example, you might have “Basic Users” view your content, “Content Editors” create and publish your content, and “Site Owner(s)” that manage users and site settings.
You can review your site’s roles under Administration > User Management > Roles. New roles can be added at any time under Add New > Role.
Groups
Groups are an optional user management tool in Ondexx sites, and function similarly to roles. Groups tend to describe a user’s job outside of Ondexx. For example, a group might describe a user’s company, region, or team,
A user can belong to any number of groups, and does not need to be assigned a group at all. Groups tend to be used to assign permissions when used, but can also be used purely for organizational purposes.
Groups can be created by going to Add New > Group and managed under Administration > User Management > Groups.
Rights
Rights are a user management tool used to control what users are able to do within a Site—for example, the ability to Edit Pages, Approve Pages, and Manage Users are all controlled with individual permissions.
Rights tend to be assigned to Roles, controlling what users in that role are able to do. This allows you to finely tune what minor aspects of a site should be permitted to certain users, from allowing Editors to publish their own work, or allowing an End User to download a PDF copy of a page.
You will need to configure the rights of each role in your site before you can onboard users.
Rights can be managed under Administration > Site Management > Rights. In the “Roles” tab, you can select the Role where you would like to assign rights. Simply select the rights that should apply to users in this role, and click SAVE.
Permissions
Permissions are an optional user management tool used to control what users are able to see within a Site. This allows certain Modules, Chapters, Pages, and Components to only be viewable to certain users.
Permissions tend to be assigned to Groups, controlling what parts of the site users in that group are able to see. If a user belongs to multiple groups, they will receive the total permissions applied to all groups.
Permissions can be managed under Administration > Site Management > Page Permissions / Component Permissions. In the “Groups” tab, you can select the Group where you would like to assign permissions. Simply select the rights that should apply to users in this role, and click SAVE.
Determine your site structure
Modules and Chapters
Ondexx sites use a three-level structure to organize information. This structure is always the same, in every site. As you create your content, you will need to consider how you want to organize your content into Modules, Chapters, and Pages.
Modules are the top level of the site, and populate the navigation bar at the top of the screen. They contain Chapters, which are shown when the module is hovered over. These two levels will be used to organize your information into logical categories, making it findable to your users.
Chapters contain Pages, which are the final level, and where your information will live. Pages will be the policies, procedures, articles, and informational content that resides in your site—in other words, Pages will have the information that your users are looking for.
Consider how you want to organize your content in your site. What Modules make sense as the broad categories for your knowledge base? What chapters make the most sense within the Modules?
When ready, you can create your Modules and Chapters under Add New > Module and Add New > Chapter. You can always add, remove, or rename Modules and Chapters at any time.
Page Components
While pages are the bottom level of the site structure, they are made up of Page Components. Page Components can be thought of as the high-level headings within a page, and will contain your content.
Every page can have different page components, but you may want to consider which components should be present in which types of pages. New components can be created at any time in the Components menu of the Page Editor.
Consider what the different components of your pages will be. For example, you might have a “General Information” component followed by a “Procedure” component for a procedural page.
Determine your content formatting conventions
Ondexx sites are equipped with many different templating and formatting tools to help ensure a consistent look and feel across all your sites pages. While these tools are optional, they can be of great value to you and your editors when initially creating your site’s content.
In order to make the most of these tools, you should consider how you want your Pages to be set up.
Content Templates
Content Templates are the most straightforward type of templating available to you. Also known as “Snippets,” they are pre-made pieces of content that can be quickly inserted into a page while editing.
Any content that will be repeated frequently throughout the page creation process is a great candidate for a Content Template. For example, tables can be pre-made and templated so that an editor does not need to recreate the table from scratch.
Content Templates can be created and managed by going to Administration > Content Management > Content Templates.
Component Templates
Component Templates allow for a small amount of automation to be added to your templates. A Component Template is attached to a Page Component, and becomes the default content of the component when it is added to the page.
For example, if you have a “Ratings Table” page component, you could attach a component template that contains the premade ratings table. Then, wherever that component is added to a page, the table template will be present.
Component Templates can be created and managed by going to Administration > Content Management > Component Templates. Once created, you can attach these templates to components by going to Administration > Content Management > Components.
Default Components
Chapters have an optional setting to determine the Default Page Components of pages created in this chapter. If pages created in a specific part of a site will always contain the same components, using Default Components can save the editors the step of continuously adding the same components to new pages.
Additionally, this can help to ensure consistency across your pages, and prevent errors when new pages are created.
To modify the Default Components of a chapter, navigate to the chapter itself and click Edit Chapter. From there, you can switch to the Default Components tab and choose that chapter’s default components.
Recap and Next Steps
To recap, these are major important steps to take when setting up a new site:
- Set-up your Site Settings, and enable your optional workflows.
- Set-up your User Settings by setting user roles and rights.
- Set-up your site structure by creating your modules and chapters.
- When appropriate, create various templates to streamline the editor experience.
Once these four major steps are completed, you can onboard your Editor users, and begin creating your Pages.
Once all your pages have been published, you are ready to onboard your non-editor users.
Learn how to onboard new users into Ondexx here: How to onboard new users.