Create a community activity
Add activities to the community to provide community members with a place to assign tasks and to share information and resources. When you start an activity from a community, we can grant access to the activity to all community members, or we can restrict access to a subset of members.
For community members to create activities, a community owner must first add the Activities widget to the community. See Add widgets to the community.
Create an activity is a useful way to share to-do items, post event information, and organize meetings within a community. Creating an activity is easy: Click a button and complete a form. There are no required fields. We can edit the activity later to add or change information.
If we want, we can create an activity from a template. A template captures the tasks required to complete a specific job. For example, a patent template might link to the files, databases, tools, or websites that an inventor seeking a patent would need. It might also capture a list of to-do items that an inventor would need to complete as part of the patent application process.
Activity owners can also share activities with a community from the Activities application. When an activity owner shares an activity with a community, a link to the activity displays in the community. A linked icon displays next to the activity title to indicate that it is a shared activity. For information about sharing an activity with a community, see Starting an activity.
To create a community activity.
- On the community's Overview page, click Start an Activity in the Activities area. When we are creating the first community activity, the link displays as Create Your First Activity.
- If we are not already logged in, we are prompted for a user name and password. Provide the requested information, and then click Log In.
- In the Name field, type a short name describing the purpose of the activity.
- In the Tags field, type a tag term. As you type, a list of matching tags from the tag collection is displayed. Click a tag to add it, or keep typing to add a tag that is not in the list. Separate multiple tags with commas.
- Add members to the activity by doing one of the following tasks:
- To add a subset of community members to the activity as authors:
- Select Allow only the following community members access in the activity as, and ensure that Author is selected from the drop-down list.
- To add all community members or a subset of members to the activity in a role other than author:
- Select Allow only the following community members access in the activity as.
- Click the Down arrow next to the Author field, and then select Owner or Reader.
- Select the check box next to each member who to add to the activity.
Community owners are not listed because they are automatically added to community activities by default.
- In the Activity goal field, enter a description of the activity. Provide a sentence or two that summarizes the goal of the activity, its audience, or the type of content you want members to add to it.
- In the Due date field, add the date by which this activity must be completed. Type the date, or select it from the calendar control provided.
- Click Pick an activity template to see a list of available templates.
- Click Save to finish creating the activity.
Results
After you save the activity, it opens in the Activities user interface where we can start to add entries and to-do items. Community members receive an email message to notify them they are added to the new activity. For information on how to work with your activities, click the Help link in the navigation bar. We can return to the community at any time using the navigation links that display at the side of the page.
What to do next
From the community, we can do the following tasks:
- Click Start an Activity to create another activity.
- Click Activities to display the full list of activities that are associated with the community.
Parent topic:
Work with community activities
Related: