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What is Self-Service Portal?

Self-Service Portal, or SSP, allows end-users to easily collaborating collaborate with supporting divisions (helpdesk, service desk, and others). With SSP, you can easily deliver your service and knowledge and gather feedback from them at any time.

The screenshot below illustrates the SSP main area typical view.

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Portal structure

Self-Service Portal has a hierarchical structure containing various types of elements linked with each other. This allows building a flexible and configurable portal and binding it with the platform using via provided tools (such as notification rules, API, ACL, and others).

The diagram below illustrates the a typical portal structure.

For more clarity, the table below contains a brief glossary.

TermDescription
PortalThe portal record is the highest-level entity containing the portal structure.
Portal nodeNodeNodes allow binding portals and portal pages. They define layouts of portals, categories, and pages through the Portal Page field.
PageA portal page is an entity containing. Create as many pages as you need to implement your portal logic.
Page containerContainerPage container allows building the building the structural view of a single page with columns and rows.
Page rowRowPage rows divide a container into proportionally customizable rowscustomizable rows.
Page columnColumnPage columns divide rows into rows into proportionally customizable columns.

How to create and configure a portal

After completing this guide, you will be able to create and configure your first Self-Service Portal. To perform this, you need to complete a step-by-step procedure:

  1. Create Portal record.
  2. Create Pages.
  3. Create Portal Nodes.
  4. Create Page Containers.
  5. Create Page Rows.
  6. Create Page Columns.
  7. Add interaction:
    1. Create Widgets
    2. Create Widget Instances
    3. Create WIdget Options
Note

You should create portal structure first before displaying. So it should have at least one portal node and at least one page to work properly.

When creating portal components, it is highly recommended to create them out of the Related Lists area of the higher-level objects instead of creating "from scratch". For example, after creating a portal page, you can create a related container for this page right away.

Creating portal components using the related objects structure provided will help to implement the portal structure above. 

Create portal records

Create a portal record, so you 'll will be able to bind lower-level objects to it going through further steps.

To create a single portal, please complete the steps below:

  1. Navigate to to Portal Structure → Portals.
  2. Click Click New and  and fill in the fields.
  3. Click Save or Click Save or Save and Exit to  to apply changes.

Tip

When filling in the Path Name field, please keep in mind, that this is the URL suffix of your future portal, so fill in this field carefully.


Info

You'll find tables with fields descriptions of all tables in related article.

Create portal pages

The portal page is a template for other pages, so it is very important to configure it carefully.

To create a page template, please complete the steps below:

  1. Navigate to to Portal Structure → Pages.
  2. Click Click New and  and fill in the fields.
  3. Click Save or Click Save or Save and Exit to  to apply changes.
Tip

When filling in the Path Name field, please keep in mind, that this is the URL suffix of your future page, so fill in this field carefully.

Create portal nodes

  • Portal nodes, also known as portal maps, are massive structural components defining layouts of portals, categories, and pages through the Portal Page field.
  • Categories and items are the pages that bind together child objects basing on some features. Categories are any structures based upon parent/child relationships, e.g., Knowledge Base with categorized Articles in it. Portal Nodes help us to implement ready-to-use structures into the structure of a portal.

To create a portal node, please complete the steps below:

  1. Navigate to to Portal Structure → Portal Nodes.
  2. Click Click New and  and fill in the fields.
  3. Click Save or Click Save or Save and Exit to  to apply changes.

Configure portal structure

To configure a portal structure, you need to complete the procedure below:

  1. Bind the portal record you have created and portal node (or nodes).
    1. If you have created nodes within the portal record, then it will be done automatically at the creation point.
  2. Bind this node to a previously created portal page you want to display on the portal. Specify reference to this page in the Page field of the node record form.
  3. Fill in pages with content:
    1. Create page containers within pages.
    2. Create page rows within page containers.
    3. Create page columns within page rows.
    4. Configure Widgets within page rows.

Create page container

Page container is a main structural page unit. After creating, split a container with columns and rows.

To create a page container, please complete the steps below:

  1. Open a page created earlier for which you need to create a container.
  2. Scroll down to the the Related Lists area  area and click on the the Page Container tab tab.
  3. Click Click New and  and fill in the fields.
  4. Click Save or Click Save or Save and Exit to  to apply changes.


Tip

To obtain the available containers list, please navigate to Portal Structure → Page Containers.

In there page, you can also create also create a page container from scratch.

Create a page row

A page container can be divided into rows, which, in turn, can be divided into columns.

To create a page row, please complete the steps below:

  1. Open a the page container for which you need to create a row.
  2. Scroll down to the the Related Lists area  area and click on the the Page Row tab tab.
  3. Click Click New and  and fill in the fields.
  4. Click Save or Click Save or Save and Exit to  to apply changes.


Tip

To obtain the available page rows list, please navigate to to Portal Structure → Page Rows.

In there page, you can also create also create a page row from scratch.

Create a page column

To create page columns, please complete the steps below:

  1. Open a the page row for which you need to create a column.
  2. Scroll down to the the Related Lists area  area and click on the the Page Column tab tab.
  3. Click Click New and  and fill in the fields.
  4. Click Save or Click Save or Save and Exit to  to apply changes.


Tip

To obtain the available page columns list, please navigate to Portal Structure → Page Columns.

In there page, you can also create also create a page column from scratch.

Widgets

To make a portal page more interactive, use Widgets. It is a is a small interactive application containing the server and client logics. It sends, receives and processes events through the client and server controllers. SimpleOne  SimpleOne widgets can be added to forms as well as to portal pages.

Creating portal widgets

To configure a widget structure on your portal, you need to create a widget first, an application implementing some logic, server and/or client.

To create a widget, please follow the steps described in the Create a New Widget article article.

Creating portal widget instance

To place a widget on a portal page, use Widget Instanceson a portal page, use Widget Instances. These elements help to define a specific location for the widget according to the portal column specified and to customize the widget options with widget options with the option schema.

To create a widget instance, please complete the steps below:

  1. Open a the page column for which you need to create a widget instance.
  2. Scroll down to the the Related Lists area  area and click on the the Widget Instance tab tab.
  3. Click Click New and  and fill in the fields.
  4. Click Save or Click Save or Save and Exit to  to apply changes.
Tip

To obtain the available widget instances list, please navigate to Portal Structure → Widget Instances.

In there, you can also create also create a widget instance from scratch.

Creating a portal widget option

A portal widget option allows to define, for example, logic differences for similar widgets, also it allows to narrow down the selection criteria and solve other related tasks.

To create a widget option, please complete the steps below:

  1. Open a the widget instance for which you need to create a widget instance.
  2. Scroll down to the the Related Lists area  area and click on the the Portal Widget Option tab tab.
  3. Click Click New and  and fill in the fields.
  4. Click Save or Click Save or Save and Exit to  to apply changes.


Tip

To obtain the available widget options list, please navigate to Portal Structure → Widget Options.

In there, you can also create also create a widget option from scratch.



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