What is project chat?
Project Chat allows workflow administrators, project owners, sub-process owners, task owners, and users invited to view a project to be able to send and view chat messages on different topics at the project or sub-process level, depending on their access. Chat messages appear in real time allowing for collaboration between project participants.
Who can use project chat?
There is no configuration required. Anyone who has access to the project or sub-process will be able to create topics, and send and receive chat messages where they have access. Project chat is available in all projects, regardless of the project’s status.
Exploring the project chat functionality
Project Level Chat Access
If you have access to the entire project, you can view and send project-level chat messages, and be tagged in project-level chat messages.
Note: Task owners who are assigned tasks in a sub-process, who do not have the Schedule Navigation group right, will not be able to see or be tagged on project-level chat messages. This means that if you send a project-level chat message, some users may not see it. Similarly, you will not be able to tag these users at the project level because they do not have access. In this case, you should use sub-process level chat to send a generic message, or tag the user at the sub-process level where the user does have access.
Sub-Process Level Chat Access
If you have access to a sub-process inside a project, you can view, and send sub-process level chat messages, and be tagged in sub-process level chat messages.
How do I know if it’s a Project or Sub-Process Level Chat?
The name of the item in the chat drop down indicates what you are chatting about. If the name of the project is selected, then this is a project-level chat. If the name of the sub-process is selected, then this is a sub-process level chat (about that sub-process).
Example project level chat message:
Example sub-process level chat message:
Chatting about Topics
Topics are used to group different conversations about a common item, such as a sub-process, or project. For example, you could have a sub-process for a label artwork, and for that sub-process you could have separate chat conversations for each department, for example marketing and legal, or for different parts of the label, such as barcode and ingredients. Similarly, you could have different chat topics at the project level.
Click the + sign to create topics at the project or sub-process level.
Tagging Users
To tag another user, type @ and then select the user’s name in the searchable drop down.
Note: Only those users who have access can be tagged for a given project or sub-process level chat. For example, if you are trying to tag a user at the project level, but they are not appearing in the drop down, it is because they do not have project-level access. Instead, try tagging them at the sub-process level where they do have access.
Tag Notifications
If you have been tagged in a chat message, you will see a red notification dot in BLUE next to the bell notification icon. Click on the links on the Notifications drop down to go directly to the project or sub-process where you were tagged.
When you are tagged in a chat message, you will also be notified by email. The email notification contains the content of the message and a link to the project.
Project Activity Notifications
If there is general project or sub-process level chat activity and you have some unread messages, you will see a red notification dot next to the chat icon when you navigate to the project. You will not see a red notification dot next to the bell notification icon in this case.
Out of Office Indication for @mentions
When tagging users, you can visually see which users are out of office. You will see a red dot next to their name and on hover you will see a tooltip with their out-of-office status.
Modifying Chat Messages
A chat message cannot be modified or deleted once it has been sent.
Chat History
All chat activity is recorded in Project History and in the export to Microsoft Excel.
Limitations
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- Workflow administrators who are not project participants will not be notified about new chat messages while they are viewing the project where the chat message was sent. If the chat window is closed, they will not see a red notification dot. If the chat window is open they will not see the new chat message in the chat window. In order to view the new chat message, reload the chat window by opening it again.
For more information on project-related topics, visit these links…
To learn more about creating projects, see Projects.
To learn more about managing projects, see Managing Projects.
To learn more about working on tasks, see Tasks.
To control who reviews and approves in subsequent review cycles, see Managing Review Cycles.