What’s new: Citizen Space Workspaces

Today we’re excited to introduce Workspaces — our new approach to how Citizen Space is structured.

Workspaces replaces Departments: We’ve added new features, giving you an expanded set of activity access capabilities, streamlined user admin workflows, and enhanced flexibility to work across internal teams and subject areas.

Refined user permissions: An improved approach to admin user data access that is more refined, customisable, and easier to manage.

A stronger, future-ready platform: Workspaces is built on a modern codebase providing a foundation that enables us to deliver even more exciting future innovations and improvements more efficiently.

We will be rolling out this change at the end of November 2024.

What’s new in Workspaces

The new Workspaces screen, where site admin can add and manage workspaces. It offers at-a-glance picture of how many activities belong to each workspace and the number of members, with links to quickly see the activities and the members.

Users can now belong to multiple workspaces

This means users can work across different department areas and teams, ensuring that Citizen Space reflects the collaborative work your organisation is doing.

New screen for manager user access which displays all of the workspaces to which the user belongs as well as any assigned activity roles. In the example, the user belongs to 3 different workspaces and is the owner of a single activity.

Activities can have multiple admins

Admin responsibility for activities can now be shared between users. Each activity will still have a single owner, but you can add multiple admins with the same capabilities to an activity. This makes it easier for colleagues to create and manage activities together for more strategic collaboration and oversight.

From an activity dashboard, you can now manage activity permissions. You can grant individual admin access to an activity. This is where one also assigned analysts. In the example, there are 3 admins assigned to the activity and one analyst.

Streamlined user types

You now have Site Admins or Site Members with refined user access at the Workspace and Activity levels. You will be able to assign users to different workspaces as well as individual activities, meaning users can work across teams and projects and no longer need to have higher site level access than they should to do so. The more controlled data access results in improved security.

This does mean that the Department admin role will no longer exist. All current Department Admins will become Workspace Admins following the release.

Find out more about the capabilities of each user type.

The updated add user screen now displays the two options for the user type, either Site member or Site admin. It defaults to Site Member being selected.

No longer suspend departments

With the new Workspace structure, there is no longer the option to suspend Departments. You can still suspend users.

Making the switch to Workspaces

This change is a long time coming and is based on user feedback and needs. We are excited about Workspaces and the improved flexibility and data security it offers.

We'll be mapping your existing departments, activities and users to the new structure for the release so you won't need to take any specific action on your site. You can be assured that work can continue as usual on your Citizen Space site.

For site admins who manage a large admin user base, we do recommend giving yourself time to explore the new site roles and workspace admin types along with their respective capabilities so you can think about how the new structure works best for your organisation going forward.

We know change can be challenging. We will have new and updated support articles to assist you for the transition. And of course, if you need further help or any questions please contact your customer success manager.