A subgroup is formed within an organization to work on a special project

Janet was elected to the student council on an environmental platform. She was selected to chair a subcommittee to improve sustainability practices for all campus events. Four other members of the student council have either been appointed or shown an interest in exploring this issue further. Their goal is to present a concrete proposal to the entire council in three months. They will need to do a lot of collaboration between now and then.

Top-down group creation

Create a group

The group that comprises the entire council has an administrator, the secretary Theo. He set up the council group so  that only certain council members could initiate the creation of subgroups (it's not even an option for average members of the council) so he creates a group called "Sustainability Practices." It could be set up to be joinable with Theo as the approver, but realistically, the subcom's membership has already been decided on--if there are any new members, they'll just have to come to Theo and he will add them.

Add members

The system helps Theo add members to the subcom from the list of council members. It's the start of the year and he hasn't worked with them, so he's glad the system gives him enough relevant information to recognize that he has found the right people. He adds them to "Sustainability Practices."

View and change a group members's role

Theo initially adds everyone to this subcommittee as members, but then thinks he'd better give Janet, the subcom's chair, some extra privileges, otherwise that group would keep coming back to him. He doesn't give her the right to add or delete members but he does let her create roles (she can only create roles that have permissions to do things she can also do). Theo adds the other five as regular members and the six members

Grassrooots group creation  (not in scope for Sept)

Create a (sub)group (not in scope for Sept)

The group that comprises the entire council has an administrator, the secretary Theo. He set up the council group so anyone in that group can start a subgroup, so Janet starts the process of creating one called "Sustainability Practices." She has to select the type of subgroup this is - will anyone in the larger group be able to see and join it, and if so, will they be automatically approved? Even though the membership of this committee was voted on, she takes the middle ground - it's joinable but new members will have to be approved.

Invite members (not in scope for Sept)

She then has to add members. The system helps her to locate her colleagues within the council who will be in this subcommittee. It's the start of the year and she hasn't worked with them, so she's glad the system gives her enough relevant information to recognize that she has found the right people. Although they've already accepted their appointments in person, they will not be automatically added to the group. Janet customizes the invite with a personal message (especially since they don't necessarily know her either).

A day later and Janet can tell all but one committee member has accepted the invite (she has not elected to get a notification, but she's logged in and can see who has and hasn't accepted). She reminds Cyril that he should. He does and then sees this subgroup listed among all the groups he belongs to.

See my groups

The six members find that they have been added to this subcom when they log in the next day. Janet sees this group as one that she has greater control of than her average membership.

View profiles/photos of group members 

Janet wants to acquaint herself with the other members of her group and the strengths that they bring. She can see pictures of everyone. She makes a mental note that Cyril is also a member of a student-run environmental consultancy group.

Send email to all group members (not in scope for Sept)

Another member, Anika, has discovered that she can now use the group "Sustainability Practices" in contexts such as sending a message. She sends a note to the rest of the subco suggesting that they meet Mondays at 7 PM, 3 days before the weekly senate meeting.

Schedule meetings w/ my group OR Organize event w/ friends/fellow students (not in scope for Sept)

This time doesn't work for Cyril and he doesn't like the messages flying back and forth just to work out a meeting time so he sets up a way for people to select a recurring time to meet (wiki, schedule tool, signup, new tool?). They settle on Tuesdays at 6:30.

Share web pages with a group (not in scope for Sept)

Although some members initially wanted to create requirements for campus events (ex. water dispensers, recycling bins), they agree that they will start out by estimating the environmental impact of an average campus event, create a check list of best practices, and an estimate of how following those practices would reduce the impact of the event.

Anika becomes the project manager and adds some milestones for their work onto the calendar for their subcommittee. They decide that they will pair off into teams of two to do independent research on three areas (food/waste management, marketing, and transportation) and will meet up in two more weeks with their findins

Cyril becomes secretary of their subcom and sets up a website with two sections: minutes and notes. The two person teams find the this very useful for making and sharing notes with each other on links, info, and images.

After 6 weeks months of research, they need to start to drafting the proposal (they decide to require student organizations to fill out an environmental checklist during the submission to help raise awareness). Anika takes on the introduction and each team contributes sections.

No one really gives any thought to the privacy of the subcom's work. They assume the default was that their work is protected from the public and don't give much thought as to whether it is viewable to the rest of the council---they assume not, except maybe the admin for the council site.

Prior to that presentation they have thought about getting feedback from a volunteer student environmental consulting group, an independent student organization not affiliated with the student council. They are not sure if they will do this online or in person, but if they go online, they don't want this group have to join the subcommittee member just to view and comment on one document or page (they probably can't anyway, since only council members can be a part of this subcommittee).

At the end of the three-month project, they present their proposal. After that successful meeting, they make it available in such a way that it is viewable by the entire council (and student body) so it can be reviewed and commented on before it goes to a vote.

Various members of the council leave comments on the written proposal or send private messages to the entire subcom (they have set up their subcom mailing list to accept messages from non-members, as long as they are members of the council; they could have set it up for subcom members only). Mostly, they want to see a second draft before this goes to a vote.

The subcom puts in another three weeks of work and the proposal is accepted a week later.

Remove members from a group

The subcommittee decides to reduce their meetings to once a month in the next semester. A few smaller projects are referred their way in the following semester. One thing they do campaign for is that this subcommittee on sustainable practice, which was initially formed as a special project, become an institutionalized part of the student council. Some student senators will be leaving and new ones will be coming in, but they wonder if some of their notes, or at least their minutes, will be helpful for the new committee.

Among those that are leaving is Janet, who is graduating. Anika won a new term in the senate but wants to join another subcommittee next year and won't have time to do both. Cyril has not been reelected so will not be a part of the student council or this subcommittee, but Anika will need to.

Drop membership from group if dropped from another group 

Janet is graduating and Cyril didn't win a second term in the council. They don't have to be removed, since they should disappear from the subcom when they are removed from the council

Remove members from a group (top down)

Theo views the members of the "Sustainability Practices" and removes Anika, who is leaving this committee (could Janet have done this as well?). When Anika logs in the next day, she no longer shows up as a member of this committee.

Leave a subgroup (only available if they were added by invite, not in scope for Sept)

Had Anika joined/been invited to subgroup rather than being enrolled, she could also have chosen to leave.

View and change a group member's role/permission OR Assign group leader

Paul, a sophomore, wants to continue working in this subcommittee next year and earned the respect of his peers. They recommend that he become next year's chair and he is given admin rights to this subgroup.