This enhancement to Collaboration went live 4/24/20. The following new features can be added to any existing Collaborations using the “Continue Collaboration” option inside UCM.
You can now add new collaborators to your Collaboration discussion from right within your local email client! Using the Allow Anyone to Respond & Auto Add Responder checkboxes, you can give any Collaboration the option to have new collaborators added at any time and from any source, not just UCM.
These boxes are checked by default, but can be turned off if you do not want there to be any outside responders.
These checkboxes work in relationship to each other, and Auto Add Responder is only selectable if Allow Anyone to Respond is also checked. Below, we take a look at exactly what each option does and how to best use them.
If only Allow Anyone to Respond is checked
Allow Anyone to Respond will do exactly what it says, allow anyone who has read the Collaboration email to respond, and have their response tracked in the system. This means that you can now include other recipients on your reply to an existing Collaboration, and their replies will now be stored in UCM as well. Previously ONLY response from Collaborators set in UCM would have their responses stored.
An example of when you would only want Allow Anyone to Respond checked, would be when you want an additional collaborator to be a part of some messages, but not the whole conversation. So, let’s say we send out a Collaboration from UCM with three collaborators, Bryan (myself), Mason, and Danielle. Mason replies and we all get emails from him, with his response being tracked in UCM. Due to the message in Mason’s reply though, I now see that I have to include another team member, Grace, in this discussion to help move things along. After Grace is done helping with this situation though, she does not need to be included on any further emails.
Since I have Allow Anyone to Respond checked for this Collaboration, I can simply include Grace in my Reply To line with the Collaboration email from my own email client, and when she replies, Grace’s response is now stored in UCM like she was a part of the Collaboration from the beginning. Since I do NOT have Auto Add Responder checked however, Grace is not going to continue receiving any more messages sent between myself, Mason, or Danielle.
If both options are checked
If both Allow Anyone to Respond & Auto Add Responder are checked, then you will have all the same functions that are detailed above when only Allow Anyone to Respond is checked, but, any new collaborators that are added to the Collaboration from outside UCM will also be added to the entire Collaboration discussion moving forward.
So unlike our example above, where Grace responded to the Collaboration message and then was no longer involved with any further discussions, if we had both Allow Anyone to Respond & Auto Add Responder checked, Grace would continue to receive, and possibly reply, to all future discussions between myself, Mason, and Danielle. All responses would be tracked and stored in UCM.
This is also very helpful if you use any “community” inboxes where multiple people can receive and view emails, but responses come from a personal account. With both options checked, responding to the Collaboration from your personal account will automatically add your personal account to the session, while continuing to send all messages to the “community” inbox as well.
If both options are Unchecked
If both options are left unchecked, then your Collaboration will work how it used to. ONLY the collaborators you have assigned from within UCM will be able to respond and automatically receive any future emails. To add any new Users to a Collaboration this way, you would need to access UCM, go to the Contract Container, and use Continue Session from the Collaboration Tab. Any new collaborators you add there will be involved moving forward.
When both options are unchecked, anyone who is not an assigned collaborator that responds to a Collaboration email will receive an automatic response like the one below:
We were not able to process your response to this Collaboration session because you are not a valid session participant.
Please contact: OriginatorOfCollaboration@email.com* for more information.
* Will be the correct email of the UCM user who initiated the Collaboration session