Access VSAC Collaboration Tool

You can access the VSAC Collaboration Tool through the VSAC Authoring Tool, as well as directly through the VSAC Collaboration Tool URL.

• VSAC Authoring Tool: https://vsac.nlm.nih.gov/ (requires pre-assigned authoring permissions)
  1. Within the Collaboration Management tab, select one of your Collaboration Site URLs.
  2. Within the Authoring tab, in the Collaboration menu on the left of the value set's editing screen, select Visit Site. If the Visit Site link is grey this means you have not yet created a Collaboration Site for this value set.
• VSAC Collaboration Tool: https://vsaccollab.nlm.nih.gov/

VSAC Collaboration Dashboards

The VSAC Collaboration Tool provides two types of dashboards: Personal Dashboard and Site Dashboard.

Personal Dashboard

The VSAC Collaboration Tool creates a Personal Dashboard for each user. The Personal Dashboard displays links to all of a user's value set collaboration sites, activities, and discussions. Your first and last name serve as the title of your Personal Dashboard. Use the Home link on the top bar to return to your Personal Dashboard from any other page to which you navigate.

Site Dashboard

The VSAC Collaboration Tool creates a Site Dashboard when a VSAC author creates a collaboration site within the VSAC Authoring Tool. VSAC authors may create a collaboration site for a single value set, as well as collaboration sites for user-designated collections of value sets. For each value set or group of value sets, the Site Dashboard displays user-posted value set content and collaborator discussions for that value set.

Once created, a collaboration site will appear under the My Sites dashlet on the Personal Dashboard. New users of the VSAC Collaboration Tool will not have any sites appear under their My Site dashlet until they create a collaboration site within the VSAC Authoring Tool.

Create Collaboration Sites and Post Value Set Content from the VSAC Authoring Tool

There are three methods to create collaboration sites and post value set details to the VSAC Collaboration Tool:

• Custom Method
• VSAC Method
• HQMF Method

Custom Method

The Custom method is useful when you need to gather several VSAC value sets into one collaboration site. This Custom method is also useful for a single value set collaboration site, when you need flexibility to add or remove value sets from your collaboration site in the future.

1. From My Value Sets or Search All Value Sets in the VSAC Authoring Tool, you can select one or several value sets and create a collaboration site where you will subsequently post the value set details. You can use the table's sort (click on column headers) and filter (type text into search boxes at the top of each column) functions. You can also use your pre-assigned and steward-specific Keywords to find the value sets you need for your collaboration site. Here, we show you how you can create a collaboration site by selecting multiple value sets in your My Value Sets list:

   

   
   

2. The Site Creation dialog box prompts you to choose your Collaboration Site Managers from one or more of your VSAC Steward and/or Author Groups to which you belong, and it prompts you to create a Collaboration Site Name for your new collaboration site. In the screen shot example below, we named our example collaboration site "Cardiac Care Medications," and this collaboration site will host the example value sets we checked off in Figure 4 (Dipyridamole and Nifedipine). Within the VSAC Collaboration Tool, site managers are able to invite additional collaborators who have UMLS Licenses. Site managers can change roles of any site members.

   

   
   

3. Once you create your new collaboration site, you may post value set details to this collaboration site. Your new collaboration site will be essentially an empty shell until you post your selected value set details. Here is how to do that:

   
   

   In the Collaboration Management tab, select the checkbox next to your desired Collaboration Site Name, and then select the Post Value Set Details to Collab Site link.

   

   
   

4. When you click Post Value Set Details to Collab Site, you will receive the following dialog box shown in Figure 7. Here, you can choose the Expansion Profile with which you would like your value sets expanded when you send them to your collaboration site. The default selection is "Most Recent Code System Versions in VSAC." You can check the “Apply CMS eCQM QA Rules†that contain CMS-defined quality assurance checks for value sets to be published within the eCQM programs.†You can also post a message to your collaborators in the Post Message textbox. Your message will appear in your collaboration Site Blog dashlet. You can select draft and published value sets when you Post Value Set Details to Collab Site. This action will not publish draft value sets into the public VSAC repository, and no external implementation should ever use a draft value set.

   

VSAC Method

The VSAC method of collaboration site creation is useful when you need to create a collaboration site for only a single value set and you would like to have the convenience to create your collaboration site from within the value set editing screen of the VSAC Authoring Tool. The VSAC method can be limiting for you, however, because you cannot add more value sets to a collaboration site that you create using the VSAC method.

1. Create Collaboration Site:
   In the VSAC Authoring Tool, create and save a value set. The Collaboration tab appears in the orange tool bar to the left of the Harmonization and Report menus. On the Collaboration pull down menu, select Create Site.

   

   
   

2. Post your value set to your newly created Collaboration Site:
   On the Collaboration pull down menu, select Post Value Set Details. Here, you can choose the Expansion Profile with which you would like your value sets expanded when you send them to your collaboration site. The default selection is "Most Recent Code System Versions in VSAC. You can check the “Apply CMS eCQM QA Rules†that contain CMS-defined quality assurance checks for value sets to be published within the eCQM programs. You can also post a message in the Post Message textbox, to your collaborators, so they are alerted to your posting and understand your reason for posting. Your message will appear on your collaboration site Blog dashlet. You can select draft and/or published value sets when you Post Value Set Details to Collab Site. This action will not publish draft value sets into the public VSAC repository, and no external implementation should ever use a draft value set.

   

   
   

3. Visit your Collaboration Site:
   On the Collaboration pull down menu, select Visit Site.

   

   
   
   

   Alternatively, you can navigate to your VSAC-method created collaboration site through the Collaboration Management tab.

   
   

   

   
   

HQMF Method

The HQMF method is useful when you have used a tool like the Measure Authoring Tool that produces an HQMF (.xml) file in which you have included VSAC value sets as data elements. The goal is to create a collaboration site that will contain all of the value sets for your measure, so that you and your collaborator(s) can discuss and share information about those value sets within the context of your measure. When you create a collaboration site based on an HQMF file, VSAC will read the list of value sets object identifiers (OIDs) that you included in your HQMF file, and VSAC creates a collaboration site with a holding place for each of those listed value sets in your measure. When you post value set details to your HQMF-method collaboration site, VSAC pushes to the collaboration site the value set details of every value set listed in your HQMF file. Here, we show how you can create a collaboration site using this HQMF method. You will first need to download your desired HQMF xml file from the Measure Authoring Tool, or from another tool that produces HQMF xml.

1. In the Collaboration Management tab, click the Create HQMF Based Collab Site button.

2. Browse your local computer files to select your desired HQMF file that you have already downloaded from a measure authoring tool that produces HQMF files.

3. Import your desired local HQMF file.

   

   
   
   
   

4. The Collaboration Site Details dialog will show you the measure information that VSAC extracted from your HQMF file. VSAC assigns the measure name as the Collaboration Site Name. You need to choose which of your steward groups you want for the Collaboration Site Manager. You can also add or delete member value sets from your collaboration site. This delete action does not remove your selected value sets from the actual measure or from VSAC, only from the collaboration site if you choose to do so. When you are satisfied with your changes, choose the [Save] button to finalize creation of your HQMF based collaboration site. If you make any changes to your actual measure (in the Measure Authoring Tool, for example), you will want to download the updated measure's HQMF file to your computer and then choose Import HQMF to load the updated HQMF file to your collaboration site.

   

   
   
   
   

5. Once you create your new HQMF based collaboration site, you may post your value set to the collaboration site. Your new collaboration site will be essentially an empty shell until you post your selected value set details. Here is how to do that. When you click the [Save] button in the previous Collaboration Site Details dialog, the dialog window shows the active Collaboration Site URL, and it provides a button at the bottom to Post Value Set Details to Collab Site. There are several other ways to post your value set details to your collaboration site, and we will explore those options in a later section: Schedule Automatic Expansions of Value Sets into VSAC Collaboration.

   

Change Site Visibility, Name, and Description

1. To edit the details (visibility and permissions, name, or description) of a collaboration site, visit a VSAC Collaboration site for a value set that you created in VSAC Authoring.

2. Notice a gear symbol in the top right corner of the Site Dashboard for your value set site.

   

   
   

3. Click the gear, revealing a pull down menu.

4. Choose Edit Site Details.

5. Observe the Edit Site Details dialog window:

   

   
   

6. Here, you can change your collaboration site Name and Description. If you change the site Name and Description in the Edit Site Details window, the changes will not be reflected in VSAC Authoring. These labels are specific to VSAC Collaboration only.

   We encourage you to edit the site Name and Description for sites created using the Custom method or HQMF method. However, we do not recommend you edit the Name and Description of collaboration sites created using the VSAC method because the site Name defaults to your value set name in VSAC, and the Description defaults to the value set OID in VSAC.

7. Observe the Visibility options. There are 3 levels of visibility available for collaboration sites: Public, Public with Moderated site membership, and Private.
   
   • We have set the default visibility for all VSAC Collaboration sites to be Public, which means the site is searchable for users external to your group, and external users can view your content and contribute to discussion topics.
   • Public with Moderated site membership, which means the site is searchable for users external to your group, but you have control over who your site members are. You may add additional members to join your site, and external users can ask to join your site, but this requires your approval. Users who are external to your group will be able to find your collaboration site, but the site will display only the site name and a blank page with all content hidden.
   • Private level of visibility renders your collaboration site undiscoverable and unsearchable to anyone who is not a member of your group. Only your authors, stewards, and invited collaborators will have access to your collaboration site.

Add Other People to be Members of a Collaboration Site

1. Add other people to be members of a VSAC Collaboration site for a value set that you created in VSAC Authoring.

2. To add other people to a VSAC Colloboration site, you will need the 'managers' user role for the site. In the top right corner of the Site Dashboard, click the person-shaped icon next to the [More] button. This will take you directly to the menu where you can search for people to add to your site. Enter the name and/or UMLS username of someone you would like to add to your site as a collaborator. Only registered UMLS users can be added to your site. Non-UMLS licensed users who would like to join a VSAC Collaboration Site may request a UMLS license here. You may also access the search menu by clicking on the [More] button, and then select Site Members.

3. After you select the user’s name, choose the new member's Role for the content site. You will need to select a Role for each member you would like to add to the site. You may also assign the same Role to all members in a single step by selecting the [Set All Roles to] button and then selecting the desired Role. After you have selected all of the members you wish to add to your site, and have assigned a Role to each of them, click the [Add Users] button.

Site Member Roles and Permissions:

• Managers have full rights to all site content - what they have created themselves and what other site members have created.

• Collaborators have full rights to the site content that they own; they have rights to edit but not delete content created by other site members.

• Contributors have full rights to the site content that they own; they cannot edit or delete content created by other site members.

• Consumers have view-only rights in a site; they cannot create their own content.

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: User roles and permissions.

View Value Set Content within Collaboration Site

From within the VSAC Authoring Tool, access the Collaboration Content Site for a specific value set.

1. Log in to VSAC Authoring.

2. There are two ways to access a value set's content within a collaboration site:
   
   

   2.1 Accessing value set content through Collaboration Management tab:

   • Click on Collaboration Management tab.

   • Choose the collaboration site that contains the value set you want by clicking the hyperlinked Collaboration Site URL. This will navigate you directly to the Site Dashboard of the selected collaboration site within VSAC Collaboration.

   

   
   

   2.2 Accessing value set content through Authoring tab:

   • Click the Authoring tab.

   • Choose your value set from My Value Sets by clicking the hyperlinked OID.

   • In the orange menu bar, click Collaboration and then select Visit Site from the drop-down menu. This will navigate you directly to the Site Dashboard of the selected collaboration site within VSAC Collaboration.

   

   
   
3. In the Value Set Site Content dashlet, click on the hyperlinked file name.

   

   
   
4. Use the [Next] and [Previous] buttons, in the header bar of the spreadsheet view, to view each tab of the spreadsheet. Click the [+] and [-] buttons to adjust the viewing size.

   

   
   

Download an Excel Spreadsheet of Your Value Set Content

From within your value set site in VSAC Collaboration, export a document to your local environment.

1. View the Excel file by clicking on the hyperlinked file name in the Value Set Site Content dashlet.

2. Click the [Download] button in the header bar of the spreadsheet view.

It is purposefully not within the scope of VSAC Collaboration to permit file uploads from your local environment to VSAC Collaboration. All value set creation and edits must take place within the VSAC Authoring Tool.

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: Downloading files.

Add Comments and Reply to Comments in a Discussion Thread

The Discussion Threads dashlet provides a space where site members can post comments and reply to comments about value set content contained on that collaboration site. Each VSAC collaboration site automatically contains three default discussion topics: Value Set Usage, Value Set Purpose, and Value Set Content.

Add a new comment or reply to a comment in a current topic in the Discussion Threads dashlet:

• In the Discussion Threads dashlet, click the title of the topic under which you want to comment.
  

  

  
  

• To add a new comment, click the Reply icon on the far right of the topic's heading page. Type your comment in the Add Reply area and then click the [Create] button at the bottom of your reply.

• To reply to a comment, click the Reply icon found on the far right of the comments heading page. Type your reply in the Reply to area and then click the [Create] button at the bottom of your reply.
  

  

  
  

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: The discussion forum.

Add, Edit, and Delete Discussion Topics

Site members can create new discussion topics in addition to the default topics as needed. Site stewards can also edit an existing topic's title or delete an existing topic, including default topics.

Add a new topic in the Discussion Threads dashlet:

• Click the (+) New Topic link in the top of the Discussion Threads dashlet. Type a new title in the Title text box and add any desired text or tags. Click [Save] when finished. The new topic will now appear in the Discussion Threads dashlet.

  

  
  

Edit an existing topic's title:

• Click on the topic title (e.g., Value Set Usage) in the Discussion Threads dashlet.

• Click on the Edit link to the right of the topic.

• Remove the old topic title from the Title text box and replace it with a new topic title. Click the [Save] button when finished.

  

  
  

Delete a current topic in the Discussion Threads dashlet:

• Click on the topic title (e.g., Value Set Usage) in the Discussion Threads dashlet. Click the (X) Delete link to the right of the topic, and then confirm [Yes] or [Cancel] in the subsequent popup.
  
  

  Please be aware that if you delete a topic you will lose all of the content located within that topic thread. If you decide to delete a topic please communicate this decision to your fellow collaborators prior to removing the topic from the Discussion Threads dashlet.

  

  
  

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: The discussion forum.

Control Your VSAC Collaboration Email Notifications

You can control whether or not you receive VSAC Collaboration notifications by email. To review or change your notification settings:

1. Click on your name in the top black bar of VSAC Collaboration.

2. Select My Profile to access your User Profile Page.

   

   
   

3. Select Notifications in the features bar at the top.

4. If you wish to receive VSAC Collaboration notifications by email, check the Email Notification Feed checkbox and then click the [OK] button. If you do not wish to receive email notifications you will want to make sure the Email Notification Feed checkbox is not checked and then click the [OK] button.

   

   
   

You can also enable and disable the notifications for specific sites. To review or change your notification settings for specific sites:

1. From the User Profile Page, select Sites in the features bar at the top.

2. A list of all your collaboration sites will be displayed. You can enable or disable the notifications for a specific site by clicking on the [Enable Activity Feeds] or [Disable Activity Feeds] button on the far right of the site.

   

   
   

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: Controlling your email notifications.

Manage Content in VSAC Collaboration

The VSAC Collaboration Tool has multiple features that will help you manage site content. These features include the ability to easily move files and folders within the current site, rename content, tag content, and create favorites.

Move Content within a Collaboration Site

The VSAC Collaboration Tool has a drag and drop functionality that allows you to easily move content around the site Document Library. Please note, when you move a folder, all of its contents move with it.

1. In the collaboration site Document Library, locate the file or folder you want to move. Click on the thumbnail of the file or folder and, without releasing the mouse button, drag the content to its new location.

   

   
   
2. Release the mouse button to move the content.

   

   
   

   

   
   

Note: The target folder must be visible before you move the content. The new location can be found in the panel on the right hand side of the Document Library.

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: Dragging and dropping content.

Rename Content within a Collaboration Site

You can quickly and easily rename the content within a collaboration site.

1. Find the file or folder you want to rename in the site Document Library.
2. Hover the cursor on the content name to display the pencil icon.

   

   
   
3. Click the pencil icon to enter edit mode. Change the name of the content and then click the Save icon to the right of the text field or hit [ENTER] on your keyboard. Click the Cancel icon to exit editing mode and keep the current content name.

   

   
   

Note: Please do not change the filename extension.

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: Renaming content.

Tag Content within a Collaboration Site

To make content easier to find you can create and manage tags for files and folders in the collaboration site document library. To add or edit tags for files and folders:

1. Navigate to the collaboration site's document library by selecting the Document Library icon, located on the Site Dashboard menu in the upper-right hand corner. Find the content (file or folder) you want to tag.

   

   
   
2. Hover your cursor over the No Tags label to display the pencil tag icon. If the file already has a tag, hover your cursor on the tag to display the pencil tag icon. Click the pencil tag icon.

   

   
   
3. • Add a new tag: Type the tag name in the textbox and then press ENTER on your keyboard. The tag name can be one or more words.
   • Edit an existing tag: Click the tag you wish to edit to enter edit mode. Change the tag name and then press ENTER on your keyboard.
   • Remove a tag: Click on the (X) to the right of the tag you wish to remove.
   
   
4. Click the [Save] button when you are finished adding, editing, or removing a tag.

   

   
   

To display all content with a specific tag, click on the desired tag located either below the content in the document library or in the panel on the right hand side of the Document Library.

You can also search for content using tags as the search term.

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: Tagging content.

Favorite Content within a Collaboration Site

You can use the Favorite action to mark library content that you access often. This will add the content to your My Favorites tab in the sidebar located on the right hand side of the page.

1. In the Document Library, locate the content you want to mark as a Favorite.

   

   
   
2. Click on the star icon located under the content information.

   

   
   

The star icon changes once it is clicked to let you know that the content has been added to your list of favorites. Click the star icon again to remove the content from your favorites list. Check your My Favorites folder in the sidebar to see the content you added.

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: Favoriting content.

Manage Site Members

Collaboration Site managers can edit a member's role and remove a member from the site. To change a member's role or to remove a member from a site, a site manager should do the following:

1. In a collaboration site, select the More icon in the Site Dashboard menu, located in the top-right corner. Click on Site Members.

   

   
   
2. Select People in the Members component.
3. Search for the site member whose role you want to change by typing a full or partial name in the search box, or leave the search box empty to display all members.
4. Click the current role and select a new role from the list. See below for a description of member roles and permissions.
   

   Site Member Roles and Permissions:

   • Managers have full rights to all site content - what they have created themselves and what other site members have created.

   • Collaborators have full rights to the site content that they own; they have rights to edit but not delete content created by other site members.

   • Contributors have full rights to the site content that they own; they cannot edit or delete content created by other site members.

   • Consumers have view-only rights in a site; they cannot create their own content.

To remove a member from your site click the [Remove] button.

For more information, see the Alfresco Documentation: Managing site members.

Approve or Reject Requests to Join Your Collaboration Site

External users may wish to join your collaboration site. If an external user submits a request to join your collaboration site and your site has a Visibility of Public, Moderated site membership, the site manager(s) will receive an email notification. To approve or reject an external user's request to join your site, the site manager should:

1. Click on the link provided in the email. Below is an example of the email notification:

   

   
   
2. The link will bring you to the Pending Requests page in VSAC Collaboration. Access the user's request by clicking on the [View] button.

   

   
   
3. You may approve or reject the request by clicking on the [Approve] or [Reject] buttons. An automated email will then be sent to the user informing them of your decision. You may use the comment box to provide the user with additional information regarding the reason for their request being approved or rejected (optional). After selecting approve or reject, the task box will close and the task will be marked as completed.

   

   
   
4. The automated email response sent to the external user includes your decision (approved or rejected) and any additional information you provided in the Comment box.

   

   
   
5. To review your previously completed external user requests, go to your My Tasks page and select on the Completed link on the left-hand side of the page. Locate the desired completed task and click on the [View Workflow] button. The Workflow Details page allows you to review the user's request and the decision made (approved or rejected). You can also see any comments you provided to the user.