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APAN uses two platforms. Communities are created based off requirements group owners and teams may have.
Verint Groups are virtual spaces created for a specific organization, team or topic where members may collaborate and share information with each other. All Groups are made up of Group Owners and Members.
Within a Group, you may use various applications such as blogs, forums, wikis, media galleries, and calendars with event registration.
Groups are Verint based.
APAN Sites are virtual spaces created for a specific organization, team or topic, where members may collaborate and share information with each other. All Sites are made up of Site Owners and Members.
It is recommended to use APAN Sites if you would like to create a more formalized information-sharing environment with robust options for content management, or if you need to utilize custom lists with predefined data fields.
Sites are SharePoint based.
Once you have decided that an APAN Community is the right tool for your collaboration, follow this process to get started:
The APAN staff will review your request and send you an email with a link to the APAN Community Requirements Form.
A short training document will be sent to all new community owners that covers Information Assurance issues applicable to APAN. All new community owners are required to review this training document and sign the accompanying Agreement Form. The signed form must be returned to the APAN staff before you can be granted control of your community.
If your community is approved, an APAN staff member will build the basic shell of your group and contact you when it is ready. They will send you an email with the URL of your new community and some online resources for community owners. From there, it is the community owner’s responsibility to:
The APAN staff provides live online training weekly for community owners. There are also other community resources to assist users and owners with using APAN including the APAN Knowledge Base, Community Owner’s blog, and the Ask APAN Forum. https://community.apan.org/support/default.aspx
Once a new community request is submitted via the ServiceNow ticket system, you can communicate directly to the APAN Knowledge Manager (KM), creating your community through the ticket. The KM can schedule a meeting to discuss more complex requirements if necessary. Once the new community owner takes control of the group, the APAN Help Desk is available Monday - Friday from 0800-2000 US Eastern Time. Live virtual training is also available Monday and Wednesday - Friday from 1200-1300 US Eastern Time.
Once you have completed your request for a new community, an auto-generated email will be sent to your email on file with instructions for downloading, signing, and returning your completed COA. A signed form is required before control of the community is transferred to the requestor. The requestor is responsible for maintaining a copy of their COA for future use.
Once the new community owner is granted control of their community, they can manage the community's look and feel, add and delete applications, change privacy settings, manage membership, and more. The owner can customize the community to the extent the tools will allow.
APAN provides many sources to train new owners:
*Information last reviewed or updated on 17 NOV 23
APAN staff will build the basic shell of your group. The shell will include a home page, shared document library, and the applications recommended to you by the APAN Knowledge Manager helping you set up your site. You will then add your logo, description, welcome message, and initial content. You will have the power to add pages, additional applications, tabs, and customize the tools on the community for exactly what your audience needs.
Community owners are responsible for ensuring that only unclassified information is posted to their communities. If a classified information spillage occurs, the owner must immediately report the incident to the APAN staff and assist in cleanup.
Owners are responsible for publicizing their new community to their target audience. If the community is closed, Owners must monitor and respond to membership requests. The owner is responsible for ensuring that only authorized users can access the content under their control.
Communities need continual attention to increase membership and provide fresh content. Owners need to ensure that members are engaged in conversation and appropriate content is provided. If your group becomes inactive, it is the owner’s responsibility to either revive it or notify the APAN staff that it should be archived.
APAN is for unclassified sharing only.
APAN is not authorized to handle/store HIPAA information. Group Owners/Information Owners should ensure that HIPAA information is NEVER shared/stored within APAN.
Keep in mind the following when launching your new community:
The APAN application service provider removes obsolete data from the system in an effort to conserve server resources. APAN is not an official records management system. The normal content retention practice for DOD information systems is to retain operationally relevant information for no more than 3 years. The APAN platform has many applications and features for communities, such as chat, maps, virtual meeting rooms, widgets and web parts, and other tools. Determination of dated content that deems a community as “inactive” is performed by system administrators who manually review the community usage of the various applications quarterly.
It is the community owner's responsibility to understand APAN's Community Maintenance Policy, which reflects the following:
Inactive for > 2 years = Communities with no new content or files uploaded within the last 2 years will be deleted with no advance notification.
Caveats to the community retention policy may include major HADR events and large-scale operational exercises supported by APAN staff