Concepts of OpenGoo
On this page we describe the basic concepts of OpenGoo. Understanding these concepts is crucial for understanding the whole application, so make sure you read this page before the rest of the manual.
Types of information
There are many different types of information in OpenGoo, for example:
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Contacts (adresses of people and of the companies/organisations they belong to)
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Documents (i.e. word files, presentations, PDF files, images)
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Tasks and milestones
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Time entries for tasks
When we are talking about these types of information we often refer to them as content objects or simply objects.
Commenting on objects
Many information types allow you to add a comment. This is the most simple way to communicate in OpenGoo. Your comment will be attached to the content object, other users can read it (and reply, if they like). Comments in OpenGoo work very much like comments in blogs.
Read more about commenting on objects.
Subscribing to objects
Subscribing to an object means that you will get an e-mail notification for every comment made on that specific object in the future. This is very handy if you want to observe a certain object or if you simply want to follow an ongoing discussion.
Read more about subscribing to objects.
Linking objects
Information is often interdependant. For example, to fulfill a task you may need certain documents. Or you have a message that relates to a specific event. OpenGoo makes it easy to show related information by linking content objects. Linking is a universal concept in OpenGoo, you can link any type of content objects.
Read more about linking objects.
Searching
There is a full text search in OpenGoo allowing you to search with in all information stored in your OpenGoo installation, no matter what type. The results are presented in a way that you instantly know where they were found (what information type they are).
Read more about search.
Organizing and filtering information
The more information you have, the more important are tools to organise your information. OpenGoo offers two concepts for that purpose: workspaces and tagging. Workspaces are similar to folders, where you store your information in a hierarchical structure. Tags on the other hand help you to indicate that certain content objects belong to a certain topic. By filtering your information by workspace and/or by tag you will quickly find what you are looking for. Workspaces and tags are universal concepts of OpenGoo as well, which means that you can use them regardless of the type of information you are dealing with.
Read more about workspaces and tags.
Protecting information
Information you store in OpenGoo is usually not public, and you often have some information that is more confidential than some other information. Therefore every user of OpenGoo has an individual login, and every content object can be assigned to a limited group of users.
Read more about user rights.
Creating reports
OpenGoo offers a powerful reporting tool to create and store custom reports. Simply choose the object type plus the data fields (or columns) to display and add as many filters as needed to generate a list of your data that suits best your needs.
Read more about reporting.