This section describes how to restrict Groove tool usage to prohibit use of specific Groove tools. By default, all Groove tool versions are allowed for use by domain group members.
You can set tool usage policies that control which Groove tools domain members can use, in order to meet organizational requirements regarding acceptable tool use and tool usage auditing. Note that Groove tool usage policies are optimized to control usage of Groove tools at higher domain group levels, not to provide data filtering or different workspace views across many small groups. Applying tool restriction policies to small groups within a larger body of users can be difficult to manage and can have unexpected results when the various policies involved conflict.
For information about the management server’s optional client auditing capability, see
“Enabling Groove Client Auditing” below.
The following sections provide instructions and guidelines for managing tool usage:
• Restricting Tool Usage
• Tool Usage Recovery After Restriction is Removed Restricting Tool Usage
Restricting usage of a Groove tool affects all aspects of Groove use that depend on that tool. Blocked tools will appear in spaces as place-holders only, usually with a message explaining that the tool is not available for use due to policy restrictions. Before restricting
Export spaces into directory on disk
Choose this option to copy the selected workspaces into a specified directory, then do the following:
1. Click the Next button to display a page where you select a directory path and an optional password for each space.
2 Click Next again to select workspaces.
3 Click the Finish button.
Recovery Options Descriptions
tool usage, be aware that blocked tools affect workspaces as listed in the table below:
Groove Workspaces Affected by Groove Tool Restrictions
In addition some tool restrictions can have the following unintended effects:
• Restricting Files or Forms tools will prohibit the creation of SharePoint Mobile Workspaces.
• Restricting Files or Discussion tools may prohibit the creation of spaces from Outlook, Notes.
Restricted Groove Tool Affected Workspaces
Calendar Advanced Project workspace
Contacts Advanced Project workspace
Dashboard Advanced Project workspace
Discussion Advanced Project workspace
And, for auditable Discussion (version 4 or later):
• Virtual Meeting workspace
• Relationship Management workspace
• Document Review workspace
Document Review (auditable version 2) Document Review workspace
Files Standard workspace
And, for auditable Files (version 8 or later):
• Advanced Project workspace
• Virtual Meeting workspace
• Relationship Management workspace
• Document Review workspace Note the following:
• Restricting files blocks the Groove File Sharing (GFS) Workspace tool and prevents proper functioning of the GFS Workspaces which depend on the Files tool.
Forms • Affects all forms-based tools and
templates, typically displaying a message to users explaining the denied access.
Meetings The following workspaces:
• Advanced Project workspace
• Virtual Meeting workspace
• Relationship Management workspace
Project Manager Advanced Project workspace
Web Links Advanced Project workspace
To limit Groove tool usage, follow these steps:
1. Go to the management server administrative Web site and in the navigation pane, click a domain device template that you want to edit. The Account Policies tab appears.
2. Click the Usage Policies tab.
3. To prevent blocked tools from appearing in a workspace, select ‘Hide tools that are blocked due to usage policies.’ If you do not select this option, when users try to use a blocked tool, they typically see a message explaining that the tool is not avail-able for use due to policy restrictions.
4. To prohibit tool usage, click the ‘Allow no versions’ radio button for the tool you want to prohibit.
5. If client auditing is in effect and you want to restrict Groove tool usage to auditable tools only, click the ‘Allow auditable versions’ option for those tools. Auditable tools currently include:
• Chat (version 1 and greater)
• Discussion (version 4 and greater)
• Document Review (version 2 and greater)
• Files (version 8 and greater)
• Forms Tool (version 3 and greater)
• Groove File Sharing (GFS) Workspace (version 1 and greater) 6. Click Save Changes in the tool bar.
Note: For information about how to delete data associated with blocked tools, to pre-vent incoming data from being stored locally, and to prepre-vent users from accessing the tool or tool data even after the tool usage restriction is removed, see your Groove Networks support representative. Setting the Delete information option from a blocked Groove Files tool also affects data in GFS workspaces on domain devices affected by this policy.
See “Tool Usage Recovery After Restriction is Removed” below for information about recovering data that has been purged due to the client purge interval being exceeded or if you have contacted Groove support to set the Delete information option.
See Usage Policies in the “Client Policies” section below for descriptions of the tool usage policies.
Tool Usage Recovery After Restriction is Removed
Once a tool usage restriction is removed, affected users can usually recover tool usage when they click on the tool, or, if the tool is not installed, by clicking an Install button from the missing tool placeholder within the workspace. However, recovery paths vary, depending upon the length of time that the tool has been blocked and whether tool data has been deleted.
If the tool restriction was lifted before the client purge interval (approximately 21 days of user inactivity in a space) elapsed, users can recover tool usage when they click on the tool or via the Install button, as described above. All data that existed locally when the tool was
blocked and any data that was added to the tool while it was blocked will be available (assuming that tool data deletion was not enabled).
If the tool restriction was lifted after the client purge interval (21 days) elapsed, affected users will not be able to re-install the tool by navigating to it or by clicking the Install but-ton. In addition, in the context of GFS workspaces, if the Files tool or GFS restriction was not lifted before the client purge interval (21 days) elapsed, users will see alerts indicating that GFS workspaces cannot synchronize. To recover under these conditions, affected users must delete any space that includes the tool and be re-invited to the space.
Under certain conditions, administrators can configure tool usage policies to delete all tool data if a tool is restricted. In this scenario, affected users will not be able to re-install the tool by navigating to it or by clicking the Install button. In addition, in the context of GFS workspaces, if the Delete information option was set for the Files tool, users will see alerts indicating that GFS workspaces cannot synchronize. To recover under these conditions after a tool restriction is lifted, affected users must delete any space that includes the tool and be re-invited to the space. Please contact Groove Networks for more information about enabling this feature.