Public vs Private Sites

Our platform offers two types of site configurations: public and private. Understanding the differences between these configurations is essential for managing access, enhancing collaboration, and maintaining security.

For the examples below, let's imagine a situation where a site contains :

• lots of users who's emails are from @softools.net
• lots of users who's emails are from @consultancy.com
• individual users (e.g. suppliers) who's emails are from their corporate site - @supplier1.com and @supplier2.com etc

Public Sites (DEFAULT FOR ALL CREATED SITES)

Public sites are configured to have a list of allowed email domains whose users can view other users on the site (in person fields). It is crucial to set the correct permissions to ensure security and functionality. Managing users is still down to site admins in the settings area.

Note: In the example above, if consultancy.com and softools.net were both allowed domains on the site, softools.net useres and consultancy.com users would all be able to see each other and all users, but all of the suppliers would not be able to see other users.

Private Sites

Private sites are configured to have all users view other users on the site (in-person fields). Managing users is still down to site admins in the settings area.

Note : In the example above, all users (inc @softools.net, @consultancy.com and @supplier.com) would be able to see eachother in user lists

Visibility of Users

When a site is set to public, only the users with email domains listed in the allowed domains can see other users on the site. This means that person fields, which are used to reference and display users, will not work for external users whose email domains are not included in the allowed list.

Rule of Thumb when deciding whether a site should be Public or Private

If you need to invite users from outside your organization to access the site, it is suggested to set the site to public. This setting allows external users with email addresses from the allowed domains to access and interact with the site, ensuring that your organization can collaborate with external partners securely and efficiently, without exposing names and emails of users.

Remember to clearly communicate to the site administrators the implications of setting a site to public and the importance of managing the list of allowed email domains carefully.