The What, Why, and How of the Sisense Community
Introduction:
Hi, I’m David Raynor, Senior Community Manager for Sisense. My job is to ensure we provide value to every member of this community.
This guide covers everything you need to know about registering, posting, and accessing this community. Review this post to learn about the community guidelines before participating.
I will start by describing what each feature is, then explain why it's there, and finish with how to use it.
I have cool stuff to show you, so let’s get started!
Top row navigation
What: This contains links to every community resource, and clicking the Sisense logo will bring you back to the community homepage. On the front page you will also see important announcements, links to different parts of the community,
Why: The home row doesn’t change, so no matter where you are on the website you can still quickly access everything.
How: Hover over each title to expand the dropdown. You can select the individual section you want, or click on the Section title to see a summary of each section and select from there. The home row search (via the magnifying glass icon) is always global search, while the search box in the hero banner searches within the part of the community you are in. Envelope indicates private messages, bell indicates notifications like replies and kudos to your posts and if you were tagged in a post. Click on your avatar and username to access your profile and settings.
Forums
There are 3 forums, Casual Conversations, Help & How-To, and the Product Feedback Forum.
Casual Conversations
What: Casual Conversations is for informal and fun conversations. Keep an eye on this space for fun contest and event information.
Why: We created this space to provide opportunities for fun social interactions.
How: If you find some content that you think other users of Sisense would find interesting or entertaining, feel free to post it here. We also will post community contests, conversation starters, and other social content here.
Help & How-To
What: Help & How-To is the place to ask questions and get answers from other community members, partners, or Sisense employees.
Why: If you want to know how to do something in Sisense, this is the place to be. There is a lot of good information already here, and we actively monitor these forums to make sure that posts get responses. If a post has not gotten a first response within 2 days moderators are automatically alerted and will reach out to resources to get a response.
How: If you want to submit a post, click the button in the header banner, underneath the search bar. The text changes depending on what part of the community you are in, but the function is the same. You will be presented with a form where you can enter your post content, add attachments and labels, then click Publish to post it to the forum. Review this post for content guidelines.
Product Feedback Forum
What: The Product Feedback Forum is where people can post feedback about features and functionality that people want to be added to Sisense.
Why: We actively monitor this feedback and communicate with the Sisense product team to evaluate the requests and provide a response. Multiple posts from this forum have been added to the product roadmap, and even delivered. We encourage members to add their feedback to the Ideas labeled New and Needs Votes and Comments. We use votes to help us prioritize our efforts, and comments help us determine how best to implement the feature so that it meets the needs of our customers.
How: If you have something that you want us to add to Sisense, we recommend doing a search first to see if someone else has already suggested it. If they have, give that Idea an upvote and add a comment with your use case. If you don’t find your idea, go ahead and fill out the form. Make sure you review the Product Feedback guidelines and recommendations. https://community.sisense.com/t5/community-guidelines-faqs/sisense-product-feedback-forum-s-submission-guidelines-and/ba-p/7473
Blogs
Blogs are where you will find stories from individual Sisense users, News from Sisense and the Community, and the Community guidelines and FAQs.
Customer Stories
What: Customer Stories showcases inspiring personal stories from people who have used Sisense to lead and grow, User spotlights, and more.
Why: Community Stories are focused on individuals and their experience, rather than broad corporate stories. We work with expert professionals to tell their stories about how they use Sisense in their day-to-day, and spotlight community members who go above and beyond to help others in the community.
How: If you have a story to tell, or want to recommend someone for special recognition, please let us know by reaching out to [email protected]. We would love to talk with you and help make it happen!
Community Guidelines & FAQs
What: This is where you can find guidelines and tips-and-tricks for using the community.
Why: Everyone is expected to follow the guidelines posted here. There are also helpful tips and best practices that will help you get the most out of the community.
How: Make sure you read through the guidelines to understand the kind of community we have, and you can identify content that doesn't meet those guidelines and let us know. The tips-and-tricks and FAQs will help you create effective posts that get better and faster responses, which gets you an answer more quickly.
Sisense & Community News
What: Sisense & Community news is where you can find official information like Release Notes, community and product news, and announcements and thought pieces directly from Sisense.
Why: Sisense is constantly improving our software, so keeping up with product releases will help you take advantage of improvements and new features. We are adding new features and content to the community website, and those will be announced here also.
How: For all of the blogs, you can click the bell icon in the upper right corner to be notified when new content is added. This is a great way to keep up-to-date. We work hard to make sure that anything posted in the community will provide value to our members, so you don’t have to worry about getting inundated with content that doesn’t matter to you.
KB Docs
What: Kb docs are where you will find articles written by Sisense employees. Subject matter experts who share the knowledge they gained from helping customers by creating documents for everyone to use.
Why: These documents are created and reviewed by our teams and managers to make sure that they are clear and accurate. If you want to know how to do something, this should be the first place you look.
How: KB docs are organized into specific topics. If there is a topic that you want to follow, just click the bell icon in the upper right to be notified when new content is published. You can also follow specific docs if you want to be notified of changes or comments on the doc.
Events
What: Events is where we host live events like Product and Feature Demos, User Spotlights, Virtual meetups, Release Parties, and more. Past events will be available in the On-Demand Events section
Why: Events are where members can learn about Sisense features and how to use them, experts can share their knowledge, and conversations happen in real time. The goal is to provide community members with opportunities to learn, grow, and share.
How: When you visit the Live & Upcoming Event page, you will find listings for events that are either happening right now, or coming up in the future. When you find one that interests you, you can click either Attend, which will allow you to register for the event, or Interested. Interested means you will get updates and reminders about the event, but you are not registered to attend it. Register basically means “Yes, I’ll be there”, and Interested means “I think I might attend, keep me posted”. Once an event is over, the recording will be made available in the On-Demand Events section.
Learning Resources
What: Learning Resources is a collection of links to other Sisense websites that provide valuable information about using Sisense.
Why: There is a lot of information available about Sisense, way more that can fit in one place! If you don’t find exactly what you are looking for in the Community, or want to learn more about a specific topic, check out these great resources!
How: Click the links, get taken to the website.
Use Case Gallery
What: The Use Case Gallery showcases creative and interesting visualizations and implementations using out-of-the-box Sisense. Each post has not only the end result, but details about how it was achieved so others can learn how to do it themselves.
Why: Sisense is an extremely flexible and customizable platform. The possibilities are virtually limitless, but it takes knowledge and experience to get the most out of it. By providing not only inspiration, but also instruction, the Use Case Gallery will help any user leverage Sisense more effectively.
How: If you see a post that inspires you, give it a like, or comment how much you like it! If you encounter roadblocks with your own implementation, post your questions in the Forum, or leave a comment on the Gallery post. If the author sees it, they may be able to offer assistance. Have a creation you want to share? Reach out to [email protected]. We will work with you to create the content and get it posted!
