Several roles are necessary to successfully install, administer and use the technology. An understanding of those roles will help the reader better understand the different administration tasks and the different responsibilities.
The different roles that are likely involved with the administration activities are summarized below. In the administration user guides the System Administrator and Room User roles are not discussed in any detail.
| Description / Responsibility | |
|---|---|
| System Administrator | The System Administrator is responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining the application software. |
| Master Administrator | The Master Administrator is responsible for managing the environment. This would include creating, deleting and changing Virtual Servers as well as communication to/from Virtual Server administrators (or owners). |
| Virtual Server Administrator | The Virtual Server Administrator is responsible for customizing Virtual Servers. This would include creating, deleting and editing individual rooms as wells as communication pertinent information to Room Administrators (or owners). |
| Room Administrator | The Room Administrator is responsible for configuring individual rooms. This would include maintaining room access passwords, specifying the room layout such as the home URL, authorizing recording options etc. The Room Administration would provide the room access links to potential users. |
| User - Moderator | A Room Moderator is a user with moderator privileges such as pushing web page content, converting and uploading documents, whiteboard initiation, etc. In addition the moderator can manage other users by removing them from the room, permitting text and audio chatting, modifying talk queue. |
| User - Guest | A Room User is a individual who will use the room as an invited guest to participate in meetings, attend training session etc. |
The deployment of specific roles will be different for every organization. In one organization the role of Systems Administrator, Master Administrator, Virtual Server Administrator and Room Administrator may be assigned to a single individual, in which case the Master Server, Virtual Server, and Room Administration guides would be needed. In another organizations a different individual, or individuals, may be assigned for each role, in which case each individual(s) would use one of the specific administration guides. In many organizations a combination of both of the above scenarios may be deployed.
The assignment or roles will also depend on the product you have chosen: purchased product, Virtual server renter or room renter. For example if you are a commenter server renter or room renter you would not need the Systems Administrator or the Master Administrator role or the Master Administrator's Guide.
It will be important to clearly define, and document, the different responsibilities when multiple individuals are deployed. The organizational issues associated with assigning roles to different individuals are not discussed in this article.