How to Use the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool

Table of Contents

Overview

The U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool provides three options for creating your U-M Slack workspace. The option you choose will depend on how you want to manage membership in the workspace. This document outlines and walks you through how to use the tool depending on your need.

​Important: You must create a U-M Slack account at least 24 hours before attempting to create a Slack workspace. Refer to the U-M Slack Getting Started page for instructions on creating your U-M Slack account.

Create an MCommunity Group Workspace

If you would like to create a Slack workspace whose membership is synced to an MCommunity group of your choice, which you own and have already created, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool.
  2. Select the appropriate college/business division from the drop-down menu under “Select the college or division that will be assigned to this workspace.”
  3. Enter a name for your new workspace in the “Enter the desired name for your workspace” field. (Names cannot be longer than 50 characters.)
  4. Enter a suffix for your workspace’s domain URL in the “Enter the desired domain suffix for your workspace” field.

Note: This will be used to construct the workspace URL, which is the web address that people will use to access your Slack workspace. The URL will be "um-[dept]-[domain suffix].slack.com" where [dept] is the department you selected above and [domain suffix] is what you enter in this field. For example: um-lsa-workspace, where "workspace" is what you enter in this field. Domain suffixes cannot be longer than ten characters and can only have letters, numbers, and dashes (hyphens).

  1. Select the MCommunity group you would like to use to manage workspace membership from the “Select the MCommunity group that should control who has access to join the workspace as members” drop-down menu. (You must create and own the MCommunity group before filling out this form. Also, you will only see the MCommunity groups you own in the drop-down.)
  2. Select “I Confirm” from the “Please confirm that the information you entered for your new U-M Slack workspace is correct” drop-down menu. 
  3. Click Submit. You will then be taken to a confirmation page.

Workspaces are created automatically but may take up to 24 hours to be available in U-M Slack. You will receive a Slackbot notification in U-M Slack once it is ready. You will be able to access the workspace by going to slack.umich.edu, logging in with U-M Weblogin, and reviewing the list of Workspaces. Alternatively, you can also access the workspace from the Slack desktop or mobile app after logging in to your U-M Slack account.

To check the status of your workspace creation request, refer to My U-M Slack Workspace Creation Requests.

Create a Canvas Course Workspace

If you would like to create a Slack workspace whose membership is synced to one or more Ann Arbor Canvas courses for the Fall 2021 term, of which you have a Teacher role, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool.
  2. Check the boxes beside each Canvas course for which you’d like to create a Slack workspace under “Select the Canvas course(s) in which you are an instructor that should control who has access to join the workspace as members.”

Note: Workspace members will be managed by these Canvas courses. You must have a Teacher role in the Canvas course before filling out this form. This list only shows courses that have not yet had a Slack workspace created. If a course is missing from this list, it may be that you or another instructor already created the workspace.

  1. Enter a name for your new workspace in the “Enter the desired name for your workspace” field. (Names cannot be longer than 50 characters.)
  2. Enter a suffix for your workspace’s domain URL in the “Enter the desired domain suffix for your workspace” field.

Note: This will be used to construct the workspace URL, which is the web address that people will use to access your Slack workspace. The URL will be "um-FA21-[domain suffix].slack.com" where [domain suffix] is what you enter in this field. For example: um-FA21-ART101, where "ART101" is what you enter in this field. Domain suffixes cannot be longer than 10 characters and can only have letters, numbers, and dashes (hyphens).

  1. Select “I Confirm” from the “Please confirm that the information you entered for your new U-M Slack workspace is correct” drop-down menu. 
  2. Click Submit. You will then be taken to a confirmation page.

Workspaces are created automatically but may take up to 24 hours to be available in U-M Slack. You will receive a Slackbot notification in U-M Slack once it is ready. You will be able to access the workspace by going to slack.umich.edu, logging in with U-M Weblogin, and reviewing the list of Workspaces. Alternatively, you can also access the workspace from the Slack desktop or mobile app after logging in to your U-M Slack account.

To check the status of your workspace creation request, refer to My U-M Slack Workspace Creation Requests.

Note: Any U-M faculty, staff, or student (with an @umich.edu email) in any role in the course will be automatically synced to the Slack workspace. For example, as students add the class to their course roster, they will also automatically gain access to the Slack workspace, and as they drop the class, they will lose access. You do not need to add/remove them yourself.

Create a Standalone Workspace

If you would like to create a Slack workspace whose membership is not synced to an MCommunity group or Canvas course, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the U-M Slack Workspace Creation Tool.
  2. Select the appropriate college/business division from the drop-down menu under “Select the college or division that will be assigned to this workspace.”
  3. Enter a name for your new workspace in the “Enter the desired name for your workspace” field. (Names cannot be longer than 50 characters.)
  4. Enter a suffix for your workspace’s domain URL in the “Enter the desired domain suffix for your workspace” field.

Note: This will be used to construct the workspace URL, which is the web address that people will use to access your Slack workspace. The URL will be "um-[dept]-[domain suffix].slack.com" where [dept] is the department you selected above and [domain suffix] is what you enter in this field. For example: um-lsa-workspace, where "workspace" is what you enter in this field. Domain suffixes cannot be longer than ten characters and can only have letters, numbers, and dashes (hyphens).

  1. Select “I Confirm” from the “Please confirm that the information you entered for your new U-M Slack workspace is correct” drop-down menu. 
  2. Click Submit. You will then be taken to a confirmation page.

Workspaces are created automatically but may take up to 24 hours to be available in U-M Slack. You will receive a Slackbot notification in U-M Slack once it is ready. You will be able to access the workspace by going to slack.umich.edu, logging in with U-M Weblogin, and reviewing the list of Workspaces. Alternatively, you can also access the workspace from the Slack desktop or mobile app after logging in to your U-M Slack account.

To check the status of your workspace creation request, refer to My U-M Slack Workspace Creation Requests.

Note: You are responsible for adding and removing individual members directly in the Slack workspace. You cannot add MCommunity groups as members. Members must be added as individuals using their @umich.edu email address.

Additional Resources

Tags: 
Slack
Last Updated: 
Monday, August 30, 2021