One of the most common ways we see Forum Channels used in Igloos is for as a question and answer hub, whether that's for members to submit issues, ask for platform help, or ask questions to HR or executives. A Q&A forum can give people direct access to the expertise they need, and the channel structure makes it easy to ask questions from anywhere in your digital workplace.Today we'll go over some of the best practices for structuring up a Q&A forum to set it up for success. 

Settings

Once you've created the Forum Channel itself, use the settings area to set the available topic types, selecting from Discussions, Questions, Issues, and Ideas. This can help people sort the topics in widgets, as well as determines how they're resolved. If you want a moderated forum, you'll set that up here as well, and appoint any Moderators. Pinning lets you pull topics out of the order and push them to the top, making it easy to focus on issues, or create a sticky thread. If you plan on merging your Q&A forum into widget with other Forum Channels, it's worth setting a channel colour as well, to differentiate it from the other channels. 

Templates

With the settings configured, it's time to think about a Channel Template. One of the unique things about Forum Channels is that each topic type can have its own template, letting you frame discussions differently from questions. Templates let you add structure to questions, or include requests for additional requirements, like screenshots. Some Forum Channels even use tables with headers to create a form for people to fill out, in order to make sure all necessary information is included. 

Best practices

It goes without saying that the best practice for a Q&A forum is to have your experts monitoring it, and you can make that easy by setting up an instant Subscription for the Group, which will give them email notifications, as well as letting them respond through the Igloo Mobile App. In addition, pinning a post with frequently asked questions, or several posts divided by topic. Resolving questions when they're answered to satisfaction lets your administrators easily see which topics have been attended to, and widgets can be set up to filter by resolution as well. 

Speaking of widgets, once the channel is configured, it can be pulled into widgets around your community, making it straightforward for people to submit or review questions from their Spaces, the homepage, or anywhere you choose. Including it in areas where people already work means it can become part of their workflow, rather than requiring them to search for a place to ask their question. The Community Bookmarks are another great place to keep a link to the forum itself, or to a Q&A page for people who need help. 

If you have any questions about using Forum Channels, you can ask a question in the Community area, consult the Knowledge Base, or attend our What's New in Igloo webinar on August 16.