Teams don’t appear as a link in the Control Panel because they exist within sites. Teams allow site administrators a greater degree of flexibility than was possible using just user groups and roles. They allow site administrators to create various sets of users and permissions for site-specific functions. Teams are the preferred method for collecting permissions within a single site.
If you create a team for one site, the permissions defined for it are not available to any other sites. In contrast, if you assigned a custom role to a user group, the role would be available portal-wide even though the specific permissions defined by it would only apply within the scope of a designated site. Furthermore, team members, unlike user group members, are guaranteed to be members of the desired site.
To create a team within a site, first navigate to the Control Panel → Sites page then and then select Actions → Manage Memberships for the site within which you want to create a team. Finally, click View → Teams and click the Add Team button.
Figure 3.26: Creating a Team within a Site
After you’ve clicked the Add Team button and entered a name and a description, click Save. Your new team will appear in the list. To add members, simply click on Actions → Assign Members.
Permission management for teams is handled at the individual portlet level, using the Options → Configuration → Permissions tab of the portlet itself. Remember the portlet options link is the wrench symbol at the top of a portlet. This enables users who wouldn’t have access to all of the necessary options in the Control Panel to manage permissions through teams.
Figure 3.27: Assigning Portlet Permissions to a Team
To give a team access to a particular portlet function, access the Permissions tab of a portlet residing on a page, check the boxes corresponding to permissions you want to assign to the teams, then click Save. That’s it! Now your team is ready to perform their functions. Next, let’s look at how to configure Liferay for mobile devices.