User Guidance of the Transition Pathway Stakeholder Support Platform

1. General introduction

1.1 What is the Transition Pathway? What are the main objectives of the Stakeholder Support Platform?

The updated EU Industrial Strategy stresses a swift green & digital transition of EU industry and its ecosystems. It means that each industrial ecosystem must transform its business models and value chains to become the foundation of a green, digital and resilient European economy. But such transitions require concrete and actionable plans (so-called Transition Pathways) developed for each of the industrial ecosystems. Industry, public authorities, social partners and stakeholders should cooperate to create each ecosystem's Transition Pathway.

The ultimate objective of the stakeholder support platform is to provide industrial ecosystem stakeholders (across the EU and for different types of public and private stakeholders) with easy access to the knowledge, resources and connections that support them in their transition to make their services and operations more green, digital and resilient.

Our platform serves as an integrated access point, providing a user-friendly entry for stakeholders to engage with essential resources and opportunities. Here is how we can assist you:

Access updated information: Stay informed with actively updated information and links to both EU or national official resources and further resources uploaded by different stakeholders, essential for your Transition Pathway actions.
Discover ongoing activities: Find regularly updated knowledge on ongoing projects, activities, and events pertinent to your Transition Pathway actions.
Connect and collaborate: Utilise our platform to connect and collaborate with members of the stakeholder community, enhancing collective efforts and synergies towards common goals.
Find opportunities: Search for or be alerted about topic-specific funding and learning opportunities or other developments relevant to your interests.

The content is actively built and updated by the community itself, strategically designed to support the identified Transition Pathway priorities. Our platform aims to streamline your engagement process, providing you with the tools and resources necessary for impactful participation. Explore and leverage our offerings to propel your initiatives forward!

Are you interested in obtaining more information about the Transition Pathways for European industrial ecosystems? Visit the following page: https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/industry/transition-pathways_en.

1.2 How can the user guidance help you?

Are you experiencing difficulty with using the platform, or are you simply curious about the functionalities it offers? The user guidance helps you to navigate seamlessly and utilise all features effectively on the platform. It provides clear answers to common questions about the functionalities of the platform from general to specific ones.

You can find out all you need to know about the registration process, browsing, interacting and proposing content and even more.

Need further assistance? Feel free to contact your ecosystem’s support team through the Ecosystem Specific Helpdesk form.
Did you encounter any errors or need technical guidance? Feel free to contact the platform’s operator team through the Technical Helpdesk form.

2. Accessibility of the platform

2.1 What can I see on the Transition Pathway Stakeholder Support Platform landing page?

The Transition Pathway Stakeholder Support Platform gathers various industries. Every industry can create a subpage on the platform that we call ‘ecosystem’.

On the platform-level landing page, you can select which ecosystem page you would like to visit. Through this, all of the created, live ecosystems will be available. Once you select your ecosystem you will be redirected to the corresponding subpage.

2.2 How can I access the platform in my native language?

The default language is English. You can simply change the language of the webpage anytime by clicking (1) the button in the header marked with a ‘globe’ pictogram (between the ‘Login’ / ‘My profile’ button and the global search bar) and (2) the name of the selected language.

By selecting another language, the body text of the web pages will be automatically translated through the European Commission’s service. The selected language is retained even if you navigate to another subpage.The platform is available in all official languages that are covered by the eTranslation service.

You can read further information about the languages on EC websites here: https://european-union.europa.eu/languages-our-websites_en

3. Accessing an ecosystem without registration / logging in

Do not have a user profile in the selected ecosystem or prefer not to log in? No worries!

You can still use our platform. We briefly introduce in the following paragraphs the functionalities you can access.

3.1 What else can I do without registration / logging into the platform?

You can also see every content section of the platform, including the interactive map and calendar.

You will be able to easily search and browse among content items (for further details, please navigate to ‘6. Personalisation and browsing’ section). However, you will not be able to interact with them (e.g., commenting on or reacting to) or propose new items until you log into the platform.

You can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter through the link in the footer. For more information, take a look at the ‘3.2 How can I subscribe/unsubscribe to the monthly newsletter?’ point.

Nevertheless, you will not have access to community-related functionalities, such as the public discussion forum, list of community members, workspaces, and the subpage for consulting workspace specific work-in-progress materials (e.g. reports).

Join one of the ecosystems to utilise all of these functionalities!

3.2 How can I subscribe/unsubscribe to the monthly newsletter?

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter for various insights and latest updates. The newsletter provides you the opportunity to stay informed about the latest content and other updates on the platform whether you are registered or not. You can subscribe to the newsletter here and access all previous newsletters through the European Commission's Newsroom platform under the DG GROW’s Tourism Transition Pathway Stakeholder Support Platform – Newsletter archive.

Newsroom is a Content Management System customised to the needs of European institutions. The tool is used to publish newsletters and to send automatic notifications.

You can follow these simple steps to subscribe and be informed every month:

Step 1: Navigate to the ‘Newsletter’ section

Look for the ‘Newsletter’ section in the footer and click on the link, which will navigate you to the Newsroom’s subscription page.

If you are a registered user or would like to register, you can access the subscription link by clicking on ‘My account settings’ as well.

Step 2: Enter your email address and accept the privacy statement

Enter your email address in the provided field, accept the Privacy Statement of Newsroom by clicking on the check box and ‘Subscribe’ with the dedicated button. You will receive a confirmation email shortly thereafter.

Step 3: Follow the instructions in the email

To complete your subscription and start receiving our monthly updates directly in your inbox follow the instructions in the confirmation email.

To unsubscribe from our newsletter, open any of our emails and scroll to the bottom. Click the ‘Unsubscribe’ link provided in the footer. You will be directed to the Newsroom’s respective subpage where you can confirm your decision to stop receiving our newsletters. Once confirmed, you will no longer receive them.

Remember, you can re-subscribe anytime to stay updated!

4. Get started - Registration and/or login to an ecosystem

4.1 How can I register to an ecosystem? What are the benefits?

Registration to a specific ecosystem offers you the ability to engage in interactive functions, such as proposing contents and reacting to others’ posts. It facilitates networking and collaboration by providing dedicated workspaces, and offers a personalised view of content sections based on your interests and characteristics. Furthermore, you are able to stay up-to-date with the latest content and events, enhancing your overall experience within the platform.

Registering is a simple process that will grant you access to a wealth of resources, communities, and collaboration opportunities. In this guide, we will walk you through the registration process step-by-step to ensure a smooth and hassle-free experience.

Here are the simple steps for a successful registration:

Step 1: Access the registration page

Navigate to the registration page by clicking on the ‘Join’ button, found at the top right corner of the page.

Step 2: Create an EU Login account if you do not already have one

You need to create an EU Login account, which is the European Commission's user authentication service, to access all features on our platform. You can simply set up one by clicking on ‘Create an EU Login account’.

It allows authorised users to access a wide range of Commission web services, such as Transition Pathway Stakeholder Support Platform by using a single email address and password.

Note: We highly encourage all our members to use professional email addresses for registration on the platform for credibility purposes and facilitation of validation!

Step 3: Fill out all fields in the form provided by EU Login

After the successful creation of your EU Login profile, you will receive a verification email with an activation link to create your password. Please, click on the link, and set your password on the EU Login page.

When your password has been successfully created, you may click on ‘Next’ and log in to the platform.

Step 4: Fill out all fields in the ecosystem-related registration form

After logging in, the ecosystem-related registration form will be displayed.

In this form, all fields with a red star (*) are mandatory.

For further information about the profile data you should provide during the registration, please check the ‘4.2 What specific data needs to be provided during registration for an ecosystem?’ point within that section.

You will also be asked to agree to the Terms & Conditions and the Privacy Statement.

To fully benefit from the Transition Pathway Stakeholder Support Platform, it is strongly recommended to fill out most of the optional fields. By filling out these we can enhance your user experience with relevant contents and suggestions.

Please note that your registration will only be complete once you have finalised your profile after logging in with your EU Login account. You will be notified via the provided email if you successfully register to the EU Login. If you complete your registration, you will also be notified (via a notification in the platform or email) that you can access the personalised features.

Note: Separate registration is needed for every ecosystem. However, after logging in to the platform with your EU Login account, you can access all ecosystem profiles where you already have an active registration.

4.2 What specific data needs to be provided during registration for an ecosystem?

In addition to the general personal data presented in the previous steps (e.g. first and last name), it is mandatory to specify the category for your activity, which may vary across different ecosystems. These will be your characteristics that clearly describe you. The platform will take this as a default area of interest.

However, you can then define additional areas of interest along the same categories. These can be modified anytime. Based on all of these, personalised views will be available to you across the subpages of the ecosystem, which you can read about in more detail under the ‘6. Personalisation and browsing’ section.

4.3 How can I log in or log out from an ecosystem if I already have an active account?

If you have signed up with EU Login before, you should choose ‘Login’ that you can find in the header next to the language selection. Once you have logged in, you will be able to access your personalised views based on your profile data if you completed your profile in full.

You can log out from the platform by clicking on ‘Logout’ under ‘My profile’ in the header. Once you initiate the logout process, the EU Login interface will be displayed and you must confirm your intention to log out through this. If you select the ‘Log me out’ option here, you will be logged out from all ecosystems at the same time.

4.4 How can I reset my password with EU Login?

If you forgot your password for your EU login account, no need to worry – it is easy to reset it via EU Login.

Step 1: Click on ‘Log in’ at the top of the screen

At the top of any page on Transition Pathway, you will find the ‘Login’ button next to the language selection. By clicking on it, you will be redirected to the EU Login interface which is the European Commission's user authentication service.

Step 2: Click on ‘Lost your password? via the EU Login interface

Once you are redirected to the EU Login interface, enter the e-mail address you use for EU Login and click on ‘Lost your password?’.

Step 3: Follow the instructions on the screen

EU Login will navigate you through the process and you will be able to set a new password for your Transition Pathway Stakeholder Support Platform account as well.

If you are having trouble resetting your password, or if you do not receive the password reset email, please visit EU Login user guide here: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/.

5. User profile

5.1 How can I edit my profile data and my interests?

For a more personalised experience, make sure you are configuring your profile with the most accurate and up-to-date information.

To modify your profile data and interests, (1) navigate to ‘My profile’ next to the language selection in the header, where you can find the ‘Edit account settings’ button or (2) just simply click ‘Account settings’ from the drop-down list after clicking ‘My profile’ in the header.

Important to note: When your organisational affiliation changes, if you have published contents on behalf of an organisation, we strongly recommend you to initiate the reassignment of the content management rights of your items that are linked to your previous organisation via the helpdesk form. It can be crucial when you are managing commitments of a given organisation.

5.2 How can I terminate my account?

We are sorry to see you go. To terminate your account in an ecosystem you should do the following steps:

Step 1: Navigate to ‘My profile’ in the header

Step 2: Click on ‘Account settings’

Step 3: Scroll down to the bottom of the page

Step 4: Click on ‘Delete account’

Step 5: Confirm or cancel the termination of your account

Step 6: Wait for the acceptance of the admin team

You cannot terminate your account immediately without the approval of administrators in order to avoid any loss of content that belongs to your profile. They will contact you if any additional information is needed from you before the final termination. You will also receive a notification once the process is complete.

Please note that any content you uploaded to our platform will be archived and only the administrator team can access them. Your content items will no longer be publicly available without your prior consent.

Important to note: If you have published contents on behalf of an organisation, we strongly recommend you to initiate the reassignment of the content management rights of your items that are linked to your previous organisation via the helpdesk form. It can be crucial when you are managing commitments of a given organisation.

5.3 How can I check my activities within the ecosystem?

We appreciate your active participation on our platform.

To view your activity, please click on ‘My profile’ in the header after logging in. Scroll down and click on the section or tab you would like to check. These specific sections or tabs allow you to check your notifications, messages with other end-users, contributions, bookmarks, users you follow and your followers, as well as workspaces you are a member of.

My notifications:

You are able to see both your read and unread notifications in a list (e.g., status change of your content proposal, comments on own or bookmarked content, etc.) and can reach all of their details. You can filter them based on whether they are connected to

your own content proposal (e.g. you need to revise your content),
community updates and activities (e.g., you bookmarked content received a comment),
communication (e.g., new messages you received), or
system notifications (e.g., new version of the platform will be released) and direct notifications from the administrative staff off the platform (e.g. highlighting a specific content or event).

My messages:

You can see the list of all messages you have sent to or received from other end-users on the platform. You are able to open the messages directly from this section and continue the discussions within the platform.

You also have the option to block a user by clicking on the designated button if they sent you messages in inappropriate style or format, and you can unblock a blocked user at any time.

Note: Messages cannot be deleted. Messages with admin users should be managed through the helpdesk form or via email.

My contributions:

You can check the publication status of your uploaded content items to the public space or a specific workspace. Also, you can see how other users rated your content and the number of comments your item received. Moreover, you can view content items on which you have previously commented.

My bookmarks:

You can check all content items you have bookmarked and can open them directly from the bookmark list. You can also remove them from this list anytime. We encourage you to use this feature to follow an item you are interested in as you will be notified about the updates of the bookmarked content item, as well as you can access it more easily in the future.

My followers:

You can view (1) other end-users you follow and (2) those who follow you. At any given time, one of these can be displayed and selected through the left sidebar. You can expand your list of followed users via ‘Relevant Connections’ on the homepage and in other member-related sections (e.g., under the ‘Community Section’).

From here, you can unfollow the selected community members anytime, by clicking the ‘Unfollow’ button.

My workspaces:

You can see all the workspaces that you are a member of, the main information about each of them and can also easily access them from this page.

5.4 How can I become a trusted content contributor and what does this role mean?

If you have successfully uploaded six original pieces of content, admin users can designate you as a trusted content contributor, which will be visible on your profile page. You will also receive notification about the received badge.

Trusted content contributors are able to propose content through a shorter validation process than other community members which results in a quicker publication (the validation process is determined by the operators of the given ecosystem).

Do not hesitate to propose your valuable content in your ecosystem and become one of our trusted content contributors!

6. Personalisation and browsing

The platform provides you a key feature with the personalised content view that helps you to reach relevant content items with the least number of clicks.

Navigating through our extensive collection of contents, workspaces, and community spaces can be challenging, but this section is here to help.

Do you want to change or adjust your personalised view or do not have an active registration?

No need for concern! With powerful browsing and search features at your fingertips, you can easily discover the information and connections that matter most to you.

6.1 How can I search on the platform?

You can search among the platform’s content elements by using keywords in the search bars. Keywords are terms and phrases that capture the main ideas of your query, helping the search engine to identify the relevant information to you.

Firstly, you can search through all content in the (1) global search bar placed in the header of the subpage. Secondly, you can search specifically (2) within a given section.

In the former case, you will be able to search among every content item uploaded to the given ecosystem.
In the latter case, as a non-registered visitor, you can browse through every content uploaded to the given section. However, as a registered user, you can search among only relevant content items that match your interests as specified in your profile. You can also combine both filters and keywords to narrow-down your search and see the most relevant content.

6.2 How can I apply filters?

On the left side of every content or user related page, you can access various filters from drop-down lists (e.g. Geography), which will help you to make your search easier (e.g. listing all items that are connected to a specific country). You can select multiple filters in a given category expanding the list of items you see, and/or apply more than one filtering category to further narrow down your search.

As a registered user, you have the option to expand or reset the personalised filtering based on your characteristics and interests set in your profile whenever you want. You are able to return to your personalisation at any time. However, the modified filtering that differs from your personalised view will be no longer available if you navigate to another section of the platform.

You can also easily delete all set filters at once, regardless of whether you are a registered user or a non-registered visitor.

Note: You will see all available filters for content types listed in the specific section. Therefore, the list of available filters may vary from one section to another. Furthermore, you will only see options for each category that has uploaded content, avoiding to receive unsuccessful or empty searches.

6.3 What will I see under the sections based on my user profile?

We believe that your user experience is strongly based on the relevance of the contents you see, thereby the displayed contents are based on your interests and profile characteristics that you provided during the registration process.

These help us to provide you the most relevant content items under each section. Please find more information on these account settings under the ‘4.2 What specific data needs to be provided during registration for an ecosystem?’ point.

If you change your interests that you set earlier, your personalisation will be updated and you will see the most relevant items based on your new account settings.

However, you should keep in mind that there are sections where personalisation is not available:

The interactive map will contain all relevant content organised into a geographical structure.
In the consultation space, you will find all collaborative documents of workspaces on which they ask for your opinion.
In the workspaces where you are a member, you will see all content shared within them.

6.4 What sorting options are available?

❗Please note that this functionality may currently be limited and will be finalised later. You will be notified of new platform versions and updates on capabilities as they become available. Thank you for your understanding and please keep this in mind while using the platform.

There are various sorting options available on our platform. These options differ between sorting of contents and members of the given ecosystem.

Content sorting:

By default, you will see a specific order of content items within a page (called ‘Default prioritisation’). It refers to the default ordering of content items in the listing views based on the relevance according to your interests and characteristics set in your profile and the community appreciation based on the the average of graded reactions received from other users (e.g. 3.5/5 stars).
If you navigate to a subpage where a personalised view is not available or you are a non-registered visitor, the default prioritisation will only display you the most popular content items based on the received graded reactions.
In addition to these, you can order items alphabetically, by date of publication and modification and the number of views within the last month.

User sorting:

By default, you will also see a specific order of users within a page, like for content items (called ‘Default prioritisation’). This means that you can see the most relevant matching users and their activity within the ecosystem first based on their similar characteristics and interests with you.
If you navigate to a subpage where a personalised view is not available, the default prioritisation will only display you the most active users.
Additionally, you can order users alphabetically, by date of joining and date of last login.

Note: If you are not registered, user sorting is not available for you because you cannot see an ecosystem’s users without an active profile.

Sorting for workspaces:

Workspaces are part of the platform that are available only to a specific group of users. Their listing view can be sorted alphabetically and by the date of creation of the workspace.

Note: If you are not registered, you cannot see the listing view of an ecosystem's workspaces and join any of them.

In case of all sorting options, you can see the most relevant content items or users first. The order can be reversed at any time.

You can switch between the default prioritisation and individual sorting options at any time.

You can also decide how many items or users should appear on a page at the same time next to the sorting options in the top right corner (e.g. display only 10 items on a page).

7. Logged-in homepage

7.1 What can I see on my homepage? How can I customise my feed?

After logging into an ecosystem, you can see a standard, preset view on your homepage. However, you can customise what is displayed on your feed at any time by clicking on the ‘Customise my homepage’ button.

During the customisation, you can put all specific content and user sections of the ecosystem in any order. Customise your feed easily through these simple steps:

Step 1: Navigate to your homepage

Step 2: Click on ‘Customise my homepage’ button

Step 3: Select the the preferred content blocks

Step 4: Arrange the sections them in your preferred order

It is important to note that only the most relevant content items will be displayed under your selected sections on your homepage based on your profile characteristics and interests. If you want to see all relevant items, you can access them by clicking on the ‘See more’ button.

7.2 What are the suggested connections used for?

You can see the most relevant matching users and their activity within the ecosystem based on their similar characteristics and interests with you. If you would like to see all relevant matching users, click on the ‘See more’ button.

Why is it useful?

You can be aware of and notified about other community members working in the same area as you, making them potential collaborators in the future. For example, it can help you find them to work with on projects for reaching common goals together. You can simply follow their community contribution by clicking on the ‘Follow’ button next to the user’s name or if you would like to get in touch with them, just send a message. For further information take a look at ‘11.10 How can I message other users?’ point.

7.3 How can I easily access other ecosystems?

We are delighted to hear that you are interested in multiple ecosystems.

You can simply visit other ecosystems through the footer by clicking on the one you are interested in from the list or return to the platform-level landing page.

If you visit an ecosystem that you are registered in with a fully completed profile, you can see your personalised views, otherwise you will see the default structures.

8. Proposing content

You can contribute to the ecosystem once you are logged in.

As a user, you are a significant part of the platform's success. The content you share can greatly help ensure that up-to-date and relevant knowledge material is available for everyone. If you have a resource to share with the community, do not hesitate to do so. Your proposed content does not have to be completely new. You can, and we encourage you to, refer to materials that you or others have uploaded to other platforms by providing links here. It helps all of us to make this platform an integrated access point of knowledge.

We will show you in this section how you can contribute to the content development of the platform!

8.1 Where can I initiate a proposal for new content?

You can initiate proposing any type of content managed in the ecosystem by

clicking the separate ‘Propose content’ / 'Add content' button in the header of the ecosystem’s subpage,
selecting the respective option from the dropdown list in the 'My Profile' section of the header, or
using the left sidebar on your logged-in homepage.

Note: If you are not logged in, you cannot propose any content items and the platform will inform you about this with a short message.

8.2 What are the key steps to submit a proposal form?

You are able to submit your proposed content easily through a few steps as follows:

Step 1: Click on the ‘Propose content’ / ‘Add content’ button

You can start the content proposal process (1) by clicking on the ‘Propose content’ / ‘Add content’ button in the header, (2) from any section you visited and the same types of content found within the platform or (3) from simply the logged-in homepage.

Note: If you are not logged in, you cannot propose any content items and the platform will inform you about this with a short message.

Step 2: Select the type of content

You should select a specific content type from the ‘Propose new content’ pop-up window. The available types of content can vary from ecosystem to ecosystem. However, based on their characteristics, we can generally identify the following groups. You can submit a content item:

which is mainly text-based;
which may have date or time related fields and are relevant to display in the ecosystem’s calendar;
which is a commitment on behalf of an organisation along with the objectives of the Transition Pathway of the given ecosystem;
which is a discussion thread that will be displayed under the publicly available discussion forum.

In each ecosystem, their naming and description will help you identify the best one to fit your content and its objectives.

Step 3: Select whether the content is original or referenced

At the top of the form, select whether you would like to propose a content item that will be published on the ecosystem’s site for the first time (original content) or one that is already shared on another platform and is only referenced here (referenced content).

The available editable fields in the form change dynamically when you switch between ‘original’ and ‘referenced’ content types.

Important to note: Organisational commitments and discussion threads can only exist originally within the platform and cannot completely reference external sites (e.g. you cannot share a commitment with only an external link which directs the user to the page where its details are described).

Step 4: Fill out the editable fields

In the next step, you can provide all information needed for the successful submission. The fields to be filled are based on the selected content type:

You can add the main text or just a short summary of the item.

Hint: Incorporate all the keywords of your content item either in the main text or the short summary, similar to hashtags, to support others in searching your content.
If you would like to propose content as an individual author, you can indicate this and also enter other individual co-authors.
If you would like to propose content on behalf of an organisation, you can read details in ‘8.3 How can I propose content on behalf of an organisation?’ point.
You can attach files, but we recommend avoiding overly detailed attachments. It is better to upload them as separate content items.
Hint: If you would like to attach an image, you can also insert it directly into your main text through the editing view instead of using the attachment field.
You must provide content-specific labels along with all predefined categories, as they are mandatory.
You can choose and link one or multiple related content items from all previously uploaded content to the ecosystem that are directly connected to the new content item.

Important to note: The list presented above does not cover all possible fields of all available content types, only the most important ones. To be aware of everything, please visit our content proposal forms and use the tooltips implemented next to every field.

In this form, all fields with a red star (*) are mandatory. It is strongly recommended to fill out optional fields. By filling out the optional fields, additional details will be provided, helping other users find the most relevant content on the platform.

Step 5: Submit, save for later, cancel or delete the content proposal form

You can submit the proposed content if you filled in every mandatory field. If you changed your mind and do not want to submit the form, you can simply save it for later or cancel the process.

If you submit the content, you can see the current status and any received feedback of your content proposal under ‘My contributions’ in ‘My profile’ as mentioned in the ‘5. User profile’ section. If your content is not yet published and you would like to withdraw it, delete it from the saved drafts here.

8.3 How can I propose content on behalf of an organisation?

On our platform you have the opportunity to propose content on behalf of an organisation.

An organisation can be a ‘publishing organisation’ when the item is directly associated with it as the author (e.g., publishing a specific report). It can be a ‘linked organisation’ when it is indirectly involved (e.g., participating in a project as a contributor).

If one or more organisations linked to a content item directly or indirectly as presented above, they can be added through a searchable list. This list contains all organisations from the ecosystem which have already been included in successful content uploads or which have already been indicated as an organisational affiliation within a user profile.

You can select your organisation from the list or choose ‘Other’ and enter the name of your organisation as a new one through a free text field. Please provide the name of your organisation in English. Once your content proposal is accepted by our editorial team (or your profile data is saved), your organisation will be part of that ecosystem-level list, so you and other members can select it more easily next time.

For all other tasks related to content proposal, you can find information under the ‘8.2 What are the key steps to submit a proposal form?’ point.

9. Content views

9.1 How can I interact with content items?

Your feedback is highly appreciated and helps us to improve the platform! We are eager to read your opinion about the content on our platform.

Once you are logged in, you can share it in the following ways:

Commenting:

You can add comments to any content items or can reply to any existing comments directly. You can also like them by clicking on the heart-shaped pictogram.

Important to note: Be aware that you accepted the Terms and Conditions with your registration. Be respectful to other users at all times, the comments are moderated and can be deleted if they are written in an inappropriate style. For further details, please check the platform’s Terms and Conditions.

Usefulness grading:

You can mark content items’ usefulness on a 1-5 stars scale (where 5 stars is the most positive). Your rating will be added to the average after the page refreshes. You can rate a content item multiple times, but your new rating will override your previous one. For example, if you initially rated a content item with 3 stars and later updated it to 5 stars, your final rating will be 5 stars.

Sharing:

Sharing any content elements on social media platforms is also available if you have an account on those platforms. At the bottom of the left sidebar in any content views, you can find the 'Share' section. From there, you can select a social media platform to share the content item, and the page will redirect you to the respective interface.

Bookmarking:

You can bookmark any content items to access them directly and receive notifications about its updates through your profile. You can also unbookmark them anytime.

Checking attachments:

You are able to see and download the attached documents to any content items.

Rating content of a page or provide more feedback:

At the bottom of each page, just above the footer, you can rate the page’s on a 5-star scale like in the case of usefulness grading. Additionally, you can provide more detailed feedback by clicking on the respective text. This will display a form where you can choose from various feedback options and specify details in a free-text field. To submit your feedback, enter the anti-spam confirmation code (so-called captcha) and click ‘Submit my feedback.’

9.2 How can I report comments connected to a content as inappropriate? What does inappropriateness mean?

You can report any items or comments to the administrative team including cases of

inappropriate or hateful speech, harassment;
impersonation / fake account;
spam;
fraud or scam.

You can find further information about the responsibility for you and other community members’ activity on the platform in the platform’s Terms and Conditions.

You can report a comment related to a content item by following these steps:

Step 1: Click on the ‘Report an issue’ button

Step 2: Select the reason of the reporting

Step 3: Describe the issue in the free text field

Step 4: Submit / cancel the form

Note: If you reported a comment within the platform, you will not necessarily be informed about the result of the report (e.g. whether the comment is really deleted). If justified, the admins will contact you by e-mail in this regard or in connection with a request for additional information. Furthermore, you will not be notified if a comment is deleted from your content item unless you are either the reporter or the commenter.

9.3 How can I check if my comment is considered inappropriate?

If your previously published comment is considered inappropriate by the administrative staff based on the platform’s Terms & Conditions, you will be notified about the decision regarding this (e.g., complete deletion or modification needed). You will see this notification under your profile page’s ‘My notifications’ section.

Note: You will not be notified about reports from other end-users until the administrative staff has reviewed them.

10. Managing organisational commitments and best practices

10.1 What are organisational commitments?

Commitment of an organisation reflects their internally agreed and publicly communicated strategic values for their activities. The Commission wishes to receive clear commitments from organisations of all types of stakeholders demonstrating that the stakeholder community is committed to work together towards Transition Pathway’s implementation.

We invite the whole European stakeholder community to provide their commitments related to the Transition Pathway on the Stakeholder Support Platform. All organisations from SMEs and larger companies to civil interest groups and local, regional and national administrations or other businesses within the given ecosystem are equally invited to participate

10.2 How can I specify the goal setting and the milestones of my commitments?

As organisational commitments are one of the most important pillars of the Transition Pathway, it is necessary to specify and frequently track the goal settings and the milestones connected to them. We suggest you present these in detail as part of the main text of the form.

Once you achieve a goal or milestone, you can update your pledge with a progress report, as described in the ‘10.3 What does the progression of a commitment mean? How can I submit progression or results to my commitment?’ point.

10.3 What does the progression of a commitment mean? How can I submit progression or results to my commitment?

Organisations that have submitted specific commitments are fully responsible for monitoring their actions and reporting their progress. We invite organisations to give at least a yearly update on their actions.

You are able to create organisational commitments on behalf of an organisation where you should declare your foreseen frequency to share progression or any results (e.g., annual, semi-annual).

You can add progression or result to your managed organisational commitments through editing the already published commitment. This update must include a short textual description of the progress complemented by any related resources showcasing the results achieved.

The progression or the result itself can take form of:

a simple indication in the main text, that some minor progress has been made;
URL, if a connected content was published outside of the platform;
attachment, if it is more reasonable to attach a file rather than uploading separately to the platform as a specific item;
related content item selected from the already existing content items within the ecosystem.

Additionally, you can visually highlight your progress in the editing view. In the editor view, scroll down to the content section, select ‘Results’ from the ‘Paragraph types’ dropdown, and click the ‘Add another paragraph’ button. You can also click on the ‘Add Measurable Result’ afterwards. This will add a new, styled paragraph to the main content of your pledge. You can specify an icon and numbering next to this paragraph to make it more visually appealing.

Once the content editorial team approves your progression or result, it will be publicly available.

10.4 How can I mark my commitment as completed within the ecosystem?

When the commitment has a specific target date and has reached it, and/or completed all predefined milestones and results, it can be marked as completed. You can do it in the editing view of your pledge by selecting ‘Completed’ status from the commitment status field. In this case, further modifications will not be available. For continuous commitments (without a specific target date, on a continuous time frame), editing will remain possible.

As it is considered as an update, approval from the administrative staff is needed before publishing. Once the editorial team approves the completion of the commitment based on the provided evidence (e.g. results or any progressions), this information will be publicly available and filterable. Your commitment will receive a ‘Completed’ badge.

Note: Your pledge can have only one badge at a time. A pledge marked as ‘Completed’ does not necessarily meet the requirements of best practices. To qualify as a ‘Best Practice,’ a pledge must be widely relevant and make a unique impact on the work of other community members.

10.5 How can I propose my commitment as a best practice for other community members?

You can propose your organisational commitment as a best practice if you have reached a significant portion of your target, as well as the results or the method how you reached them can be relevant and useful for a wide range of community stakeholders. The proposal must include justification why the commitment should be considered and approved by the content editorial team as a best practice.

Once the content editorial team approves the nomination based on the provided evidence (e.g. sharable results or progressions), this information will be publicly available and filterable. Your commitment will receive a ‘Best practice’ badge.

11. Community

Once logged in, you can access the community section of a specific ecosystem within the platform. Its primary aim is to enhance collaboration among community members. The following paragraphs will outline the available functionalities in this section and guide you on how to use them.

11.1 How can the public discussion forum be used for?

You can view a general description of the discussion forum to comprehend the role and purpose of the discussion threads within the platform.

Step 1: Accessing the forum

You can open the public discussion forum as a separate subsection under the ‘Community’ section from the header.

Step 2: Checking all discussions

You can view all shared discussion threads by accessing the forum.

You will see there the highlighted monthly discussion topics as well where you can share your thoughts and experiences. Community management teams of each ecosystem will facilitate these discussions. These will provide the opportunity to participants to exchange best practices, share knowledge and lessons learnt in the selected topic, as well as to discuss ideas for collaboration and future synergies, depending on the decided objective for each of the discussion.

Step 3: Contributing to a specific discussion

You can select a specific discussion by clicking on it and add new comments or reply to any existing ones directly.

Important to note: Be aware that you accepted the Terms and Conditions with your registration. Be respectful to other users at all times, the discussions are moderated and the comments can be deleted if they are written in an inappropriate style. For further details, please check the platform’s Terms and Conditions.

If you have a topic in which you are interested in the community’s opinion, you can initiate the creation of a discussion thread through the content proposal process which is specified in the '8. Proposing content' section.

Hint: To make the search for other users easier, define the type of discussion in the description of the starting post (e.g. knowledge sharing, debate etc.).

11.2 What are workspaces used for? How can I see their activities?

Workspaces provide an effective way to collaborate with other members and users on the platform.

As a member of a workspace you are able to create many kinds of content, discussion topics, see the list of community users in the workspace and collaborate with them in the shared documents.

Do not miss the chance to create something great as part of a workspace, so join one of them!

If you are not a workspace member but you are logged in, you can see the names of the existing workspaces under the ‘Community’ section and by clicking the workspace to see its public description, number of managed documents, events, threads and members.

Workspace managers are responsible for overseeing both the content and the members of a workspace. Multiple managers can be assigned to a single workspace, with each having full authority over all activities within that workspace. Are you a workspace manager? Please check the ‘11.7 I am a workspace manager. What else can I do within my workspace?’ point.

11.3 How can I request the creation of a new workspace?

As a registered user, you are able to initiate a request for a new workspace through the helpdesk form by selecting the respective request type. Only in justified cases, you can initiate the creation of a workspace, if

many stakeholders would like to work together;
a clear and relevant set of goals is defined within the framework of a project.

You need to provide the above information as a prerequisite by submitting the form. If multiple members of the workspace would like to have workspace manager rights, please indicate this along with the names and email addresses of the others.

Note: We can only add to a working group users who have active registration for the given ecosystem.

The administrative staff will let you know the result of your request once they evaluate it.

11.4 How can I share content items with workspace members?

As a workspace member you can share any content items in the workspace without preliminary validation and it will be published immediately. Almost any kind of content type will be accessible from here.

You can also participate in the development of existing collaborative documents with other members. For further information, please check the ‘11.6 What are collaborative documents within a workspace and how can I contribute to them?’ point.

11.5 What are collaborative documents within a workspace and how can I contribute to them?

❗Please note that this functionality is currently unavailable. You will be notified of new platform versions and updates on further capabilities as they become available. Thank you for your understanding and please keep this in mind while using the platform.

Collaborative documents provide you the opportunity to cooperate with other members of the workspace in real time. As a workspace member, you can edit the shared documents together, see each other's changes, comment on the documents, and create or read multiple versions.

However, as a workspace manager, you have higher authority over these documents. Please check the ‘11.6 I am a workspace manager. What else can I do within my workspace?’ point for more details.

11.6 I am a workspace manager. What else can I do within my workspace?

As a workspace manager, you manage all contents and members within the workspace. For doing that properly, you have access to specific processes.

In addition to the points presented above, the workspace manager will also have access to all the functionalities available to a regular member.

How can I accept join requests?

As a workspace manager, you can see all join requests as a system notification within your profile page under the ‘My notifications’ section. You can then decide to approve or reject them for the workspace you are responsible for. You can also ban other users.

How can I create a collaborative document?

You are the only one within the workspace who has access to create new collaborative documents. You can easily create and share these within the workspace by selecting the ‘Create a new document’ button under the ‘Collaborative documents’ tab of the workspace.

How can I manage versions of collaborative documents?

As a workspace manager, you will be able to not only read but also restore previous versions of the collaborative documents your team is working on. You can do this by checking the version history within the document's page and clicking on the ‘Restore’ button next to a specific version.

How can I make workspace-related documents publicly available?

You can freeze a document that has been edited in a workspace you have access to, making it no longer editable. You can also unfreeze the document at any time.

You can also transfer the frozen version of the document to the public consultation space to make it available publicly for consultation purposes.

What does the public consultation period mean? How can I gather feedback during the public consultation period?

The consultation period is the timeline during which you make the collaborative document publicly available to gather feedback. Feedback can be received through comments and usefulness ratings (i.e. graded user reactions on the 1-5 star scale).

Your action is required to make the document public or private, so your choice will determine the length of this period.

You can retransfer your documents from the consultation space to the original restricted workspace together with the comments received during the public consultation period that you can process and incorporate.

How can I review shared content items?

Your workspace members can share anything within the restricted space without your preliminary validation. However, you have unlimited responsibility for these items, which must meet the appropriateness requirements specified in the Terms and Conditions.

Please check frequently your workspaces’ content items, and manage them as needed.

You can edit or delete any content in your workspace. You have the access to review the reports on comments received from other members in your notifications. In any case, please notify the affected users about the fact of inappropriateness and decision you made.

How can I terminate my workspace?

If your team reaches your goals, you can terminate the workspace with a request to the admin team.

Before the termination, make sure that you have uploaded all the suitable content to the public space (e.g. frozen versions of collaborative documents).

11.7 What can the public consultation space be used for?

You can view the public consultation space as a separate subsection under ‘Community’. Here, you can view all collaborative documents which were transferred from a restricted workspace to the consultation space by a workspace manager for public review purposes.

You can open any publicly available collaborative document to see its body text and the comments it has. You can also formulate your opinion in the comment section or indicating the usefulness of the document through the graded reaction. All of these provide valuable insights for the editors of this document, so do not hesitate to share your thoughts!

11.8 How can I check ecosystem members?

You can open a list of members as a subsection under ‘Community’ by clicking on the ‘Members’ button.

You can see every registered user of the platform with their basic and publicly shared information. If you click on a specific user, you can see the profile’s details with all contributions made by them.

By checking the list of members, you can follow (‘11.9 How can I follow other users?’) or initiate communication with them (‘11.10 How can I message other users?’). Please refer to the respective point of the guidance to understand these functionalities as well.

Additionally, you can filter, sort, or search among users based on details specified in the ‘6. Personalisation and browsing’ section. Please refer to that section for further information.

Important to note: If you are not a registered user, you do not have the access to see the list of users in the selected ecosystem.

11.9 How can I follow other users?

You can mark another community member to ‘follow’ and be notified about their new content publications on the platform, namely:

on the ‘Suggested connections’ part of your personalised homepage after logging in;
on the ‘Members’ page under the ‘Community’ section;
on the ‘Members’ tab of the interactive map;
on a specific user’s profile page;
on the ‘My followers’ tab of your profile (i.e., reciprocally follow back your followers).

You can view your followers and the users you are following in the same list under the ‘My followers’ tab on your profile page. At any given time, you can check only one category by selecting either ‘My followers’ or ‘My following users’ from the left sidebar.

In case of followers, notifications about their new content can be viewed under the ‘My notifications’ tab, also on your profile page.

You can unfollow any of your following community members anytime.

Important to note: If you are not a registered user, you do not have the access to see the list of users in the selected ecosystem.

11.10 How can I message other users?

You can simply message other users without limit in characters or number of messages. You can initiate a conversation with others from multiple pages of the platform, namely:

on the ‘Suggested connections’ part of your personalised homepage after logging in;
on the ‘Members’ page under the ‘Community’ section;
on the ‘Members’ tab of the interactive map;
on a specific user’s profile page;
on the ‘My followers’ tab of your profile.

Clicking the 'Send message' button opens a form to compose your message with a title, text, and editing tools. After sending, you will be directed to the messaging page, and the conversation will be accessible via the 'My messages' tab in your profile.
In a conversation, you can react with a heart icon and reply to individual messages. If you receive inappropriate messages or wish to prevent a user from messaging you, you can block them. Blocked users cannot send messages but can be unblocked anytime.

Be aware that you accepted the Terms and Conditions with your registration. Be respectful to other users at all times. For further details, please check the platform’s Terms and Conditions.

Note:

You cannot chat with another member in real time through the interface, to check new messages do not forget to refresh the page or follow up your notifications.
Messages cannot be deleted.
Messages with admin users should be managed through the helpdesk form or via email.

12. Interactive map

Through the interactive map on the platform, you can view members and content based on their geographical relevance. The following points provide key information about this feature.

12.1 How can I navigate on the map? What can I see on it?

Using your mouse or the ‘plus’ and ‘minus’ icons on the right side, you can zoom in and out of the map and expand it to full-screen view.

Clicking on a specific country will open a pop-up window displaying the number of available contents by their types and users associated with that country. You can also explore details for other countries easily by clicking on their respective areas.

12.2 How can I check content items for specific countries?

When you click on the country’s name in the pop-up window, you can access the ‘Content’ tab under the map view. At any given time, you can view only items of one content type by selecting it from the left sidebar of the page (e.g., selecting only organisational commitments for Germany).

In the default view, the map displays only content items that have at least one specific country attribute. You can also filter to show content items relevant only to EU-27 by clicking the checkbox in the top-left corner. You can reset to the default view at any time.

Choosing a specific content item from the list displayed under the map view will direct you to the corresponding subpage where the content item was originally located (e.g., organisational commitment subpage).

All sorting, searching and filtering options are available in this section as well like in the case of other Content views’. Please refer to the ‘6. Personalisation and browsing’ section for further information.

Note: The map references all content items shared within the ecosystem publicly, it does not reflect your personalisation. For personalised views, please navigate to the desired content section.

12.3 How can I check members for specific countries on the map?

By choosing to see the list of members of a specific country, you can see all the members from that country.

All sorting, searching and filtering options are available in this section as well like in the case of the ‘Members’ view. Please refer to the ‘6. Personalisation and browsing’ section for further information.

Important to note: If you are not a registered user you do not have the access to see the list of users in the selected ecosystem. To access these unique features, we suggest you join our platform and be one of our valuable community members.

13. Calendar

The aim of the calendar is to organise all content items with important deadlines (e.g., application deadlines for funding calls), validity periods (e.g., support opportunities), or organisational dates (e.g., webinars) in one place. The following sections will outline the features it offers.

13.1 What can I see under the Calendar?

You can see contents in the Calendar which have any date attributes (e.g., deadline, validity period, organisational date). You can open any content elements from here to see their details. In most cases, the calendar only references items, so choosing a content item from the list will direct you to the corresponding subpage where the content item was originally located.

The interactions with the items in this sections are similar to other content items (like described in the ‘9. Content view’ section’s ‘9.1 How can I interact with content items?’ point).

All sorting, searching and filtering options are available in this section as well like in the case of other Content views’. Please refer to the ‘6. Personalisation and browsing’ section for further information.

However, in the case of filtering options, a more advanced calendar-like view is available to help you easily select the specific date or date range for which you want to view the available items.

Note: Workspace specific events or any other time-dependent resources will not be shown here, if you are a member of a specific workspace.

13.2 How can I connect the calendar items with my calendar?

Stay informed about all relevant events or other time-dependent resources! Add them to your own calendar by clicking the specific button, where you can select the type of calendar you are using and easily add the selected event to your calendar. The system can generate an appropriate .ics file for one event or all content of the calendar at a time which can be added to any calendar.

Note: Please note that most event and other time-dependent resources may require prior application / registration outside of the platform.

14. Support

❗Instead of one of the helpdesk forms, please use this feedback survey during the beta phase. The helpdesk forms will be the channel for similar reports and questions after the testing, during the go-live period.

Didn't find what you were looking for in this guidance to address your questions? No worries! Our support team for each ecosystem and the platform-level technical helpdesk are happy to assist you.

14.1 How can I access the helpdesk forms for ecosystem specific or IT-related questions?

You can contact our support teams through two separate forms based on the type of your inquiry:

Ecosystem Specific Helpdesk: This form is managed by the given ecosystem’s support team. You can ask questions related to the ecosystem-related content and community management, including every section, page, subpage, content type, and workspace established within the ecosystem.
Technical Helpdesk: If you encounter error messages, bugs, or any other inconveniences related to the platform's technical operation, you can share your findings here. If using a functionality repeatedly causes difficulties, you can request further guidance here.

Note: Your technical request might concern ecosystem-specific settings. In these cases, we will forward your request to the responsible support team.

You can access the two helpdesk forms from (1) the footer of the platform or (2) the dropdown list in the 'My Profile' section of the header.

If you are not logged in to the platform, you can also send helpdesk requests by entering your email address so we can keep in touch with you. However, if you are logged into the platform, you do not need to do so.

14.2 How can I get guidance for using an ecosystem and technical support? Where can I provide feedback about the platform or report a complaint?

If you still have questions after reading this user guidance, you can get in touch with our helpdesks by selecting the appropriate type of contact. You can choose from the following options based on the two helpdesk forms:

If your findings or questions are technical, please visit the Technical Helpdesk and select from the following categories:

Technical support,
Technical error report.

In case of technical error report, please describe the issue as precisely as possible and attach a screenshot if relevant.

If you have ecosystem-specific request or issue, please visit the Ecosystem Specific Helpdesk and select from the following categories:

Guidance on using the ecosystem,
Feedback and recommendations regarding the ecosystem,
Complaint,
Other ecosystem related question,
Request to reassign technical ownership over a specific content (for further details, check ‘14.3 How can I request to reassign ownership of a specific content item?’ point),
Request to create a new workspace (for further details, check ‘14.4 How can I request the creation of a new workspace?’ point).

In any case, to receive the most accurate assistance, please specify the subject and description as detailed as possible in the respective free text fields.

We are happy to help you with any issues or receive your valuable insights about our operation!

14.3 How can I request to reassign ownership of a specific content item?

If you would like to take over the management rights from someone in the same organisation due to their profile being terminated or them leaving the organisation, you can request to reassign ownership.

If you have posted a content item previously and would like to reassign its management rights to another community member, you can also request it here.

This request can be submitted through the Ecosystem Specific Helpdesk and can only be initiated if you are a registered user. The type of request should be ‘Request to reassign technical ownership over a specific content’.

In all cases, please indicate whom you would like to request the reassignment of the technical content management rights from, to whom you would like to reassign them, and specify the content item(s).

14.4 How can I request the creation of a new workspace?

As a registered user you are able to initiate a request for a new workspace through the helpdesk form as well by selecting the respective request type. For further details, please check ‘11.3 How can I request the creation of a new workspace?’ point connected to workspaces under the ‘11. Community’ section.

User Guidance of the Transition Pathway Stakeholder Support Platform