What is mattermost

Mattermost is an online colaboration platform (similar to slag) but it's hosted on our own servers.

We use the free version of Mattermost, which has some limitations in the availability of features.

Accounts and login

Login with ITP Accounts

ITP users can use their ITP credentials to login to mattermost. Because the open source version does not support direct LDAP logins, we need a helper software to create ITP accounts.

Go to the Mattermost server to login: https://mattermost.itp.uni-frankfurt.de

On the login page you need to click on the button "Login with ITP Account".

You will be redirected to the "Authentik" login page:

Enter your username and your password on the next page. Then you need to allow the Mattermost to use your name and email address.

External Accounts

If you don't have an ITP account, like external collaborators, you can use Mattermost after an invitation. Every team administrator is allowed to invite other people to the team.

Teams

There are some design limitations in the way Mattermost handles teams. Every user has the permission to create teams. But teams should be used carefully and should represent reals team like working groups, SFBs or similar. For small subgroup you should created channels. Channels can be created by every team member and the rules are defined by team itself.

When you have created a team you are the team administrator. Therefor teams for working groups should be created by the head of the group or a designated team administrator. In case of changes permissions can be transfered later.

Documentation

The end user documentation can be read here: https://docs.mattermost.com/guides/use-mattermost.html