Confluence: A Content Collaboration Tool

1. What is Confluence

Confluence refers to a content collaboration tool that allows effective content creation and sharing of knowledge between a group of people or a team by use of pages, blogs and spaces.

2. Features of Confluence

• Space management

A Confluence, for example, the Atlassian’s, provides a more extensive virtual space to a company that can be distributed into various departments such as finance, marketing, human resources.

• Content Management

This feature allows experts to develop high standard content by allowing customization and image insertions in the main content.

• Add-ins

The confluence is built with add-ons feature that allow answers for simple questions such as calendar and question management. The calendar enables planning of teamwork occasions, project management and tracing of monthly and weekly timelines.

• Site Management

This feature allows renaming of content pages, importation of space from pure file and export of pages in the form of HTML or PDF for backups.

• Jira Integration

Jira is one of the essential features of the confluence. It is integrated with the confluence for sharing of information between confluence and Jira by use of OpenSocial gadget.

• Security and User Management

Confluence is a very secure platform whereby individual user or groups have a user account as an admin; hence you can control who can comment, view or edit any content. The platform also has captcha for human or robot security check before logging in that offer safety against a cyber-security attack.

• Work in one Place

This feature provides an admin opportunity to give an individual or a team designed zone for working.

• Macros

This feature provides an allowance for more comprehensive customization and addition of content on a page in the confluence.

Dashboard

This main page you land on just opening a confluence. It has a variety of customization facilities.

3. Advantages of Confluence

• It allows content development, storage, and sharing by use of content creation tool.
• It enhances easier finding of main words from a comment, or main content through Wiki search.
• It provides every user with an opportunity to develop project templates.
• It is integrated with Jira for effective sharing of information and software development.
• Faster and more advanced in term of workflow due to the availability of plugins and add-ins for confluence customization.

4. Security and permissions

Confluence is a highly protected platform, but it offers anonymous access such as free public access. However, it has a lot of permissions and restriction on editing and viewing of confluence content.

5. Three tips for a successful confluence migration

• Select an effective strategy for migration. For example, Single cloud to Datacenter or Datacentre to New Confluence
• Creation of a version matrix.
• Test to confirm three times to verify if the confluence is successfully migrated.

6. Integrating Confluence with Other Applications

There are various Application links for integrating confluence with other applications. For example, the connection between Jira and Confluence.

7. Introduction to confluence plugin

Confluence plugins are special applications or bundles codes that installed in a confluence to allow extra customization of features in a confluence. They are divided into two, that is, custom and system apps.

System plugin are those within the confluence while third party and custom bundles are developed explicitly for a confluence, but they consist of one or more plugin module.

8. Future of confluence in 2020

Confluence development releases do not have specific release cycle, but the next EAP milestone confluence 7.6.0-beta2 will be released late June 2020.

In conclusion, a confluence is a perfect tool for content collaboration. It has features such as content management, add-ons, space management, security management, Jira integration and project management.

Some its advantages include wiki search, project template creation and add-ons options. Chetu is one world-class confluence developer. It also offers custom confluence development services such as confluence integration solutions, confluence migration solutions, and confluence plugin development without losing your data.