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Choose a workspace when you need a shared home for people and common resources. Choose a Project when you need a focused place to develop one initiative.

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What a workspace contains

A workspace is the organization-level boundary in Athena. It brings together:
  • People who belong to the same organization or program
  • Workspace Sources that everyone in the workspace can use
  • Projects created while that workspace is active
  • Workspace-level settings and access
Belonging to a workspace does not automatically give someone access to every Project in it. Project access is assigned separately.

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What a Project contains

A Project is the working space for one initiative. It can contain:
  • The Project’s problem or opportunity, proposed solution, and goals
  • Project Sources
  • Project artifacts and analysis
  • Project-specific branding
  • Members with different levels of access
The person who creates a Project becomes its owner. The Project remains associated with the workspace that was active when it was created.

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Work in the right workspace

If you belong to more than one workspace, the current workspace name appears beside the Athena logo. Select it to switch workspaces. Switching workspaces changes which workspace resources and Projects are available. It does not move a Project from one workspace to another. If a Project link says the Project is unavailable, check whether it belongs to a different workspace. Switch to that workspace, then open the link again. See Project scopes and access for more detail.

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Project roles and governance roles are different

Project access roles control what a person can do in Athena, such as viewing, editing, or managing a Project. A governance structure describes how the real-world initiative will be governed. A governance structure can clarify:
  • Which partners are involved and what roles they hold
  • Who has decision rights
  • Which governing bodies provide oversight
  • How funding, risk, and accountability are handled
  • How safeguards, disputes, and exits are addressed
Use a governance structure to align stakeholders on authority and accountability. It does not add people to the Project or change their Athena permissions. For access controls, see Members, roles, and permissions.

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Choose the right level

Use:
  • A workspace for people and resources shared across an organization or program
  • A Project for one initiative and the people working on it
  • A governance structure for the initiative’s decision-making and accountability model
Sources have their own Personal, Project, and Workspace locations. See Personal, Project, and Workspace Sources before adding reference material.