Managing a workspace’s production status: Test / Preproduction / Production

The below article has been updated base on the changes that will be implemented starting February 3, 2026. All information below is applicable to event workspaces as well as content hub workspaces.

Workspace status overview

There are three possible production statuses for your workspaces.

You can see the production status of a workspace, indicated below the workspace name, above the main menu to the left. It will say Test, Preproduction or Production:

Test workspace

Purpose:
This is an optional status. When creating a workspace, users can select the “Test” option, and create a test workspace.
The “Test” status is used for testing, training, or demo purposes.
In order to use a test workspace for your live event, you will first need to upgrade the status of the workspace from Test to Preproduction, and then from Preproduction to Production status.

Costs: 
Users and paid modules are not charged.

Emails: 
Emails can only be sent to individual users.

App access: 
The event is only visible in the container event list to users that are workspace team members.
All users (except cancelled ones) on the user list can access the app via web app links in emails.
Users that are workspace team members can access other users' app profiles on their behalf from Backstage.

Responding to meetings:
All attendees can receive a meeting request form and respond to it to provide their availability.
All attendees can receive a meeting invitation or update (sent via the Meetings or Appointments module) and provide their RSVP response.

Preproduction workspace

Purpose:
This is the default status that a workspace will have when it is created (and the user does not select the “Test” option in the wizard).
Preproduction workspaces can be used for creating, testing and doing the final preparations before moving the workspace to production in view of going live. Workspaces should remain in Preproduction status until they are fully configured and ready to be launched to participants.

Costs: 
Users and paid modules are charged.

Emails: 
Emails can be sent to all users.

App access: 
The event is only visible in the container event list to users that are workspace team members.
Users that are workspace team members as well as users that have the “App tester” option enabled in their user page have access to the app via web app links in emails.
Users that are workspace team members can access other users' app profiles on their behalf from Backstage.

Responding to meetings:
All attendees can receive a meeting request form and respond to it to provide their availability.
All attendees can receive a meeting invitation or update (sent via the Meetings or Appointments module) and provide their RSVP response.

Production workspace

Purpose:
This is the status that a workspace must be changed to when it is ready to be accessed by attendees, once all configuration and testing is successfully completed.

Costs: 
Users and paid modules are charged.

Emails: 
Emails can be sent to all users.

App access: 
The event is visible to all users in the container event list and can be accessed.
The event is accessible to all users via web app links in emails. 
Users that are workspace team members can access other users' app profiles on their behalf from Backstage.

Responding to meetings:
All attendees can receive a meeting request form and respond to it to provide their availability.
All attendees can receive a meeting invitation or update (sent via the Meetings or Appointments module) and provide their RSVP response.

Summary of all app accesses for all workspace statuses

To help you see at-a-glance the differences in accesses to the app for all users, based on the workspace status, we have compiled the below table:

* Users will see a notification informing them that that event is not yet accessible. See below
An extensive table is available at the end of this article to see more detail on every single possible scenario. See full table

Technical notes:

• When a Backstage team member accesses the app on behalf of a user, in the cases of RSVP invitees, when the user RSVP response is “Pending” the Backstage user will land on the registration page when they click on the direct link. If the user RSVP response is “No” the user will land on the app container login page.
• When an app user accesses via a web app link an email, if the user RSVP response is “Pending”, they will land on the registration page. If the user already responded “No”, this is not applicable as they would not receive emails (invitees that responded “No”, do not receive further communications for the event).

Accessing the app on behalf of an app user via Backstage

Accessing the app on behalf of another user can only be done via Backstage, and can only be accessed by Backstage users who are team members in the workspace.

This is applicable whether the workspace is in Test, Preproduction, or Production status:

To note, the screen above, including the “access as” link, is only accessible to Backstage users who are team members in the workspace. It is important that they do not share the “access as” link allow other users to access the app on behalf of the app user.

Accessing the app on behalf of a specific user will allow the workspace team member to see exactly what the app user will see. It takes into consideration their registration status and journey, and allows them to test their experience or to help solve a problem that the app user might be experiencing.

When a Backstage user who is a team member in the workspace accesses the app on behalf of another user, they will see this (taking into consideration the users’ registration status if applicable):

• If no registration page is used, the Backstage user will access the app directly.
• If a public registration page is used and the user’s status is “Self-registered”, the Backstage user will access the app directly.
• If a private RSVP registration is used and the user they are accessing the app on behalf of has a RSVP status that is 
  • “Pending”, the Backstage user will land on the registration page.
  • “No”, the Backstage user will land on the app container login page.
  • “Yes”, the Backstage user will access the app directly.

What happens if an attendee tries to access an event via the web app link contained in an email, sent from a workspace in Prepreproduction status?

Unless the user is a team member in the workspace or has the “App tester” option enabled on their user page, they will not be able to access the event.

If they are on a mobile device they will see the following message:

If they are on desktop they will see the following message:

Content hub statuses and accesses

Preproduction content hub workspace

Purpose:
This is the default status that a content hub workspace will have when it is created.
Used for creating, testing and doing the final preparations before moving the content hub to production in view of going live. Content hubs should remain in Preproduction status until they are fully configured and ready to be accessed by visitors.

Emails: 
Emails can be sent to all users.

Access: 
The content hub is visible can be accessed by users via the "Access web app as" button in the user details in Backstage. It cannot be accessed via links in emails or via the connected workspace app menu item (users will see a note saying that the content hub is not ready yet).

Production content hub workspace

Purpose:
This is the status that a content hub workspace must be changed to when it is ready to be accessed by attendees, once all configuration and testing is successfully completed.

Emails: 
Emails can be sent to all users.

Access: 
The content hub is visible can be accessed by all users, via the "Access web app as" button in the user details in Backstage, via links in emails, and via the connected workspace app menu item.

Summary of all accesses for content hub statuses

To help you see at-a-glance the differences in accesses to the content hub for all users, based on the workspace status, we have compiled the below table:

An extensive table is available at the end of this article to see more detail on every single possible scenario. See full table

This is an optional status. When creating a workspace, Backstage users can choose to start by creating a test workspace, by selecting the Test workspace option in the creation wizard:

If the user does not select the "Test" option when creating the workspace, the workspace will by default have a "Preproduction" status.

Test workspaces should be used for testing, training, or demo purposes. In a test workspace, no seats are consumed, and any paid functionalities (modules) can be downloaded for free from the SpotMe marketplace in order to be tried out.

Also, test workspaces can only email a single attendee at a time. This works as a safety measure to ensure that your attendees do not receive access to the event prior to the workspace being fully ready.

In order to use a test workspace for your live event, you will first need to upgrade the status of the workspace from Test to Preproduction, and then from Preproduction to Production status.

Changing the status from Test to Preproduction

"Preproduction" is the default status that a workspace will have when it is created and the user does not select the “Test” option.

To change the status of your workspace, go to Settings > General in the main menu, and click on the Move to preproduction button:

Only Backstage organization admins and organizers can promote Test workspaces to Preproduction or Production status.

Remember that you will first need to upgrade the status of a workspace from Test to Preproduction, before you can upgrade it to Production status.

Once clicked, you will need to confirm the status change. Please note that by moving a Test workspace to Preproduction status, your organization plan will start to be charged (including any installed paid modules):

After confirming, Backstage will need to reload to apply the change of status. At this point we recommend that you also refresh the page to ensure that the change is completed.

Once a Test workspace is moved to Preproduction status, it cannot be changed back to the Test status.

In Preproduction workspaces, emails can be sent simultaneously to multiple or all users. In a Preproduction workspace, users and paid modules are charged.

Changing the status from Preproduction to Production

Follow the same approach as described above to upgrade the status of a workspace from Preproduction to Production, before going live with your event, except that here you will use the dropdown selector:

Remember to click Save at the bottom of the page to confirm the change.

In Production workspaces, emails can be sent simultaneously to multiple or all users. In a Preproduction workspace, users and paid modules are charged.

Extensive tables including all access scenarios

You'll find below detailed tables that contain all scenarios when accessing workspaces or content hubs.

Workspace accesses

Open workspace status table in full screen

Content hubs