What is Groupware?
Have you ever had to manage document collaboration in a hurry? No need to be ashamed if you said "yes." Virtually every American business has experienced moments of ad hoc team collaboration. In other words, the ideal business collaboration method involves meticulous record keeping and organization; all deadlines are met; nobody feels rushed. That doesn't sound very realistic, does it? The important thing is that even scattered, ad hoc business collaboration can be organized in such a way that important records of business documents and their version history can be kept. Groupware tracks all documents across email and hard drives, tracking changes and saved locations. Groupware also lets businesses review changes and merge them, simplifying an often difficult process. Groupware is time-saving software recognized by American businesses for solving the ad hoc collaboration challenges. Any given search engine search for "groupware" will undoubtedly yield a long list of sponsored searches in addition to the millions of indexed pages referencing groupware products, testifying to its usefulness among American businesses.
Groupware as a Collaboration Tool
Due to the fact that millions of groupware packages are available for businesses, users must do their homework to find the right groupware to suit their business needs. One of the best ways to start is to analyze groupware as a collaboration tool. Since businesses collaborate on virtually everything from budgets to marketing reports, presentations, and memos, businesses need a collaboration tool that works the way businesses work. The difficulty of some groupware packages is that even though they provide a virtual vignette of helpful tools, instead of groupware working for you, you are working for it. I do not think I would be alone in raising my voice against difficult and expensive IT infrastructure set-ups. Software that does its job after it is downloaded or installed is the best way to go. Be sure to be thorough in analyzing the costs, including the opportunity costs, of groupware as your business collaboration tool.
Having analyzed the set-up costs, it is time to move on to analyzing the usability of groupware as a collaboration tool. First, does the groupware package your business is looking at work only within your office, or does it also work with clients, investors, partners, and others with whom you collaborate? It is important to remember that no business is an island. A collaboration tool which cuts out those with whom you collaborate will not be very helpful. In other words, groupware which works with those outside your business once it is installed helps everyone to be on the same page. Being on the same page is important when working through the barrage of business collaboration documents being fired back and forth between email accounts. Email is an example of how collaboration is so often done online. Your usability analysis of groupware as a collaboration tool must take into account online collaboration.
User Friendly Groupware
Finally, after costs and usability are taken into account, let me offer some helpful tips on selecting a groupware suite with helpful and user-friendly technology.
First, find groupware with Digital Thread technology. Digital Thread is a technology that works for your business from the moment your groupware is installed. Digital Thread tracks documents and their changes across email and hard drives by tagging the metadata of the document. The document changes are literally threaded together like beads on a necklace, not a single one gets lost.
Second, find groupware that creates a Digital Signature. Digital Signature is a signature that is appended to an e-mail that informs the user which draft it is and by whom it was saved. Finding the latest version of a document is always very simple to track with a signature like this.
Third, find groupware that enables Version History. Version History displays the document genealogy as a flow chart. The who, what, when, where, and how of every document is displayed for simple tracking and record keeping.
American businesses recognize the need for document management that works the way they do. Often, the ideal business process is not realized, and more often than not, ad hoc becomes the business process. These tips are designed to help businesses make an informed decision on groupware packages that are flexible to their needs. Affordability, flexibility, usability, and organization are benchmarks by which effective collaboration tool analysis can determine your business groupware.
Joe Miller is an author of informational articles and online advertisements on business, technology, and health. Information on online advertisements is available at online advertisements.
Oswego taxi to Midway ..Microsoft CRM customization techniques are very diversified and based on... Read More
Microsoft Client Relation Management system (Microsoft CRM) and Microsoft RMS... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is Dexterity-written application and currently... Read More
Here is some free software tools to help you build... Read More
The Internet is reshaping every form of communications medium, and... Read More
TCO (Total Cost Ownership) is the buzzword in... Read More
So, why should you use any O/R mapping tool? I... Read More
As seeing large number of implementations ? in our case... Read More
Table of Contents1) Introduction 2) Related Work 3) Framework 4)... Read More
1. Replace Dexterity cursor with SQL Stored Procedure Dexterity... Read More
Microsoft SQL Server is the leader for inexpensive and middle... Read More
Whether you have used Microsoft Word for years, have just... Read More
If you're online using a dialup Internet connection, you'll probably... Read More
Are you a whiz at calculating financial information? Not the... Read More
Several software companies design programs for preventive maintenance. Most of... Read More
Spyware and malware are large problems for Internet users today... Read More
If you are to buy a HelpDesk & Asset Management... Read More
Homeland security, airport security, Internet security ??" these days we???re... Read More
IBM Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange?The severe competition continues for... Read More
The java programming language is becoming more and more popular... Read More
Assertion facility is added in J2SE 1.4. In order to... Read More
While I was in college, if you would have asked... Read More
Finally, you have some time to personalize your desktop with... Read More
The title of "software engineer" has got to be among... Read More
Simply put, fleet maintenance allows companies to monitor and maintain... Read More
shuttle from Midway Morris ..Internet worms. Is your PC infected?If your computer has become... Read More
When you visit department stores and see that majority of... Read More
Looks like Microsoft Great Plains becomes more and more popular,... Read More
The Internet is reshaping every form of communications medium, and... Read More
Customer Relationship Management, abbreviated "CRM," is the term for a... Read More
Although we don't know whether Microsoft ever envisioned such a... Read More
Three highly respected names in Human Resources have joined forces... Read More
I have always regretted how Microsoft price gouges and rips... Read More
Some introduction into Great Plains Software products, now Microsoft Business... Read More
We'll give you non formal view, based on our consulting... Read More
Upgrading. Downtime. Maintenance. Hardware obsolescence. Implementation issues. The litany of... Read More
What is Interactive Mapping?Interactive mapping is a visual display medium... Read More
So let's begin crunching down these 300 images using Adobe... Read More
The title of "software engineer" has got to be among... Read More
In our opinion, traditional approach when you select ERP/MRP system... Read More
So, why should you use any O/R mapping tool? I... Read More
Accounts payable is just one area of office management where... Read More
How would you like to prevent spyware and adware from... Read More
Looking at all the ads which promise to get rid... Read More
The major reason I recommend getting your hands on real... Read More
The COSMIC FP (function point) software quality metric, is no... Read More
You've finally created databases that you can actually use to... Read More
Usually workflow & messaging is realized in CRM and then... Read More
Just imagine: you are walking, say, towards your car, and... Read More
Healthcare facilities such as clinics, hospitals, and biomedical laboratories can... Read More
Software |