| Collaboration
is a current buzzword in many businesses today. Critical
organizational processes that require collaboration
include: new product development, sales/marketing, customer
service and support, training, supply chain management
The ability to generate customized forms that support
the process is common.
A good example
of the need for timely and efficient collaboration is
that of a customer service representative faced with
an irate customer that did not get their product shipment
when promised or got the wrong product. The customer
service representative can often look at a database
or online form to see if/when and what was shipped.
But the customer can often do that also, and it does
not give any answers to why the customer got the wrong
or late product. This is an exception to a standard
support process and requires that the customer support
representative talk to someone in shipping to find out
what happened. If the person responsible for the shipment
has initialed the online form and in available online,
they can be contacted through IM or e-mail by the customer
service rep, who can find out where the mistake occurred,
and work out a solution/resolution immediately with
the irate customer.
- Version control
and file sharing
- Virtual meetings
- Video conferencing
- Collaboration
Library
Collaboration
Library
A common use of a collaboration Library is to distribute
product material to a sales staff. Such a Library would
contain brochures, data sheets, and other materials
that are used as reference material by sales professionals.
Data sheets typically last for months if not years,
they are written by a small group and consumed by many
more sales professionals, a few people control the content
that is available, and it is a one-way distribution
system.
Version
control and file sharing
Content/document management and
project management features such as: check-in/check-out,
version control, task and issue management, and escalation
are common. Co-editing, project dashboards and/or executive
overviews are also common A space for a product development
team provides a common area for members to share ideas,
ask questions, and post important team documents, such
as specifications. Threaded discussions allow team members
to work through problems and issues. Because teams work
in both real-time and asynchronously, team tools support
both types of interactions.
Virtual
meetings
A less common, but extremely powerful,
model is virtual meetings with video, audio and whiteboard
capability.
Discussion
Forums
A Community of Practice is organized around people who
share a common discipline, such as Project Management.
It is likely that many of the members also belong to
Teams, but, in the Community, they are brought together
by their shared interest in Project Management as a
discipline, not as it pertains to a particular project.
Rules of engagement, or appropriate behaviors for the
community are often well defined.
More current
implementations draw on the added capabilities of threaded
discussion systems.
Video
Conferencing
Forms submission to Human
Resources or Accounting use this model. Once a form,
such as a vacation request, is submitted to the system,
the submitter can track the state of the request without
having to ask anyone in the processing organization
for status updates.
The Value
of These Models
We have defined some of the elementary building blocks
of collaboration. Many of these models can be aggregated
(used simultaneously, yet separately) or combined into
hybrid models. Integrated
solutions can combine virtual team collaboration, online
meetings and business process automation and include
one or more of the following features:
- Scheduler
- File sharing
- E-mail
- Chat
- Evaluation
- Ideas &
brainstorming
- Discussion
forum News
- Timesheet
- Task management
- e-Learning
- Issue tracking
- Bulletin
- Calendar
- Organizer
- Version Control
- Collaboration
library
Collaborative interaction is almost
always asynchronous and through e-mail and/or web site.
A framework for analyzing and designing collaborative
systems can be built based on an understanding of the
pure models and how they may be combined.
Then, by iterating through the models, additional opportunities
for added value within the system can be found. Once
a thorough understanding of the requirements emerges,
a design can piece together the components into a complete
collaborative system. |
