The weakest link of a
chain dictates its strength. Uniformly strong capability
amongst all business team members - not just a few, can make
the difference between an economic success and a failure.
Using workspace software, raise level of capability to all
members of the team - not just a select, talented few.
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.
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.
Virtual meetings
A less common, but extremely powerful, model is virtual
meetings with video, audio and whiteboard capability.
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Discussion Groups
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.
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.
Computer 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.
What we can do ... 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.
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