A SURVEY ON GROUPWARE TOOLS

Hadi Nategh

New University of Lisbon

hnt@uninova.pt

May 2011

• What is groupware?

“Like an electronic sinew that binds teams together, the new groupware aims

to place the computer squarely in the middle of communications among

managers, technicians, and anyone else who interacts in groups,

revolutionizing the way they work.“

Richman and Slovak (1987)

Introduction

Groupware is not only for communication.

• Groupware is a technology that specifically designed to support group

working, with collaborative facilities.

Introduction (Continue…)

Chat

wikiVideo conferencing …. ….. ……

email

Chat

Forum

File sharing

Calendar

Task Mgmt.

Address bookWhat facilities ?

• Groupware classification:

Introduction (Continue…)

� Location and time of participants

that are working.

� The functions that make easy co-

(Time and Space matrix) [3]

Face-to-Face

conversation

Remote

conversation

(Chat, VoIP,..)

Post (email,

forum, blog,…)

Notes,

Messages,…

Same

time

Different

time

� The functions that make easy co-

working between participants.

[A. Dix et al, 1993]

Groupware from the past to the future

Past

Future

Present

Groupware tools attributes

• Document Management

A document management system (DMS) is a computer system (or set of

computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or

images of paper documents.[2]

Wiki File upload

DMS

Wiki File upload

Concurrent

access

Real-time

ModificationAccess rightVersioning

Workflow

DMS (Continue…)

Example: Creating new webpage via workflow using Bitrix CMS software.

DMS (Continue...)

Groupware attributes (continue…)

User Management

It is a part of a secure system, which control privileges and roles for a user

or group of users, and also, it lets the user to control its own software

environment.

Access

permission To-do

User

Management

permission

Group

definitionPreferences

Group Interaction

Groupware tools attributes (continue…)

Mailing list Forum

VoIP (Voice over IP)

Contacts Communication

Address book

News feed

Instant

Messaging…..

……

Groupware tools attributes (continue...)

Project /Task Management

Project management helps managers to define projects and tasks, and

assign them to a user or a group of users, and flow the lifecycle procedure.

Agenda Scheduling

Project/Task

Management

Workflow

Task Reminder

Notification

Shared

Calendar

Task Reminder

Groupware tools attributes (continue...)

• Example of Project Management: Teamwork

Groupware tools attributes (continue…)

Voting system

Voting system is a questionnaire form that can be accessed by users in the

system to collect their answers.

Security

Security in groupware tools is one of the important part that should be

take into account, because groupware tools are based on web, and using

public network (Internet) which makes them vulnerable.

Security

Authentication

Logs

IDS/IPS

…..

Authorization

Session

Management

Groupware tools attributes (continue…)

Compatibility and Adaptability e.g. Android mobile application for Joomla.

• Mobile application/synchronization: Interaction

between the groupware tool server and its mobile

clients.

• Template Management: It allows users to create their own design for

whole or part of the groupware tool’s user interface.

Groupware tools

Groupware tools Comparison

Table Legend:

Insta

nt M

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dre

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Available NA

Pro

ject /

Ta

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Ma

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& R

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Ind

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No

tificatio

ns

rem

ind

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ag

en

da

Ve

rsion

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Wiki

Re

altim

e M

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ificatio

n

Co

ncu

ren

t acce

ss

Acce

ss righ

t

sessio

n M

an

ag

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t

Pa

sswo

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File

up

loa

d

US

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MA

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GE

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EN

T O

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ME

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MA

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ractio

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Vo

ting

system

Pro

filing

system

Au

the

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Au

tho

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n

Log

s

wo

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Sch

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g

sha

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cale

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Acce

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Gro

up

de

finitio

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-do

Re

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Ca

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lti-Lan

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ag

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atib

ility

an

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/IPS

Mo

bile

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late

Ma

na

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me

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curity

Insta

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essa

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esk M

gm

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Co

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Ad

dre

ss bo

ok

JOOMLA

Phprojekt

Drupal

dotProject

MoreGroupWare

web2project

simple groupware

Group office

bitrix

egroupware

Liferay

Citadel

Teamwork

Selected tools

Very Easy

Easy

Medium

Difficault

US

ER

MA

NA

GE

ME

NT

CO

NT

EN

T O

R D

OC

UM

EN

T M

AN

AG

EM

EN

T

Gro

up

Inte

rac

tion

Se

arc

hin

g T

oo

ls

Pro

jec

t / Ta

sk M

an

ag

em

en

t

Co

mp

atib

ility a

nd

Ad

ap

tibility

Table legend

Ease of use

Selected opensource groupware tools for

collaboration in business:U

SE

R M

AN

AG

EM

EN

T

CO

NT

EN

T O

R D

OC

UM

EN

T M

AN

AG

EM

EN

T

Pro

jec

t / Ta

sk M

an

ag

em

en

t

Co

mp

atib

ility a

nd

Ad

ap

tibility

JOOMLA

bitrix

Drupal

dotProject

MoreGroupWare

web2project

simple groupware

Group office

Phprojekt

egroupware

Liferay

Citadel

Teamwork

CMSs

Groupwares

Joomla

Joomla is powerful open-source software, and distributed under GPL

license. Joomla is designed as a content management system (CMS) with

an extensive community and tons of free and commercial extensions.

Why Joomla?

• Easy of use

• Tons of extensions• Tons of extensions

• Community

Joomla (Continue…)

Joomla back-end user interface.

Liferay

• Liferay is enterprise web platform for implementing a variety of

business solutions.

Why Liferay?

• Compatible with up-to-date technologies

• Large community

• Easy to use

Some highlighted features

• Workflow

• Dynamic UI portal.

• Profiling

• Software Catalogue

Liferay (Continue…)

Simple Groupware

Simple GroupWare contains the programming language sgsML to

enable the quick customization and creation of powerful web applications.

Some highlighted features:

• Notifications

• Information filtering

• Intelligent knowledge management

Simple Groupware (Continue…)

Portal view in Simple Groupware.

eGroupware

• eGroupware is an opensource groupware tool. This groupware

platform supports some features like project management, CRM, todo.

• Highlighted features:

– Time Sheet

• Manage and audit working time documentation

– Tracker– Tracker

• Create functional areas (tracker queues) and types of tasks which has to

be tracked

– Resources

• Document and manage resources

• Book resources for appointments

eGroupware (Continue…)

Thank you

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_management_system

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versioning_file_system

3. “Human Computer Interaction”, Prentice Hall, A. Dix, J. Finlay, G. Ab owd and R.

Beale,1993.

4. vBulletin.com

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_feed

6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versioning_file_system

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_content_management

8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Preferences

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mailing_list