Purpose of this Document

• Introduce a tool for collaboration across space and time (QuickPlace, abbreviated “QP”)

• Explain some of the features that make it distinct from other collaborative tools

• Motivate its use

Executive Summary

QuickPlace provides web-based, platform independent access to a place where web content can be stored and used by non-experts. It provides tools for teams to interact, workflow processes, document revision control, and customized levels of access. Most importantly, it is easy to learn and use.

Definitions

• Groupware is technology designed to facilitate the work of groups. – QP belongs to that class of groupware which relies

on computer networks to allow groups to communicate, cooperate, coordinate, solve problems, compete, or negotiate

• Collaboration is the act of shared creation or shared discovery.

What is QuickPlace?

• QuickPlace is groupware that empowers users to create an online collaborative workspace.

• QuickPlace provides “instant collaboration”. It lets you easily create shared workspaces on the Internet or on an intranet, without any specialized technical knowledge.

• The challenge of collaboration is to address user needs of the type expressed in the following statements:– I need to find people who can help me do my job.

– I need to let others know about this issue, and my opinion about it.

– I need to know who handled this issue the last time and what they did.

– I need a single place to organize status for things I'm involved in.

– I need a way to track the value of this information now and in the future.

What Can it Do?

• With QuickPlace, anyone with a Web browser can– effortlessly create online meeting and collaborative

applications to • work together• share ideas• ask questions• find answers• form communities

– electronically interact with a geographically disconnected person or group of people as though they were not separated

– exchange information and create knowledge, whether in real time (synchronous collaboration), or episodically, over a period of time (asynchronous collaboration)

• No special clients needed (platform independent access)

Benefits of Using QP

• QuickPlace provides a rich set of features closely linked to the goals of people collaborating in teams.

• It is easy to use and customize for quick and easy teamwork– inexpensive to license, easy to install, and makes it easy to

create Places.– self-regulating—it allows companies to become more

distributed and workforces to become more flexible.

• You can develop and reuse tools and content with PlaceTypes– It help you maintain or improve corporate standards.– You can reduce team setup time.– It ensures access to available resources.

Benefits of Using QP2

• It ensures secure collaboration, both asynchronous and synchronous.– Discussions track issues as they develop over

time.– E-mail notification alerts users that something new

requires their attention.– Real-time chat provides immediate communication

in context.

• It is ready to integrate into enterprise applications– Built-in workflow and document management

integrate into enterprise platforms.

Benefits of Using QP3

• It is URL-driven, and ready to integrate into directories

• You can edit MS Office documents in their native format.

• You can send e-mail directly into QuickPlace, regardless of platform.

• QuickPlace’s import options make content accessible to anyone with a Web browser

• Round-trip editing allows content to be created and edited in its original format

• Minimizes many copies of large documents often seen with e-mail-based collaboration

People need a virtual meeting place to share things…

• Knowledge , and the people who have knowledge have become the defining assets of the enterprise– Need a way to spread that knowledge through teams

• Teams are often – ad hoc– formed “just in time” to solve a particular problem– then disbanded. (Ehrlich 160).

• As an organization grows, it becomes more challenging to bring people together to share ideas, experience and feedback. When people are separated by distance or time, they need a virtual place to share things—and they need it fast.