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GROUPWARE
Content
1 What is a groupware?

1.1 Definition

1.2 The setting up

2 The collaborative / cooperative work

2.1 The collaborative work

2.2 The cooperative work

3 Advantages and disadvantages

3.1 Advantages of creating a groupware

3.2 Disadvantages

4 The case of eGroupWare

5 Conclusions
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1 What is a groupware?

1.1 Definition
Groupware is the set of technologies and associated working
methods which, through electronic communication, allow the sharing of
information on digital media to a group engaged in a collaborative work and / or
cooperative. Groupware is a collaborative software.
This notion is rather vague, and many tools can be part of a groupware. For example,
we can mention:

- Electronic messaging: email and directories for a better communication.

- Electronic conferencing: group discussions for the sharing of information.
- Workflow: these are the tools of process analysis, development tools, workflow
engines and electronic forms.
- Electronic document management: these are
the products of documentary editing and document management.
- Agendas and group schedules for the sharing of resources.

1.2 The setting up

Technically: It implies the existence of a configuration of networked workstations. It is
therefore necessary to conduct a mini-audit:

- Materials in place
- Network and Operating System
- Application (production and office)
- Procedures in place within the firm
- Users and their needs

Culturally: The introduction of a groupware environment inevitably leads to:

- An organizational culture oriented towards the information sharing.

- Training requirements of the groupware application.
- A learning of process and procedures (eventual reengineering).
The introduction of a groupware is a strategic investment project for the company.
The initial investment will not lead to convincing results until the medium
term (6 months to a year minimum), there is to know how to quantify and control
results.
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2 The collaborative / cooperative work

The groupware allows the sharing of information on digital media to a group engaged
in a collaborative work and / or cooperative. Let’s explain these two ways of working.

2.1 The collaborative work

This is a group effort, with no hierarchical link of command, which works without any
real prior organization. Each intervener brings his knowledge; his idea may or may
not be based on contributions previously made by other.

For instance, let’s take the case of the wiki: every user can add a comment to the
site or correct those of the other. A wiki is a system of content management
of website that makes web pages freely editable by all authorized visitors.
Wikis are used to facilitate collaborative writing of documents with a minimum
constraint.

- The work is done by accumulations and permanent changes.

- Reports are often described as horizontal.
- The mode of communication is synchronous, even if the asynchronous work is
not impossible.
- Individual work is not easily identifiable at the end.

2.2The cooperative work

The work is a work group organized hierarchically
which operates on a schedule and deadlines involving work-sharing (coordination).
Each intervener knows what to do from the start and communicate, exchange
or share elements only to reach its individual target.
At the end, the work of each is connected to create a single object of work.

For example, the case of a blog: even if each user can make his comment, the
moderator of the blog determined in advance the topic of
discussion (large frame) and can also at any time decide to delete a contribution. A
blog is a website created by the union of a set of "ticket"
ordered chronologically. Each ticket (also called article) is, like a journal or a diary, an
addition to the blog, the blogger (holding of the blog) writes
text there, often enriched with hyperlinks and multimedia elements and in which each
player can usually make comments.
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- The work is done by addition of individual work.

- The reports are very often referred to as vertical.
- The communication mode is rather asynchronous, even if the synchronous
work is not impossible.
- Individual work is easily identifiable at the end.

Common elements to these two concepts for a general definition:

Synchronous or asynchronous work done at a distance (internal or external network)
between two or more people using tools and software that enable interaction
between people to co-produce an object (by communicating, sharing,
exchanging or creating).

3 Advantages and disadvantages

3.1 Advantages of creating a groupware

Groupware technology allows companies to create, share and use knowledge. The
knowledge, information, is valued through specific
technologies in communication such as email, collaboration such as electronic
forums, and coordination of complex tasks such as
workflow. Groupware technology is not the sum of the communication,
collaboration and coordination. It allows the synergy, interaction, technology working
group.

- Such software allows automated file layouts; communication by e-

mail alone quickly becomes unmanageable.
- Newsgroups as found on Usenet represent progress, but access to
information is not sufficiently structured. (Usenet is a collection of user-submitted
notes or messages on various subjects that are posted to servers on a worldwide
network. Each subject collection of posted notes is known as a newsgroup. There
are thousands of newsgroups and it is possible for anyone to form a new one.)
- Simple shared files rapidly become too complex to administer.
- It is essential to have a mechanism to share a calendar, lists
of tasks (with possibility to delegate them) accompanied by deadlines, and
automatically organize meetings by automatic consultation of free time of each
participants (with automatic booking of meeting room or conference rooms as
well). With wikis, you can now do work asynchronously and without bringing
people together, so they have no need to know each other for working
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collaboratively collaboratively on a document (book, screenplay, university

course, specification, plan, map, etc...).

We can sum up the profits brought by the software in the following manner:

Workflow

- Process redesign and compression of time

- Processing of sequential activities in simultaneous activities
- Reduction of personnel costs related to a possible collaboration "asynchronous"
- Downsizing processes involved
- Reduction of paper consumption in the process
- Improving customer service
- Improved information management and traceability
- Speed of adaptation processes to the needs

Shared knowledge base

- Reducing the time of access to useful information

- New culture of knowledge sharing within teams
- Reducing the number of meetings
- Improving the understanding of information and synergies
- Promotion of self-training by sharing information
- Greater concentration of energy on real problems
- Increasing the speed teams

Time management self-group

- Automation of bookings and regular appointments

- Reduction of time to organize meetings
- Rapid communication with all participants of meetings
- More efficient use of material means of meeting
- Improving the dissemination of information to participants
- Improving the communication between participants, even absent
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- Improving the management of individual and collective agendas

- Automatic reminders of key tasks.

Messaging and electronic conference

- Reduction of travel to meetings

- Reducing travel costs
- Rapid resolution of urgent problems
- Improved exchange of information and ideas.

Task Management

- Effective cooperation of the different skills of the group

- Compression of the execution time of tasks
- Reducing the cost of performing the tasks
- Cooperation of geographically distant
- Improving access to specific information to a task
- Improving the quality of products and services provided
- Improving the substance and form of the documents provided.

3.2 Disadvantages

If we would like find some disadvantages, we could talk about the initial cost, to
install the software, and to form people to correctly using the groupware.
The computer system needs to be reorganized, to support efficiently the program.

4 The case of eGroupWare

eGroupWare is a groupware developed in PHP language (PHP is a general-
purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for Web development to
produce dynamic Web pages). The developer community covers sixty-eight
countries. The software is, for example, very widespread in Brazil, where many
governments and businesses use it on networks that can exceed ten
thousand customers. The product is available in almost forty languages.
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The home page is presented as follows:

eGroupWare integrates different applications interfaced with each other. The

available modules are:

- Address Book
- Schedule includes a group planner
- Mail client
- Task Manager
- Project Manager for editing Gantt charts interconnected with other applications
- Resource Manager (inventory and reservation) integrated into the calendar
- File Manager
- Content management system for aggregating and organizing elements of the
various modules
- Timesheets
- Tracker to identify bugs or other incidents, integrated into the project manager
- Wiki
- Knowledge base
- Workflow engine
- News release distributor (publishing RSS)
- Synchronization with mobile phones or personal digital assistants
- Bookmarking
- Development tools

5 Conclusion
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Groupware is a flexible technology; it meets the economic requirements and

allows rapid adaptation of the working groups with tools that respond to various forms
of consultation and diffusion of information. He has a great capacity of evolution
in the information processing. Globally, we can say that groupware increases the
productivity of participants, the speed and quality of work.

6 References

- Yvan Potin (2007), http://www.creg.ac-versailles.fr/IMG/pdf/TCAO.pdf

- Vincent Laurantiaux, Groupware et Intranet
http://home.nordnet.fr/~vlaurantiaux/htm/groupwareg.htm
- Julien Legrand,
http://www.btsinfogap.org/COURS/GEOSI/Exposes/IG2_GEOSI_OSI_Groupware
.pdf
- Sylvie Dalbin, http://www.atd-doc.com/xmedia/publications/2004_Dalbin-
SupportGroupware.pdf
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP
- http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGroupWare