Every organization which creates collaborative documents, whether they are budgets, presentations, reports, spreadsheets, or other documents recognizes that collaborative efforts are requirement. That collaboration always forces the 5 eternal document collaboration questions: Who? What? Where? When? How? The reason I refer to them as eternal is that every day businesses are faced with these questions and rarely find the answers when they collaborate on documents.
Business frantically searched for groupware solutions that answers the 5 questions of document collaboration, and this informational article is written to provide helpful information on technology that is now available to bring answers.
Three helpful groupware software technologies will be presented and referred to throughout this article as means of answer-finding, as a refreshing relief to the more common question-making of collaboration. These technologies are Digital Thread technology, Version History technology, and Document Signature technology. These three teamware technologies function as the "triple threat" against document chaos.
Who?
From the start, it is important to state that accurate records are the key to keeping track of the editorial or collaborative process. So much record keeping gets jumbled because documents and drafts are spread out across many different places and collaborators like butter over too much bread. As the deadline nears, searches become more frantic. "Who has which draft?" or "Who made this change?" are questions that will frequently arise.
Imagine finishing up months of contract negotiation yielding a contract of hundreds of pages and asking your committee at that point about changes that have been made in an effort to track who did or has what. It simply will not work. Not even the participant will remember all of their own contributions.
No business wants messy records. The groupware market has advanced to such a point that a teamware solution to the question "who?" is now available. Digital Thread, for example, creates a tracking device in the meta data of all documents created in the everyday MS applications businesses use. This tracking reaches across servers and emails to create a virtual family tree of document drafts, even if you are working with clients or others who do not have this technology. Version History compiles the document family tree into a flowchart, and Document Signature lets you know who has worked on the draft every time you open a draft from your hard drive or email. You will never lose track of who did or has what.
What?
Often, when opening an email attachment, you might be asking yourself "What version am I looking at?" "What draft is this?" "What am I supposed to do now?" or a myriad of other "what's." The time for questions like this is not time your company can afford. This groupware technology will track documents and their drafts, allowing you to always know what you are looking at and which draft it is. Then you will know exactly what to do with it.
You can refer to the flow chart created by Version History and Digital Thread. You can also rely on the Document Signature to open with the document to tell you exactly what you are looking at. Next question please.
Where?
It is important in collaboration to share information and to refer to others' findings. When that happens, especially in the electronic document world we work in, you may be asking later "Where did that document go?" You may also receive information and ask "Where did this come from?" These questions are not uncommon among businesses. Business is fast-paced, and we cannot remember everything without a little bit of help from a good teamware.
Help is available with the proper groupware that tracks documents and lets you know exactly where documents are and where they come to you from.
When?
The toughest part of tracking documents and drafts is knowing the chronology of the changes. Drafts are flying back and forth, via e-mail, so quickly that without the proper teamware, changes could be made out of order.
Confusion need not reign in electronic collaboration. Version History's flowchart, tracked by Digital Thread, and available with Document Signature every time you open a draft, puts everything into proper editorial perspective.
How?
Saving the toughest question for last, imagine that you have various versions of the latest drafts recently emailed to you from your faithful committee. You will see them there, you will look at them, and you will probably want to weep. "How am I supposed to put this all together?" is the cry heard down the hall.
Since groupware is now available which tracks everything, including the who's, what's, where's, and when's, you can now rely on that same groupware to know how to merge the changes together. It will put information together and suggest changes that might take one person hours to come up with.
Search through the groupware software suites available for Digital Thread, Version History, and Document Signature. It is refreshing to have answers during a potentially confusing and chaotic collaborative process.
Joe Miller is specialist in online advertising. For more information on online advertising, please visit online advertising.
family-safe home cleaners Morton Grove ..When you visit department stores and see that majority of... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions ? Navision is an integrated solution for... Read More
When you first think about multicurrency ? you probably have... Read More
You might think you don't need a firewall... Read More
If you use Microsoft Outlook (or similar applications) for e-mailing,... Read More
Microsoft CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino seem to be... Read More
Java has come along a long way. Many would agree... Read More
If you would like to pick something from Microsoft, or... Read More
Shareware has been fighting the stigma of being misunderstood for... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very good fit for... Read More
This tutorial covers OLAP solutions used by Data warehouses and... Read More
Current Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has more that 10... Read More
While several preventive maintenance software manufacturers offer free trials for... Read More
In the real world a "fire wall" is a fireproof... Read More
Microsoft Great Plains - Microsoft Business Solutions accounting and ERP... Read More
Hi, Guys,I believe a lot of programmers are trying to... Read More
Some companies that are in need of fleet management may... Read More
Is your PC is slow and wimpy? Then you need... Read More
What is a Web Database?A web database is a database... Read More
Each Industry and market niche has business specific and unique... Read More
The objective for Zandi Digital is to make available clever... Read More
I have always regretted how Microsoft price gouges and rips... Read More
In this article you will find some background information about... Read More
Customer Relationship Management, abbreviated "CRM," is the term for a... Read More
Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with... Read More
home cleaning services Wilmette ..Manufacturing in the USA is far away down from mid... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains was purchased from Great Plains... Read More
And kill the best layout software in the process of... Read More
With so many Microsoft Windows related viruses, errors, and other... Read More
If you have Microsoft Great Plains and support it... Read More
Writing software manuals is boring, isn't it? We often think:... Read More
ERP Consulting industry is on the way to serve clients... Read More
The Microsoft system preparation utility for Windows 2000 is a... Read More
You've finally created databases that you can actually use to... Read More
The term "document management" and "paperless office" is the subject... Read More
Microsoft CRM was designed to be easily customizable. Microsoft CRM... Read More
Designing without tables by using CSS layouts is fast becoming... Read More
An operating system (abbreviated OS) is essentially the path through... Read More
We all take the computer for granted. I mean, all... Read More
Accounts payable is just one area of office management where... Read More
Imagine something that follows you home and sets itself up... Read More
Mapping Software Improves Data VisualizationFrom the outset, it is important... Read More
If you use Microsoft Outlook (or similar applications) for e-mailing,... Read More
This article is for advanced Microsoft CRM SDK C# developers.... Read More
Costs of fleet maintenance software can vary widely. It is... Read More
One day, you suddenly realize that your computer started to... Read More
I love new technology. I am still ready to wait... Read More
GroupwareThe internet is full of 1.5 million to 7 million... Read More
Although statistics often is blamed for various deadly sins --... Read More
Microsoft-Outlook is a pretty amazing program. So much more than... Read More
Software |