MIS382-What is Groupware and Why Do You Need It?
What is Groupware?
- a tool that helps people work together more easily and more effectively
- collaborative computing
- group support systems (GSS)
- encourages free flow of information, which enhances innovation and supports and facilitates collective leadership
What is Workflow?
- a tool that makes it easier for people to work together
- performs specific transactions and routes those transactions among workgroup members
- follows specific routes based on rules that support business processes
What Does groupware Do?
- Helps two or more people work together
- Lets them share knowledge and expertise
- Automates their activities
- Helps create an organizational memory
- Bridges geography and time
- communication Helps people share information
- Coordination Helps people coordinate their individual roles with each other
- Collaboration Helps people work together
- Working Together
- Calendaring and Scheduling Tools
- Voice Conferencing
- Videoconferencing
- Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS)
- Whiteboards and Data Conferencing
- Chat Tools
- Working Individually
- E-mail
- Conferencing and Discussions (newsgroups, forums, discussion groups)
- Knowledge Repositories
- Group Writing and Shared Document Editing tools
- Workflow and Applications Development Tools
Why Do You Need Groupware?
- Collaboration Yields a Product That's Greater than the Sum of Its Parts
- Groupware Lets You Capture and Share Knowledge
- Groupware Promotes Learning and Empowers Employees
- Operational processes