OIT 111: Fundamentals of

Information Systems
GROUP COLLABORATION
 Introduction
• Individuals in a system usually work in teams, committees,
departments and other types of work groups
• To collaborate on common tasks, workgroup members can have
meetings, talk on the telephones, send faxes and distribute memos
• Group members can also use workgroup Information Systems to help
them collaborate
 ENTEPRISE COLLABORATION
SYSTEMS
• Enterprise collaboration systems provide tools to help us collaborate to
communicate ideas, share resources, and coordinate our cooperative work
efforts as members of the many formal and information process and
project teams and workgroups that make up many of today’s organizations
• Enterprise collaboration systems helps us to:
Communicate - sharing information with each other
Coordinate - coordinating our individual work efforts and use of resources
with each other
Collaborate - working together cooperatively on joint projects and
assignments
• Workgroup can be defined as two or more people working together
on the same task or assignment.
• Team can be defined as a collaborative workgroup, whose members
are committed to collaboration, that is, working with each other in a
cooperative way that transcends the coordination of individual work
activities found in a typical workgroup.
 Characteristics of teams and workgroups
• Teams and workgroups can be as formal and structured as a traditional
business office or department. Or they can be less formal and structured
like the members of process teams in a manufacturing environment.
• Teams and workgroups can be as informal, unstructured, and temporary as
an ad hoc task force or a project team whose members work for different
organizations in different parts of the world.
• Members of a team or workgroup don’t have to work in the same physical
location. They can be members of a virtual team, that is, one whose
members are united by the tasks on which they are collaborating, not by
geography or membership in a larger organization.
Enterprise Collaboration System
Components
• The enterprise collaboration system is an information system
• Therefore, it uses hardware, software, data, and network resources to
support communication, coordination, and collaboration among the
members of business teams and workgroups
 GROUPWARE FOR ENTERPRISE
COLLABORATION
Groupware provides software tools for:
• Electronic communication
• Electronic conferencing
• Collaborative work management
 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION
TOOLS
• These tools enable you to electronically send documents and files in
data, text, voice, or multimedia form over computer networks
• This helps you share everything from short voice and text messages to
copies of project documents and data files with your team members
• These tools include electronic mail, voice mail, bulletin board systems,
and faxing
 Electronic Conferencing Tools
• A variety of conferencing methods enable the members of teams and
workgroups at different locations to exchange ideas interactively at
the same time, or at different times at their convenience
• Electronic conferencing options also include electronic meeting
systems, where team members can meet at the same time and place
in a decision room setting
Electronic conferencing tools include:
- Data and voice conferencing
- Videoconferencing
- Chat systems
- Discussion forums
- Electronic meeting systems
 COLLABORATIVE WORK
MANAGEMENT TOOLS
• Collaborative work management tools help people accomplish or
manage group work activities
• This category of Groupware includes:
- Calendaring and scheduling tools
- Task and project management e.g gantt chart
- Workflow systems
- Knowledge repositories
THE END