Groupware Technology Project Report

Groupware Technology
1. INTRODUCTION
Groupware is technology designed to be used by groups of people for
sharing information. Groupware applications are becoming more and
more popular now.
Groupware is an environment where all users can share their documents.
It is a platform where they can perform daily task of communicating,
collaborating and coordinating with others. It automates business
processes by using workflow management and collaborated computing
techniques.
Groupware applications like e-mail, workflow systems, group calendars,
chat systems, decision support system are easy but very powerful.
As Groupware is advantageous over single user system, it has high
demand and many companies are specializing in developing Groupware
based applications.
By : Bharat Kalia 1

2. WHAT IS GROUPWARE?
Groupware is technology designed to facilitate the work of
groups. This technology may be used to communicate, cooperate, coordinate,
solve problems, compete, or negotiate. While traditional technologies like the
telephone qualify as groupware, the term is ordinarily used to refer to a specific
class of technologies relying on modern computer networks, such as email,
newsgroups, videophones, or chat.
Groupware technologies are typically categorized along two primary
dimensions:
1. Whether users of the groupware are working together at the same time
("realtime" or "synchronous" groupware) or different times
("asynchronous" groupware), and
2. Whether users are working together in the same place ("colocated" or
"face-to-face") or in different places ("non-colocated" or "distance").
Same time
“Synchronous”
Different time
“Asynchronous”
Same Place
“Colocated”
Voting,
presentation
support
Shared
computers
Different Place
“Distance”
Videophones,
chat
Email,
workflow
By : Bharat Kalia 2

3. LOTUS MODEL OF GROUPWARE
Let us consider the Lotus model of Groupware
The figure 1 shows three intersecting circles. Communication, Collaboration
and Coordination.
When you work in an organization, you are actually working in a
number of groups. So you can consider yourself as a member and part
of the groups.
When you talk to the sales representative you are actually
communicating. When you put up a proposal for new accounting
software and request others to give their opinions, you are
collaborating. When you ask the manager to sign a statement, you are
coordinating.
By : Bharat Kalia 3

4. GROUPWARE: APPLICATIONS
i) Asynchronous Groupware Applications
 Email is by far the most common groupware application (besides of course,
the traditional telephone). While the basic technology is designed to pass
simple messages between 2 people, even relatively basic email systems
today typically include interesting features for forwarding messages, filing
messages, creating mailing groups, and attaching files with a message.
Other features that have been explored include: automatic sorting and
processing of messages, automatic routing, and structured communication
(messages requiring certain information).
 Workflow systems allow documents to be routed through organizations
through a relatively-fixed process. A simple example of a workflow
application is an expense report in an organization: an employee enters an
expense report and submits it, a copy is archived then routed to the
employee's manager for approval, the manager receives the document,
electronically approves it and sends it on and the expense is registered to
the group's account and forwarded to the accounting department for
payment. Workflow systems may provide features such as routing,
development of forms, and support for differing roles and privileges.
 Group calendars allow scheduling, project management, and coordination
among many people, and may provide support for scheduling equipment as
well. Typical features detect when schedules conflict or find meeting times
By : Bharat Kalia 4

that will work for everyone. Group calendars also help to locate people.
Typical concerns are privacy (users may feel that certain activities are not
public matters), completeness and accuracy (users may feel that the time it
takes to enter schedule information is not justified by the benefits of the
calendar).
ii) Synchronous or Realtime Groupware Applications
 Shared whiteboards allow two or more people to view and draw on a
shared drawing surface even from different locations. This can be used, for
instance, during a phone call, where each person can jot down notes (e.g. a
name, phone number, or map) or to work collaboratively on a visual
problem. Most shared whiteboards are designed for informal conversation,
but they may also serve structured communications or more sophisticated
drawing tasks, such as collaborative graphic design, publishing, or
engineering applications. Shared whiteboards can indicate where each
person is drawing or pointing by showing telepointers, which are color-coded
or labeled to identify each person.
 Chat systems permit many people to write messages in realtime in a public
space. As each person submits a message, it appears at the bottom of a
scrolling screen. Chat groups are usually formed by having listing chat
rooms by name, location, number of people, topic of discussion, etc.
Many systems allow for rooms with controlled access or with
moderators to lead the discussions, but most of the topics of interest to
By : Bharat Kalia 5

researchers involve issues related to unmoderated realtime communication
including: anonymity, following the stream of conversation, scalability with
number of users, and abusive users.
While chat-like systems are possible using non-text media, the
text version of chat has the rather interesting aspect of having a direct
transcript of the conversation, which not only has long-term value, but
allows for backward reference during conversation making it easier for
people to drop into a conversation and still pick up on the ongoing
discussion.
 Decision support systems are designed to facilitate groups in decision-making.
They provide tools for brainstorming, critiquing ideas, putting
weights and probabilities on events and alternatives, and voting. Such
systems enable presumably more rational and even-handed decisions.
Primarily designed to facilitate meetings, they encourage equal participation
by, for instance, providing anonymity or enforcing turn-taking.
By : Bharat Kalia 6

5. GROUPWARE: DESIGN
As with all user interface design, the method used for designing a
groupware system is more significant than specific design suggestions. This
introduction thus begins with the groupware design process. The remaining
sections address some of the most common issues that face groupware
designers.
i) The Groupware Design Process
It's best to start by gaining a solid understanding of your
prospective users, what their goals are, and how they go about their work. For
broadly-targeted groupware applications, such as videophones or email,
understanding users can boil down to understanding how human beings
communicate in the first place. A design is also best informed by conducting
user studies on system prototypes. In these cases user testing is often
significantly more difficult than with single-user systems for the following
reasons:
 Organizing and scheduling for groups is more difficult than for individuals.
 Pre-established groups vary in interaction style, and the length of time
they've been a group affects their communication patterns.
 New groups change quickly during the group formation process.
 Groups are dynamic; roles change.
 Many studies need to be long-term, especially when studying asynchronous
groupware.
By : Bharat Kalia 7

 Modifying prototypes can be technically difficult because of the added
complexity of groupware over single-user software.
When designing groupware, it is often best to begin with field
studies. The goal is to understand a particular type of group or organization that
will be using the groupware system. A number of different studies can be
conducted: interviews, surveys, analysis of artifacts used in the work process,
examination of processes and workflows, etc. In all cases, the object is to
identify the users' tasks and goals, understand how the group communicates
and determine the power structures and roles.
ii) Interoperability
In the early 90s, AT&T and MCI both introduced videophones
commercially, but their two systems couldn't communicate with each other.
This lack of interoperability/compatibility meant that anyone who wanted to
buy a videophone had to make sure that everyone they wanted to talk to would
buy the same system. Compatibility issues lead to general wariness among
customers, who want to wait until a clear standard has emerged.
iii) Perceived Benefit
Even when everyone in the group may benefit, if the choice is
made by individuals, the system may not succeed. An example is with office
calendar systems: if everyone enters all of their appointments, then everyone
has the benefit of being able to safely schedule around other people's
appointments. However, if it's not easy to enter your appointments, then it may
By : Bharat Kalia 8

be perceived by users as more beneficial to leave their own appointments off,
while viewing other people's appointments.
iv) Session Control
A session is a situation where a group of people are in a
conversation together at a given time, such as a group of people together in a
chat room or people talking together over the telephone. Metaphorically,
session control is like a person standing at the door of a room checking IDs and
deciding who gets to go in.
Session control issues include finding out what rooms are
available, determining who can enter and exit the room, and when and how.
Here are some suggested policies for session control:
 Decide what limits there are to who can join a session. Are there limits to
the number of people or to who is qualified to enter?
 Allow people to join and leave at any time. Provide a "polite" protocol for
doing so. Let people comfortably enter and leave conversations through
continuous degrees of commitment and intrusion.
 Provide a means for preventing interruptions.
 Facilitate people getting together. Provide mechanisms for identifying
appropriate conversational partners.
 Provide a means for setting up side conferences.
By : Bharat Kalia 9

v) Floor Control
Once people have joined a conversational session, it must be
decided what kind of access each person has to shared artifacts, or
conversational props. For instance, when using a shared whiteboard, can
everyone draw on it at the same time (simultaneous access), can only one
person access it at a time (by passing a token, or baton), is there a moderator
who controls access, and is there a time limit for each person?
Of course, some intermediate solutions are also possible. For
instance, in the shared whiteboard example, there can be multiple whiteboards.
Some may be personal and others shared. Personal whiteboards may be visible
to other users but non-editable by other users. This allows everyone to work
simultaneously without interfering with the work of others.
vi) Privacy
 Privacy, Security, and Anonymity
Whenever using groupware, some information needs to be
shared, and there is a concern that all other information remain private, and that
critical information be secure even against aggressive attempts to obtain the
information. In many situations, users choose to be anonymous or use a
consistent pseudonym. Anonymity can be crucial in encouraging fair
participation in discussions and is useful for providing protection from
harassment.
By : Bharat Kalia 10

 Sharing Information, Identification, and Accountability
On the other hand, there is continuing pressure to share more
information. The more information gets shared, the more easily common
ground can be achieved. Sharing information about yourself enables many
systems to provide more useful customization and matching to your interests.
Furthermore, while anonymity can protect an individual, there are also quite
legitimate reasons for identifying people for accountability, especially where
security and the risk of abusive behavior are involved.
 Control and Reciprocity
To resolve these conflicting needs, it's important to give users as
much control as possible over what information gets shared and what remains
private. Let users decide how much information to share, and use that to
determine what kinds of information they can access. One example of privacy
policy is the principle of reciprocity: if a user wants information about another
user, then they must provide the equivalent information about themselves.
Reciprocity isn't always the right policy, but serves as a useful starting point.

6. ADVANTAGES OF GROUPWARE
Groupware offers significant advantages over single-user
systems. These are some of the most common reasons people want to use
groupware:
 to facilitate communication: make it faster, clearer, more persuasive
 to enable communication where it wouldn't otherwise be possible
 to enable telecommuting
 to cut down on travel costs
 to bring together multiple perspectives and expertise
 to save time and cost in coordinating group work
 to facilitate group problem-solving
In addition to the benefits of groupware, another good reason to
study usability and design issues in groupware is to avoid a failed design.

7. CONCLUSION
This is what Groupware is all about. Thus we have seen the
utilities and the advantages of groupware in organizations.
Hence Groupware is the best solution to provide faster
communication, to form groups with common interest where it wouldn’t be
possible to gather a sufficient number of people face to face, to solve group
problems easily.
That’s why more and more people are realizing its utility and are
shifting to Groupware. This is today’s stage. This stage lays solid foundation
for tomorrow.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Groupware with Lotus Notes
- APTECH Computer Education.
2. http://www.googlesearch.com
3. http://www.usibilityfirst.com

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