GROUPWARE

A workgroup support system (WSS) is a system that is designed specifically to improve the performance of teams by supporting the sharing and flow of information.

The foundation of any WSS is groupware - the popular term for the software component that supports the collaborative efforts of a team.

WSSs primarily support the information-processing tasks of conveying, creating, and communicating. WSSs also work with all types of information - internal, external, objective, and subjective.

• Group scheduling software
• Electronic meeting software
• Videoconferencing software
• Whiteboard software
• Groupware suites

Group Scheduling Software

• is a component of groupware
• is a part of the electronic meeting support component of groupware
• provides facilities for maintaining the day-to-day electronic calendars of team members and evaluating those calendars to schedule optimal meeting times
• may even let you reserve a certain room for a meeting and any equipment that you may need

Below, we've listed several group scheduling software packages, some of their features, and where you can learn more about them on the Internet.

Office Tracker

• Can schedule rooms and other facilities
• Supports both personal and group scheduling
• Finds available times for groups
• Displays side-by-side group schedules
• Automatically posts notifications and reminders
• Milum

ResSched

• Can schedule by fraction of the hour
• Can schedule equipment, space, people, and other resources
• Supports schedule reviewing by participant, meeting type, etc.
• Provides alternatives for booking conflicts
• Restricts who can schedule meetings
• Madrigal Soft Tools

WallCHART

• Can schedule teachers and classrooms
• Used by United Nations for scheduling meetings
• Provides good reporting features (e.g., room utilization)
• Works on intranets and the Internet
• Large international presence
• CL International

Livelink OnTime

• Personal calendars can be dispersed across multiple servers
• Works on Windows '95, '98, and NT and Mac clients
• Scalable to tens of thousands of users
• Supports browser access
• Livelink OnTime

COMSEC Scheduling Software

• Rooms, resources, activities, and office appointments
• Attach notes and service requests for schedules
• Use FM WebView to check schedules via the Internet
• Works under Windows 3.1/Nt/95/98 and OS2/Warp
• COMSEC

Visto Briefcase

• Primarily a personal information manager with group-support functionality
• Enables relationship identification between workers on the road and back-office administration
• Supports group appointment setting and e-mailing
• Shows private appointments as blocked out times
• Visto

ScheduleSoft

• Rules-based schedule generation system
• Runs across all operating system platforms
• Supports use of SQL-Server
• Runs on LAN or WAN
• ScheduleSoft

Meetingmaker

• Scalable to tens of thousands of users
• Works under DOS, Windows, and Mac
• Provides for laptop, palmtop, and remote access
• Provides instant access to free/busy time information for both users and resources
• Runs in a standard browser
• Meetingmaker

Electronic Meeting Software

• is a component of groupware
• lets a team have a "virtual" meeting through IT
• supports both synchronous and asynchronous meetings

Below, we've listed several electronic meeting software products, some of their features, and where you can learn more about them on the Internet.

MeetingWorks for Windows

• Supports brainstorming, idea organization, ranking, and voting
• Generates high quality reports and graphs of meeting information
• Supports joint application development (JAD)
• Free Internet download and use for up to 8 participants
• Also available in MeetingWorkds Internet Edition and MeetingWorks Connect
• Enterprise Solutions Inc.

Groupsystems

• Supports brainstorming, list building, information gathering, voting, organizing, prioritizing, and consensus building
• Supports strategic planning activity-based costing, business process reengineering, and knowledge management
• Includes utility for on-line surveying
• Supports graphical business process analysis and redesign
• Ventana

GroupSystems for Windows

• Supports synchronous and asynchronous meetings
• Supports anonymous input by participants
• Can be integrated with whiteboard software
• Facilitates ranking of issues by secret ballot
• Millgate Resources

Microsoft NetMeeting

• Allows people to share audio, video, and computer files
• Can be integrated with whiteboard software
• Supports Chat features which allows geographically dispersed participants to communicate messages quickly and easily
• Supports simultaneous application sharing
• Microsoft

Meeting Builder

• For organizing and delivering special events
• Triggers further investigation of details so nothing is left out
• Can be used in conjunction with Hotel personnel package
• Meeting Master

Meeting Center 2000 and MyPlaceWare Professional

• Real time Web conferencing
• Powerful presentation features such as the ability to demonstrate a live application
• Combines real-time visual content through a Web browser
• Meeting Center 2000 and MyPlaceWare Professional

Videoconferencing Software

• is a component of groupware
• is part of the electronic meeting support component of groupware
• allows teams to have meetings and see each other when the team members are geographically dispersed

Below, we've listed several videoconferencing software packages, some of their features, and where you can learn more about them on the Internet.

NetMeeting

• Made my Microsoft
• Works on Windows 95, 98, and NT
• Works over the Internet or an organization's intranet
• Includes application sharing whiteboard capabilities
• Microsoft

EVX

• Made by Avistar Systems Corporation
• Allows full-window or mosaic view of team members
• Connects to NTSC (North American TV video standard) or PAL (TV standard in many other parts of the world)
• Has enterprise messaging capabilities
• Avistar Systems

Bright Light

• Made by Avalon Information Technologies
• Includes an information management system
• Allows multimedia-rich content delivery
• Avalon Information Technologies

Omega Product Line

• Made by VSI Enterprises
• Various products for all levels of videoconferencing
• Controls all aspects of conference via on-screen icons and mouse movements
• Includes diagnostic software allowing problem diagnosis or reconfiguration from remote sites
• VSI Enterprises

CineVideo/Direct

• Made by CINECOM Corp
• Works over phone lines using 28.8 KB or faster modems
• Supports one-on-one videoconferencing and live broadcasts
• Can be used with video capture devices
• CINECOM Corp

PictureTel Live 200

• Made by PictureTel
• Compatible with Windows 95 and Windows NT
• Allows the sharing of applications
• Allows transfer of files
• PictureTel

CU-SeeMe

• Videconferencing for the Internet
• Can be used on any TCP/IP network
• Has a CU-SeeMe Contact List to allow contact with just an e-mail address
• CU-SeeMe

Intel PC Camera w/ Video Phone Software

• Enjoy special occasions with family and friends
• With Pro pack video-in feature, share video from your camcorder or VCR while you talk
• Hold a point-to-point videconference with clients of colleagues
• Intel

MyPlaceWare

• Present any type of information in a virtual conference
• Integrates all types of media into a presentation
• Select a time for the meeting and send e-mail addresses an invitation with the URL
• MyPlaceWare

QVIX/CU30

• High quality, low bandwidth, real-time full video
• Videoconferencing for LINUX
• QVIX/CU30

Whiteboard Software

• is a component of groupware
• lets team members interactively edit and share documents
• can capture hand-written notes on an electronic whiteboard

Below, we've listed several whiteboard software products, some of their features, and where you can learn more about them on the Internet.

SMART Board

• Captures notes written on an electronic whiteboard
• Displays those notes on larger screens and individual computer screens
• Supports geographically dispersed video and data conferencing
• Even recognizes pen color and saves in that color
• SMART Technologies

InPerson Whiteboard

• Allows you to view, mark up, scale, and manipulate 2D and 3D models
• Allows you to share and manipulate information from Windows-based applications
• Can capture images from video streams
• Can import files and images
• Silicon Graphics

GroupSystems Whiteboard

• Can display images for review and annotation by participants
• Works with text as well
• Facilitator can control who has update or view only privileges
• Saves whiteboard contents for later use
• Ventana

TeamBoard

• Supports mouse point & click concept with your finger
• Captures notes and drawings electronically
• Can communicate via LAN or the Internet
• Can also distribute notes and drawings via e-mail
• TeamBoard Inc.

SoftBoard

• Supports remote collaboration
• Supports simultaneous access to spreadsheets, the Internet, and presentation tools
• Electronic pen acts as on-board mouse
• Available in plasma display technologies
• SoftBoard Series 200

Group Logic Imagexpo

• Interoperable with Windows and Mac
• Adds color slides and documents to phone calls
• Lets you create softproofs from all common graphic arts formats
• Annotation can be made in different, password-protected layers with unique names
• Group Logic Imagexpo

TeamWave

• Use whiteboard for meetings, note taking, design, discussion, and more
• Share files, URL links, images, etc.
• Communication through text and audio-video based synchronous communication
• TeamWave

MicroTouch Electronic Whiteboard Ibid 2.1

• Simplifies whiteboard teleconferences by detecting use of NetMeeting
• E-mail, print, drag-and-drop, fax, or post meeting notes to a Web site
• Ibid 2.1

Groupware Suites

Groupware suites are software packages designed to provide a full range of functionality for the complete workgroup environment. These packages often include facilities for group scheduling, group communication, group meetings, whiteboard work, group document management, and applications development.

Below, we've listed several groupware suite products, some of their features, and where you can learn more about them on the Internet.

Lotus Note/Domino R5

• Delivers messaging and collaborative solutions
• Supports Web applications and integration
• Integrates with DB2, Oracle, Informix, and Sybase databases
• Integrates with SAP's R/3 enterprise software
• Lotus

Microsoft Exchange

• For messaging and collaborative solutions
• Unlimited storage capacity, hosting thousands of users
• Supports a variety of security controls and encryption methods
• Incorporates built-in Internet standards
• Works with Lotus Notes and Domino
• Microsoft

GroupWise

• Includes calendaring, workflow, and much more
• Includes images support (e.g., scanning and archiving)
• Supports publishing documents on the Web
• Y2K compliant
• Novell

LinkWorks

• Document-based business oriented
• Supports imaging software such as PowerScan and StorageWorks
• Supports O-O architecture
• Runs under Windows, Mac, and Internet browsers
• Scalable for enterprise-wide deployment
• Compaq Digital Products and Services

TeamWARE Office

• Supports enterprise-wide discussion forums
• Provides team calendaring functions
• Accesses you mobile phone when an important e-mail arrives
• Supports multi-level access control
• TeamWare

Web-4M

• Transforms traditional chat rooms into multimedia forums
• Collaboration is integrated with mail and Web documents and a distributed file system
• Supports platform independence
• Supports full-duplex phoning
• JDH Technologies

Netscape - SuiteSpot

• Manages large-scale, business-critical intranets and extranets
• Web-based Express clients for mail and calendar
• Deploys extranets globally in many languages and character sets
• Integrated software set that forms the basis of the networked enterprise
• SuiteSpot