2-1 Chapter 2 Information Systems for Collaboration

2-2 Study Questions Q1 – What is collaboration? Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow?

2-3 Study Questions Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?

2-4 Q1 – What is collaboration? Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow? Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?

2-5 Q1 – What is collaboration? Collaboration occurs when two or more people work together to achieve a common  Goal  Result  Work product Greater than individuals working alone Involves more that just breaking up the work (divide and conquer)

2-6 Q1 – What is collaboration? Proceed in a series of steps (iterations) by continuously reviewing and revising each other’s work Learn from each other rather than working in isolation Ultimately produce a product that’s greater (and better) than an individual could accomplish working alone

2-7 Q1 – What is collaboration? The three critical collaboration drivers are: 1. Communication 2. Content management 3. Workflow control

2-8 Q1 – What is collaboration? Communication  Consider the role of Information Technology? , Text messaging, Teleconferencing New devices: iPhone, Blackberry, etc.

2-9 Q1 – What is collaboration? Content management  avoid conflicting with other team members.  system that will help them track and report changes. Consider Google Docs? SharePoint is another example  assigns permissions to team members depending on their functionality within the group.

2-10 Q1 – What is collaboration? Workflow control  Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, early examples 1. Create a Task 2. Assign it to employees 3. Employees report on their progress and eventual completion  It ensures tasks are completed in an orderly manner.  Managers can monitor task, see the big picture.

2-11 Q1 – What is collaboration? Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow? Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?

2-12 Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Synchronous communication  Team members meet at same time, but not always same geographic location.  conference calls, face-to-face-meetings, or online meetings. Asynchronous communication  Team members do not meet at the same time or in the same geographic location.  discussion forums or exchanges.

2-13 Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Pros/Cons  Conference calls – can be difficult to arrange the right time  Multiparty text chat – easier to arrange if everyone has mobile texting  Videoconferencing – requires everyone to have the proper equipment  – most familiar but has serious drawbacks in content management  Discussion forums – content is more organized than  Team surveys – easy to manage but don’t provide very much interactive discussion

2-14 Q1 – What is collaboration? Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow? Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?

2-15 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?

2-16 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Content sharing with no control  attachments are the most primitive but have numerous problems. Someone may not receive the or ignores it. It’s difficult to manage attachments.  A shared file server provides a single storage location for all team members. It uses FTP technology to access files. Problems can occur if multiple team members try using the same file at the same time.

2-17 © Pearson Prentice Hall 2009 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? These methods of content sharing provide version management  Wikis – Wikipedia is an example  Google Docs and Spreadsheets  Microsoft Office Groove

2-18 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Wikis are shared knowledge bases, repositories of team knowledge, which have or use tracking mechanisms for changes. wikipedia.com is the most widely known, but Wikis were first used for business collaboration.

2-19 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presentation  Access it at with a Google accounthttp://docs.google.com  Documents are stored on Google servers making them accessible from anywhere.  Team members can track revisions and review change summaries.  It’s a free service but you must use Google programs for processing.

2-20 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?

2-21 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Microsoft Office Groove  You create a workspace and invite others to join.  Document changes are automatically provided to all team members.  You can use VoIP rather than separate phone lines for conversations.  Each user must purchase a license and install it on each computer (may be exceptions).

2-22 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?

2-23 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Shared content with version management - just maintains past versions version control – provides strict control over files and content.  Users are given permissions that limit what they can do with the documents.  requires users to check out documents and check in.  Microsoft SharePoint is the most popular for business use. It requires a publicly accessible server. It’s difficult to install.

2-24 Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?

2-25 Q1 – What is collaboration? Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow? Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?

2-26 Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow? Sequential workflow  When documents are reviewed by multiple members of a team one after another Parallel workflow  When documents are reviewed by multiple members of a team simultaneously SharePoint site  Defines workflows and ensures team members perform required tasks

2-27 Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow?

2-28 Q1 – What is collaboration? Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow? Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?

2-29 Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Operational decisions  Obtain data from transaction processing systems  Require very little collaboration Managerial decisions  Focus on the allocation and utilization of resources  Require some collaboration Strategic decisions  Are broader in their scope and center around organizational issues  Are almost always collaborative

2-30 Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Decision process  Structured Understood and accepted method for making decisions Require very little collaboration  Unstructured No agreed-on decision-making method Are often a collaborative process

2-31 Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? What is the relationship between decision types and decision processes?  Operational decisions typically use a structured process.  Managerial decisions use both structured and unstructured processes.  Strategic decisions typically use an unstructured process.

2-32 Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making?

2-33 © Pearson Prentice Hall 2009 Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Decision making and collaboration systems  Structured decisions No feedback or iteration are necessary  Unstructured decisions Feedback and iteration are crucial Communications systems are very important to the process

2-34 Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making?

2-35 Q1 – What is collaboration? Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow? Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?

2-36 Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Problem definition  The first step in solving a problem is to define it.  A problem is a perceived difference between what is and what ought to be.  A good problem definition defines the difference between what is and what ought to be by describing both the current situation and the desired situation.

2-37 Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Problem solutions and solution brokering  Collaboration systems provide team members with feedback and iteration that helps them: Identify numerous solution alternatives rather than just one. Make a choice by allowing them to discuss the pros and cons of each alternative. Broker the selected solution and make necessary adjustments that benefit all parties.

2-38 Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Problem solving and collaboration systems are more effective when they successfully employ the three collaborative drivers: 1. Communication systems that allow a regular and reliable exchange of ideas and information 2. Content-management systems that control document changes and revisions so everyone has the most current version 3. Workflow control is less important because of the nature of the unstructured decision-making process

2-39 Q1 – What is collaboration? Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication? Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content? Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow? Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making? Q6 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for problem solving? Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?

2-40 Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management? Project  Dynamic application of people and other resources for creation of a product or achievement of some aim Dynamic because the application of resources will be changed as events unfold and learning takes place. Projects normally:  have a limited duration  are start and completed  are not usually ongoing Project management  Application of tools and techniques to achieve project’s goals within time and budget constraints

2-41 Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management? Project Management Stages and Tasks

2-42 Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management? Project Management Stages and Tasks  Scope refers to the requirements to be achieved by project. It is arguably the most important project-management task.  Trade-off refers to the choices among scope, time, cost, quality, risk, people, and other resources that must be made.  Project management requires extensive feedback and iteration.

2-43 Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management? The three collaborative drivers are important to ensure the success of a project.  Communication systems help decision makers communicate with one another and deal with unexpected problems as they occur.  Content-management systems control document changes and revisions that occur during the project.  Workflow control is important because of task dependencies inherent in projects.

2-44 Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?