1. Using MIS 2e Chapter 2 Information Systems for Collaboration
David Kroenke
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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?
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?
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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?
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4. 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 than coordination and communication alone
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5. Q1 – What is collaboration?
Feedback and iteration provide an opportunity for team members to:
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
Change the way they work and what they produce
Ultimately produce a product that’s greater (and better) than an individual could accomplish working alone
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6. Q1 – What is collaboration?
The three critical collaboration drivers are:
Communication
Content management
Workflow control
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7. Q1 – What is collaboration?
Critical collaboration drivers – communication
How well can group members communicate with each other, providing and receiving critical feedback?
The success of the collaboration group depends on the availability of effective communication systems that allow them to share their skills and abilities.
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8. Q1 – What is collaboration?
Critical collaboration drivers – content management
Users need to manage the content of their work to avoid conflicting with other team members.
Team members need a system that will help them track and report changes.
An effective system assigns permissions to team members depending on their functionality within the group.
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9. Q1 – What is collaboration?
Critical collaboration drivers – workflow control
Workflow is a process or procedure to create, edit, use, and dispose of content.
It specifies the particular ordering of tasks.
It includes processes for handling rejected changes and exceptions.
It ensures tasks are completed in an orderly manner.
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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?
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Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication?
Synchronous communication
Team members meet at the same time, but not necessarily at the same geographic location.
It may include 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.
It may include discussion forums or exchanges.
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Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication?
Fig 2-1 Information Technology for Communication
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Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication?
Virtual meetings don’t require everyone to be in the same place at the same time.
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
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Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication?
Fig 2-3 Example of Discussion Forum
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Q2 – How can you use collaboration systems to improve team communication?
Fig 2-4 Portion of Sample Team Survey
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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?
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17. Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
There are three categories for sharing content. Your choice depends on the degree of control your team needs to complete their tasks
Fig 2-5 Information Technology for Sharing Content
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18. Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
The following methods of sharing are effective but provide no control over content management.
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.
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19. Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
These methods of content sharing provide version management
Wikis
Google Docs and Spreadsheets
Microsoft Office Groove
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20. 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.
Most commonly known wiki is wikipedia.com.
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21. Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
Google Docs and Spreadsheets
Access it at with a Google account (different from a Gmail account).
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.
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22. Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
Fig 2-7 Sample Google Docs & Spreadsheets Document Versions
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23. 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.
You can use it asynchronously or synchronously.
You can use any computer or server to access workspaces.
Each user must purchase a license and install it on each computer (may be exceptions).
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24. Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
Fig 2-8 Example Groove Workspace
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25. Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
Shared content with version control provides more limitations than version management and more control over changes to documents.
It uses shared libraries (directories) to store documents.
Users are given permissions that limit what they can do with the documents.
It requires users to check out documents and check them back in.
Microsoft SharePoint is the most popular for business use.
It requires a publicly accessible server.
It’s difficult to install.
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26. Q3 – How can you use collaboration systems to manage content?
Fig 2-9 Example of Document Checkout
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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?
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28. 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
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29. Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow?
Fig 2-10 Sample Sequential Workflow
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30. Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow?
Fig 2-11 Defining a SharePoint Workflow, Part 1
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31. Q4 – How can you use collaboration systems to control workflow?
Fig 2-12 Defining a SharePoint Workflow, Part 2
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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?
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33. 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
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34. 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
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35. 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.
Strategic decisions typically use an unstructured process.
Managerial decisions use both structured and unstructured processes.
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36. Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making?
Fig 2-14 Decision Process & Decision Type
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37. 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
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38. Q5 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for decision making?
Fig 2-15 Collaboration Needs for Decision Types
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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?
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40. 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.
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41. 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.
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42. 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:
Communication systems that allow a regular and reliable exchange of ideas and information
Content-management systems that control document changes and revisions so everyone has the most current version
Workflow control is less important because of the nature of the unstructured decision-making process
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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?
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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
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Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?
Project Management Stages and Tasks
Fig 2-16 Summary of Project Management Activities & Feedback Paths
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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.
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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.
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Q7 – How do businesses use collaboration systems for project management?
Fig 2-17 Collaboration Systems for Decision Making, Problem Solving & Project Mgt
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