Page 208 - DCAP609_CLOUD_COMPUTING

Unit 13: Collaborating via Social Networks and Groupware

Notes
more productive, because the participants had already shared ideas and had a history of
working together."
The ability of Clearvale to segment users into categories makes it versatile in handling
different groups. "Like an office building with a public lobby, Clearvale has a guest area
that is readily accessible, while protecting the privacy of other areas," says Erin Curtis, VP
of marketing at BroadVision. Guest areas can also be set up to be anonymous, so that
individuals – for example, competitors in the same business – can dialog without revealing
their identities.
The use of social software for collaboration in a business environment is most successful
when there is a clear business purpose. "Social networking can be transformative," Curtis
says, "but it needs to be linked clearly to business objectives." Sharing best practices and
accomplishing specific tasks are examples of productive applications of social software.
Clearvale provides anytime, anywhere access through desktop, laptop, smart phone and
tablet applications, and allows for attachments, reminders and other task-related functions.
Collaborative Project Management
Ellegro Learning Solutions, a Beeline company, develops custom training applications
and provides human resources consulting services. Usually, the company has about 20 to
30 projects moving ahead in parallel, which presents management and prioritization
issues. Project planning and development requires considerable collaboration among
programmers, subject matter experts and management. Tracking milestones and content
was difficult with the manual systems the company was using.
To streamline its processes and better manage resources, Ellegro deployed LiquidPlanner,
a cloud-based collaborative project management platform. LiquidPlanner allows an
unlimited number of projects and clients within a single workspace, with tasks, events
and milestones. Tasks can be added via email, and alerts and notifications about changes
are sent via email as well as being documented in LiquidPlanner.

One of the characteristics of LiquidPlanner that Ellegro most appreciates is its flexibility.
"We work in a very fast-paced environment," says Lisa Statland, project manager at Ellegro,
"and we often need to be able to reallocate resources." Because LiquidPlanner operates at
the portfolio level, resources can be shifted across projects. "A lot of project management
software products are available, but not many let you manage at the portfolio level so
that, for example, staff hours can be moved from one project to another," she adds.
Another aspect of LiquidPlanner's flexibility is evident in its ability to re-prioritize tasks.
"This dynamic scheduling lets us see the impact on timelines, resources, due dates,
milestones and the overall portfolio," Statland says. "When a client wants to reorder the
tasks they want done, LiquidPlanner lets us move a particular task to the top of the list and
then see what the impact on deadlines will be for the other tasks." If the rescheduling has
an impact on staffing needs, Ellegro can then seek additional employees or subcontractors
to augment its workforce.
Managers set the schedules and provide input to the system, but the projects are visible to
all the staff so that they can see project status in real time. LiquidPlanner also has a portal
through which files and tasks can be shared with external stakeholders. "Development of
training products involves many artifacts such as documents, scripts and other components,"
Statland says. "These are available in the central repository so we can collaborate online
with our clients."

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