Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with groupware

Artist groupware. Please find enclosed a list of requirements.

monocultured — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:31:35 -0800

We're a group artists in a non-profit and are currently using Facebook to organise ourselves. I find it lacking - it's not a platform with collaboration in mind, so I'm researching alternatives. Hlep! The ten of us are spread out globally and try to run projects, apply for grants, inform each other of work or other opportunities, and plan exhibitions and publishing. The usual stuff, with a mix of people both tech savvy and digitally challenged.

We're using a closed Facebook group at the moment, but there are some limitations that we've run into already. Most notably there's a limit on how many threads and uploaded photos/videos you see at any time, so the lack of overview is annoying. Notifications on updated threads and such is missing (or I've missed it) and there's no tagging / categories of threads. A calendar tied to the threads would have been nice.

Also, we're recruiting underwriting members and would like to give limited access to our material (say, an exhibition schedule and invites to parties) and if we could have the members registry in the same db as the regular work db there would be less risk of messing stuff up. So a tiered membership option would be awesome, although it's not a dealbreaker. (As long as we can export a members list and dump it somewhere else, we'd be set)

The motivation for learning a new tool is very low for most members, so "painless and pretty" is my approach right now. I can host it myself but don't want to spend too much time being codemonkey if I can help it.

I've looked at Basecamp and Goplan, and the latter in particular seems worth pursuing, but the there's no chance in hell our team will have time enough to evaluate or settle in during a 30-day trial. I'm thinking that many of you have been in the position of hearding cats and might offer suggestions.

Oh, and "non-profit" translates into "we eat bark and pay with pebbles and hugs" so there's not too much money.

Web based document sharing

dukes909 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:39:02 -0800

Non-profit group looking for a web based document storage / file sharing system to allow remote offices to share (mainly download) relevant organization documents. Does not have to have check in/check out capabilities. Will need to be able to password protect access so that general public does not have access. Could also use web portal capabilities and wiki like features - a lite CMS, but not required. Have looked at things like Drupal (too complicated to get set up), Alfresco (wayy too expensive!), OWL (couldn't get demo to work). Prefer to host on our own Linux based webserver, and have tech resources for installs etc, but not extensive coding.

FOR THE HORDE! ... or some other Groupware package...

aristan — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 12:14:00 -0800

I've taxed myself with saving the company money with clever use of smoke, mirrors, and computers! One of the things I'd like to replace is our proprietary intranet site that is costing us at least $5000 a year. I'd to go with something Open Source that we can manage ourselves. What do You think will meet our needs? And how can we use our Intranet better? We currently use WebEx's WebOffice with about 35 members out of the few hundred that work for the company. I'd like a way to bring everyone into the company.

Here's what we currently actually use from WebOffice:

- Group Documents: All of our HR documents, memos, and product information are stored on our Intranet.
- Calendar: Though, frankly I've only seen birthdays on it.
- Databases: We have databases of Customer Contact information on the intranet, but I have never actually seen this information used for anything. We don't even pull stuff off of it for mailings.

I've looked at Horde Groupware, but am not sure if it'll meet our needs. Do you have any experience with open source Intranet/groupware software?

Also, how can we use our Intranet better? It's not used as much as it should be. How can we get users more involved?

I need something like dotProject but better.

markmillard — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 10:09:33 -0800

In my quest to find a project management application that fits our situation, I've been evaluating dotProject. This app ended up not being viable for us for a number of reasons, so I'm wondering if any of you out there have experience with a project management app that meets the following requirements... Requirements:

- Uses Mac OS X or is platform-independent
- Enterprise (web based) and internally hostable (within corp. firewall)
- Somewhat lightweight, easy to learn
- Editable Gantts
- Hierarchical project formatting
- Dependencies among tasks
- Resource tracking/reporting across multiple projects

Most of the solutions that fit GUI-wise, like OmniPlan or iTask, are document-based and have to be exported for sharing. We need something that is server-based groupware.

Any suggestions welcome. Solution doesn't have to be open sourced.

Simple groupware

FidelDonson — Wed, 31 May 2006 06:27:26 -0800

I need some very basic groupware. It has to have file-sharing, calendar and discussion-board. It should be able to run on a java or php enabled server. Open source or free solutions are preferred. The main problem with solutions suggested in earlier questions is that they are too complex. I don't need a full project or content management system. I just need the very basics.

Better groupware for our team?

symphonik — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 19:48:11 -0800

Our team needs some good groupware. What are your experiences? I work for a small software engineering team as part of a larger department of writers and developers. We currently maintain a wiki which lets us document our extensive toolchain, and allows the rest of the department document their processes and plans. Unfortunately, this wiki has become crufty and hard-to-manage due to its lack of natural organization and unrestrained editing features.

We want to deploy some better groupware for our department. It needs to satisfy our original requirements:

• A place to easily and regularly document our software
• A place to communicate regularly with the rest of our department
• A place where text and images (think reference material) can be easily updated, changed, and organized by other members of the department—remembering that many in our larger department are not extremely tech-savvy

To solve the problems with our wiki, though, this software also needs:

• Real, manageable user accounts
• A built-in hierarchical organization, so it remains easy to navigate as more content is added, deleted, and updated
• A better way to communicate regularly—some blog-style features would be great, with RSS feeds and multiple assigned authors and the like.

We've investigated a couple of products that seem to satisfy our needs: Plone and TikiWiki, but I'd like your input on these products, or hear your favorite alternatives.

Looking for online groupware app for volunteer scheduling

bagelche — Wed, 18 Jan 2006 20:46:00 -0800

I'm looking for a free online collaborative calendar/spreadsheet app to schedule volunteers. I'd like it to have time down the left side and 3 columns with titles and the whole thing can be group edited. I need 7 consecutive days of 1-hr slots from 8am to midnight. Our local community radio station is doing its first fund drive. The drive lasts one week. We will have 3 volunteers per hour from 8 am to midnight. We have "day captains" who are responsible for the volunteers for their day, but we need to collectively know who's volunteering when and what slots still need to be filled.

I'd like an online application to do this so that we can all be kept up to date as volunteers are added. I looked at a few collaborative sites, but they seem to focus on paragraph-style text when I really want an editable grid.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Open Source GPL Groupware Options

ao4047 — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 00:14:53 -0800

What open source groupware package to use? I've been surverying the numerous GPL PM and intranet packages out there and figure someone has probably done this analysis already. I've looked at OpengroupWare.org, Dotproject, PHProjekt, Tutos, PHPCollab, and others.

Anybody have favorites or peeves? I'm looking for a system to manage my small business as I hire an assistant and work with contractors. Bonus points for Gannt output.

Open Source Collaboration Tools

Leonard — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 16:18:14 -0800

I need a package to facilitate collaboration among a group of people spread across the Internet/globe. Ideally it would track staff, projects, to-do lists and contacts. Open source (PHP/mySQL) would be ideal. Any suggestions?

How do you persuade people to share their data (Groupware)?

grahamwell — Sat, 17 Jan 2004 09:16:59 -0800

Does anyone use 'Groupware'? Or put it another way, how do you persuade people to share their data? Experience from long ago says 'Lotus Notes' but there must be something better now. Is there? [MI] It's an old problem, I've just started a new job and am amazed at the fantastic infrastructure with nothing much running on it apart from e-mail. Everyone in the department has their own data on Excel and Word, none of it ties up and no-one can find anything.

I've got a one-shot opportunity to do something about this, but not much money and no great training skills. Notes is an option but I don't know what it's like now and I don't want all of the server kerfuffle that it involves. Any other good, flexible, collaborative working products out there?