Transcript Collaborative tools in NICE Alex Lossent - CERN IT/IS Hepix Fall 2005

Collaborative tools in NICE
Alex Lossent - CERN IT/IS
Hepix Fall 2005
Agenda
Overview of the NICE environment
 File sharing
 Sharing information in Outlook
 Workflow with Office and mail
 Instant Messenger
 Future: web-based collaboration
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The NICE environment
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Desktop environment built around Windows
Windows XP + MS Office 2003
Single Distributed File System (DFS)
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Outlook/Exchange “collaboration platform”
http://www.cern.ch/winservices self-service site
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Home directories + shared workspaces
Manage user accounts, computers, security groups
Instant messenger on internal SIP server.
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NICE Environment (2)
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All features are available on-site or from
outside CERN:
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Web-based or WebDAV remote access to DFS
Collaboration platform: Outlook Web Access, Outlook
2003 in mode “RPC over HTTP”
Windows Terminal Services
Available on other platforms.
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File sharing
DFS: single unified repository for home
directories & shared workspaces
 Shared Workspaces available on-demand
for projects, groups, etc…
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Self-service management from WinServices web site:
 Creation of Workspace
 Security group and permissions management
 Quota management, shadow copies
Accessible from outside CERN
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Offline folders, Web/WebDAV access
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Collaborative work with
Outlook 2003
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Motivation, typical situation:
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Administrative assistants organizing the Supervisor’s
mailbox and sorting mails
Reading the Supervisor’s calendar
 know where he/she is or his/her availability
 manage his time
 take appointments and avoid conflicts
People sharing common contacts stored in a single
location
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Collaborative work with
Outlook 2003 (2)
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Mailbox sharing and Send on behalf
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Share all mailbox or specific folders
Allow selected users to send mail on your behalf
 Scheduling of meetings
 Check colleagues’ availability
 Automated invitations and processing of replies
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Task assignment
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Create tasks for oneself or others
Due dates, progress reporting, reassignment with
automatic follow-up, reminders
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Collaborative work with
Outlook 2003 (3)
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All features are available on-site or from
outside CERN:
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Outlook 2003 in mode “RPC over HTTP”
Outlook Web Access
Windows Terminal Services
Mac OS X: Entourage (Office SP2)
Available on other platforms
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Outlook Web Access
Windows Terminal Services
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Workflow with Office and
mail
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Problem
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Documents need to be reviewed by other persons
Documents need to be edited by several persons
Basic document workflow built in Office
applications
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“send for review” feature
Recipients receive the document by mail and can modify
& annotate it
Owner receives updated document by mail and can
review & merge changes
Keeps track of changes
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Instant Messenger
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Problem
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Quickly exchange messages with colleagues
Exchange files in a click
Front-end to NetMeeting
Internal “Live Communication Server”
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Windows Messenger client
Solves dependency on external services (ICQ, MSN…)
and associated security threats
Inside or outside CERN
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Future: web-based
collaboration
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“E-groups”
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Web-hosted collaboration space for a “community”
Merge forums, mailing lists, news
File exchange, calendar/events
Support for “external users”
Looking at open-source, customizable tools
More advanced workflow management
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Versioning, concurrent authoring
Multiple documents within a workspace
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