Collaborative tools in NICE

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

2. Agenda • Overview of the NICE environment • File sharing • Sharing information in Outlook • Workflow with Office and mail • Instant Messenger • Future: web-based collaboration Alex Lossent

3. The NICE environment • Desktop environment built around Windows • Windows XP + MS Office 2003 • Single Distributed File System (DFS) • Home directories + shared workspaces • Outlook/Exchange “collaboration platform” • http://www.cern.ch/winservices self-service site • Manage user accounts, computers, security groups • Instant messenger on internal SIP server. Alex Lossent

4. NICE Environment (2) • All features are available on-site or from outside CERN: • 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. Alex Lossent

5. File sharing • DFS: single unified repository for home directories & shared workspaces • Shared Workspaces available on-demand for projects, groups, etc… • Self-service management from WinServices web site: • Creation of Workspace • Security group and permissions management • Quota management, shadow copies • Accessible from outside CERN • Offline folders, Web/WebDAV access Alex Lossent

6. Collaborative work with Outlook 2003 • Motivation, typical situation: • 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 Alex Lossent

7. Collaborative work with Outlook 2003 (2) • Mailbox sharing and Send on behalf • 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 • Task assignment • Create tasks for oneself or others • Due dates, progress reporting, reassignment with automatic follow-up, reminders Alex Lossent

8. Collaborative work with Outlook 2003 (3) • All features are available on-site or from outside CERN: • Outlook 2003 in mode “RPC over HTTP” • Outlook Web Access • Windows Terminal Services • Mac OS X: Entourage (Office SP2) • Available on other platforms • Outlook Web Access • Windows Terminal Services Alex Lossent

9. Workflow with Office and mail • Problem • Documents need to be reviewed by other persons • Documents need to be edited by several persons • Basic document workflow built in Office applications • “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 Alex Lossent

10. Instant Messenger • Problem • Quickly exchange messages with colleagues • Exchange files in a click • Front-end to NetMeeting • Internal “Live Communication Server” • Windows Messenger client • Solves dependency on external services (ICQ, MSN…) and associated security threats • Inside or outside CERN Alex Lossent

11. Future: web-based collaboration • “E-groups” • 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 • Versioning, concurrent authoring • Multiple documents within a workspace Alex Lossent