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| GROUPWARE
MANAGER |
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| Our Client planned to develop a groupware
of Web enabled applications for information and knowledge sharing
between workgroups. Its intended targets were medium & large
sized organizations. Our Client required a comprehensive enterprise
computing solution, providing multi-platform, multi-protocol
support. Icreon developed Groupware Manager* for Our Client.,
to provide enterprises with high-end tracking and management
capabilities, along with the ability to synchronize and manage
activities for mobile workers. As an integrated groupware, Groupware
Manager* enables workgroups to reduce project costs, improve
staff efficiency, and foster an appropriate change in business
culture and profitability. |
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| Customer
Profile |
| A leading IT consulting organization based
in Japan, Our Client., provides consultancy services to organizations
in the field of content management, online education systems,
broadband, e-commerce and mobile communication. |
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| Business
Requirement |
| To manage operations efficiently, enterprises
require coordination of activities, schedules, and knowledge
among team members working on various projects. Our Client,
recognized this requirement within medium and large sized organizations,
where large teams need to coordinate while working on turnkey
projects. |
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| Enterprise
Computing for Effective Manageability of Operations |
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| Benefits |
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Enhanced monitoring and management of operations |
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Fully customizable |
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Cross-platform (Mobile Devices/PC) portability, accessibility
and support |
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Centralized management driven by reliable & high-speed
database access |
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Multilingual (English/Japanese) |
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Integrated e-mail services that provide multiple POP3
access |
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| Technologies & Platforms |
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PHP |
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HTML |
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MySQL |
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i-mode |
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EZWeb |
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Integrated e-mail services that provide multiple POP3
access |
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WAP |
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Jphone |
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Windows |
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Linux |
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Solaris |
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Macintosh |
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Apache Server |
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IIS Server |
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Our Client is a leading IT consultancy
services organization based in Tokyo, Japan. The company observed
the growing need among medium and large sized enterprises to
coordinate and synchronize internal operations among large teams
for efficient manageability. The larger the team size greater
is the probability of mismanagement and lack of coordination.
In its effort to prevent this situation, Our Client. conceived
the idea of a groupware that would allow team members and co-workers
to manage and schedule tasks, proactively. The solution had
to be developed as an integrated Web enabled groupware that
could be ported on mobile devices as well as PCs. This would
allow enhanced manageability of operations through continuous
and global data accessibility. Workgroups would be well informed
about the regular tasks that they would need to perform. With
increased coordination, managers would be able to track and
manage projects effectively, at reduced costs.
With these considerations, Our Client., ventured with Icreon
to develop a comprehensive groupware to perform enterprise critical
operations. The objective was not only to develop an integrated
groupware, but also to make it accessible over multiple platforms. |
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| During the initial stages of the project,
we at realized that data was required to be accessible over
public channels or the Internet. Consequently, security was
a major concern for this project. Besides this, we had to ensure
that Groupware Manager* was customizable by end-users to suit
their business requirements. For us, the key areas of focus
were: |
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Seamless and secure data access |
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Multi platform support |
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Multi lingual and multi terminal support |
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Net-ready mobile phones support |
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Highly secure & reliable data access |
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Customized and user-friendly front-end |
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| After extensive research on the technology
alternates, the teams at Icreon and Our Client decided to setup
a 3-tier architecture for Groupware Manager* using HTML, PHP
and MySQL to retrieve, store and present data. |
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The front-end is the HTML presentation
layer and the backend is the open-source MySQL database. PHP
is the business logic control unit layer, which is the middleware
used to control the request-response functionality. The PHP
business logic control unit includes the PHP extension “mbstring”
for multi-byte string support. Multi-byte string enables Groupware
Manager* to support Japanese characters and alphabets. In addition,
Groupware Manager* employs the IMAP extension for supporting
a Web based e-mail client, used to access the POP3 server.
We developed Groupware Manager* to be compatible with PCs as
well as mobile phones, providing similar level of security and
interoperability. Groupware Manager* can be accessed using ‘Net-ready’
mobile phones like i-mode, jphone, WAP and EZWeb. These phones
are developed exclusively for users in Japan only. Groupware
Manager* can be easily deployed within disparate operating system
environments like Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris and Mac using
Web servers such as, Apache, IIS or Xtami.
Groupware Manager* comprises of two modules – Administrator
and User. The administrator creates users, assigns rights and
privileges to each user, and manages the overall activities
performed by users, who work on the Groupware Manager* user
module. The User module provides tools that allow users to: |
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Schedule Tasks |
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Track & Manage projects |
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Store Contact Information |
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Manage Files & Folders |
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Setup To-Do Lists for Personal Use and for Others |
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Save Useful Weblinks |
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Setup Bulletin Boards and Conduct Polls |
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Create Forms & Questionnaires for Defining Workflows |
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| The modules available in the Groupware
Manager* user and administrator interfaces are: |
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| User
Interface |
Administrator Interface |
| Scheduler |
Holiday Manager |
| Project Management |
Facility Manager |
| Address Book |
Address Book Manager |
| Mail |
Message Manager |
| Private Groups |
User Manager |
| Workflow |
Templates Manager |
| To Do List |
Rights Manager |
| Weblinks |
Weblink Manager |
| Whereabouts |
Whereabouts Manager |
| Announcement |
Announcement Manager |
| BBS |
BBS Manager |
| File Manager |
File Manager |
| Polls |
Poll Manager |
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| Summary |
| Enterprise computing is a concept that
is increasingly gaining the attention of top managements for
managing business-critical operations. The idea is to exploit
technology to develop an integrated repository of proven business
value. Groupware Manager* has been developed with precisely
these considerations & parameters. The concept and design
of Groupware Manager* has been directed to allow medium and
lower level managers to supervise, monitor, and coordinate day-to-day
operations of enterprises along with secure and seamless data
access of multiple platforms. Streamlining organizational procedures,
Groupware Manager* ensures the technical edge that enterprises
require to administer tasks proactively without incurring extra
costs for managing internal operations. |
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"We are extremely pleased with the
efforts of Icreon in relation to the development of our
family of marketing products. Icreon has demonstrated a special
‘commitment to our client’ with exceptional communication
and attention throughout the project…” |
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SOFTWARE CREATION TOOL
Vertical - Internet Software
Platform - Microsoft |
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INTEGRATIVE SOFTWARE
Vertical - Internet Software
Platform - Linux |
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TICKETING SYSTEM
Vertical - Internet Software
Platform - Linux/PHP |
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QUALITY
PROCESSES
(Web Page) |
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ENGAGEMENT
MODELS
(Web
Page) |
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CASE
STUDIES
(Web
Page) |
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