Chapter 2: Collaboration Information Systems

Collaboration-occurs when two or more people work together to achieve a common goal,result,or work product.
Critical collaboration Drivers:

1. Communication- a critical factor in collaboration,consisting of two key elements. First is the ability of individuals to share information and receive feedback and the availability of effective systems by which to share information.
   
2. Content Management- when multiple users are contributing and changing documents,schedules,task lists,assignments, and so forth,one user's work might interfere with another's.
3. Workflow control- a process or procedure by which content is created,edited,used,and disposed.

Collaboration Information System Components:

1. Hardware

• Client Hardware- consists of the computers and other communication devices that users employ to participate in collaboration activities.
• Server Hardware- consists of computers that are installed and operated by IT professionals that support the collaboration system.
  

2. Software

• Google Docs & Spreadsheets: a version-management system for sharing documents and spreadsheets data.
  
• Microsoft Office Grove: a collaboration product that includes version management and other useful tools.
• Microsoft Share Point: a version-control application that includes many collaboration features and function including document check-in/checkout,surveys,discussion forums,and workflow.
  

3. Data- collaboration data consists of documents,discussions, tasks, lists, and other types of team data

Procedures- there are two types of procedures important for collaboration:procedures for using the collaboration software and procedures for conducting the collaborative project. The second type of collaboration procedures concerns ho9w the team will perform it's collaborative work.

Starting Phase is to set the ground rules for the collaboration.
Planning phase is to determine "who will do what and by when."
Doing phase is when tasks are accomplished.
Wrapping Phase is when the question are we done is asked.

People are the most important component in an information system. Good communications skills,speaks their mind even if its an unpopular viewpoint, willing to enter into difficult conversations,skillful at giving and receiving negative feedback,willing to put forward unpopular ideas and thinks differently than I do/brings different perspectives are some of the twelve most important characteristics for an effective collaborator.

Synchronous communication occurs when all team members meet at the dame time, such as with conference calls.
Asynchronous communication occurs when team members do not meet at the dame time.
In virtual meetings participants do not meet in the same place and possibly not at the dame time, you can use conference calls, webinars, or multiparty text chat.
Shared view is a Microsoft product for sharing a computer screen.
Discussion Forums is where one group member posts an entry,perhaps an idea,a comment ,or a question, and other group members respond.
Team surveys is where one team member creates a list of questions and other team members respond.

File server is a computer that stores files...just like the disk in your local computer.
Version Management tracks changes to documents and provide features and functions to accommodate concurrent work.
Wiki is a shared knowledge base in which the content is contributed and managed by the wiki's users.
Voice over IP(VoIP) enables meeting participants to conduct telephone conversations using the internet connection. No separate phone line is necessary.
Sequential workflow activities that occur in a sequence and Parallel workflow reviews would occur simultaneously.
A problem is a perceived difference between what is and what ought to be.
Operational decisions concern day-to-day activities. Information systems that support operational decision making are called transaction processing systems(TPS).
Managerial decisions concern the allocation and utilization of resources.
Strategic decision concern broader-scope,organizational issues.
A structured decision process is one for which there is an understood and accepted method for making the decision . An unstructured decision process on one for which there is no agreed-on decision making method.
One consequence is that by 2020 face to face meetings will be rare.