Open source collaboration tools

The collaboration between different - economic perspective: open source

enterprises and employees within one
company is growing fast paced. Tasks and
responsibilities are shared within one
project team by using interaction between
all project or group members. There are
also cooperations over company boarders
using modern technology. For international
teams or consulting companys it is useful
to use open source solutions for the
development within intercultural projects.
Software support for collaboration
If this interaction is based on computer
systems the term is “computer supported
cooperative work” (CSSW). The goal of
CSSW systems is to exceed company
boarders.1
One aspect is the groupware that is based
on a webserver / server in the internet or in
the intranet. The access may be granted via
a VPN connection. The typical architecture
is plattform indipendent and thats make
project interaction (exceeding company
boarders) so easy. The following figure
shows the open source collaboration that
exceeds company boarders.
products are in most cases free of
charge.
- Adoptions: Because (depending on
licence type) the source code is free
to be adopted for every body;
specific adoptions are possible
- Open development community:
The community that could adopt
system functionality is world wide
(WWR, WWK)2
- Security: bcause a lot of developers
adopt the functionality.
- Plattform independent; typical
plattform infrastructure is available
for free in the internet.
Disadvantages of open source solutions
There are also some disadvantages for
open source collaboration solutions.
- Guarantee: there is no software
developer guarantee available
- Development: There is now
information about the development
and the future of the development
(if the system is developed further
on)

System solution

The following figure shows some solutions

that are available in the market. These are
not all solutions (only some of them).

Solution Webserver DB3 Licence

OpenGroupware Apache Postgree GNU, GPL
SQL,
Frontbase,
Open LDAP
Simple Apache My SQL, GNU, GPL
Figure 1: open source collaboration Groupware Postgree
scheme SQL
PHProject Apache, IIS, My SQL, GNU GPL
Sambar Postgree
SQL
Advantages of open source collaboration eGroupware Apache, IIS My SQL, GNU, GPL
Postgree
There are several advantages for open SQL
netOffice JavaScript, My SQL GNU GPL
source collaboration. The following points PHP
are advantages of open source
collaboration plattforms:
2
WWR = world wide resources; WWK =
worldwide knowledge for more information see:
Simoneit, F. (2008); p. 10
1 3
Schwarzer, Krcmar (2004) DB = Database

written in 2008 1
Open source collaboration tools

Figure 2: overview of some open source

collaboration software tools.

Literature:
Project management functionality of Schwarzer, B., Krcmar, H. (2004):
open source solutions Grundzüge der betrieblichen
Datenverarbeitung, 3. Auflage, Stuttgart
The following table compares several
funcitonalities that are important for the Simoneit, F. (2008): innovative creation in
interaction within collaboration worldwide collaboration, Outskirt press.
applications. This is only done for the open Inc., USA
source solutions that are mentioned above.
The following figure shows the availability
of specific functionalities needed for open
source collaboration. If the specific service Fabian D. Simoneit has been working in
is available the column is marked in grey. the german insurance and car
manufacturing industries. He did his MBA
in 2008 in Switzerland.
eGroupware
PHP Project
Groupware

groupware

Net Office

His Blog is available over

Simple

ideenfabrik.wordpress.com (in German).

Open

His Blog presents information about

Task Management
Calendar
Ventures and new innovative ideas.
Resource management

Figure 3: Project management functionality

Another important issue is the

communication functionality. The
communication within the system is
needed to share information and thoughts
about specific information.
eGroupware
PHP Project
Groupware

groupware

Net Office
Simple
Open

Manage Contacts
eMail functionality
Forum
Newsboard
Bookmarks
Questionaires

Figure 4: communication functionality

The systems mentioned above are

developed further on.

written in 2008 2