BMIS235 Management Information Systems Name: _______________________
Professor Chen
A Sample Solution to Collaboration Software Project
1. This exercise requires you to experiment with Google Docs & Spreadsheets. You will need two Google accounts to complete this exercise. If you have two different email addresses, then set up two Google accounts using those addresses. Otherwise, use your school email address and set up a Google Gmail account. A Gmail account will automatically give you a Google account.
1. Work on #1 (a through f) of “Using Your Knowledge” on page 57 (Chapter 2) and restated below.
2. Answer the following questions (10 points)
a) Briefly explain your experience working on the Google Docs project (identify who is your
Partner – your friend or self), and (7 points)
b) List and explain the most important feature you experienced with exercise (e.g., how Google processed the changes to your document) (3 points)
A sample solution:
a) An answer varies, it depends on a task to be performed by the student.
b)
Edits and changes were made to the document from both accounts in a real-time basis, and, therefore, document(s) can be shared and used for all partners. Each version was maintained by the system so that revisions can be monitored.
A great tool for “collaboration” among the business partners (or project members).
It is also with the feature of “cloud computing” as the users do not need to install/maintain any software on their client side.
g) We can use Google ‘chat/video’ feature to chat each other in writing or video mode online.
· Part I
1. Summarize and explain your experience working on the Google Docs & Chat project. You should also identify who is your Partner – your friend or self. (5 points)
This project was very informative, as I have never utilized the Google Docs nor the Google Chat options before today. I like the fact that sharing documents and information via google docs was so easy. It took a while to set up a secondary Gmail account in addition to my zagmail account, but once that was all in place it wasn’t too hard at all to figure out. I did have difficulty finding the first document that I shared from my gmail account to my zagmail account, but once I accessed it on my zagmail email rather than trying to simply find it in the google docs section of zagmail, it was simple to continue with the project. I was my own partner for parts A-F, and for the google chats feature Lucas Epling was my partner. Google chat was very simple as well once we both had our gmail accounts set up. We couldn’t get it to work from zagmail, but from gmail it was very similar to other video chat programs that I have used in the past such as MSN Messenger and Skype. It was simple, and combined with google docs and gmail could help to making group projects for online classes such as this much simpler and more efficient.
2. List and explain the most important feature you experienced with exercise (e.g., how Google processed the changes to your document) (3 points)
I was not able to “save” the file that had been shared between my two emails, but rather had to select “download” as a word file onto my harddrive in order to get the document onto my computer. Though it was a read only file, I found it to be a very convenient and important feature. Being able to save and reopen a file that had been shared between so many different people as a universal document reader like Microsoft Word will be very convenient in allowing most computers being utilized today to view the documents that we have been working on.
3. Describe your experience from using Google “Chat/Video&more” and compare its feature with others you used/heard before (2 points)
Google chat is very handy because, especially when working on a big project that involves a lot of time being logged onto google docs or gmail, a group can see what the other members are doing and either pop open a quick chat box to have a quick conversation about questions they may have, or even begin a quick video chat or group video chat conversation about what is going on with the project up until that point. It really highlights how far communication has come, in the fact that we are able to have face to face discussion and clarifications while being thousands of miles apart.
Part III
a. A communication collaboration driver is a file and information sharing tool intended for people who are either located far apart geographically, or by the time of the day that they work on whatever project it is that they are assigned. It helps them to work on the project or share the information effectively and communicated efficiently without having to meet face to face. It also allows files to be archived and modified by all parties involved, and monitors the changes made to these files.
c. In content management system, a large group of people have access to files, whether they be movies, word documents, powerpoints, etc. The people can edit, review, and take information from these files that were provided by other people within the group. This enhances collaboration and helps to manage workflow and the content that is being shared.
d. Workflow control helps to ensure that everyone is doing their part in working on a particular project, and not overlapping with the duties of others. It helps to keep the flow of work efficient throughout the group, keeping everyone on the same page. It gives certain tasks to different people, and communicates to other teammates as to whether the ideas or revisions were accepted or rejected.
f. Google was able to save the file into a larger data base that only I was allowed to have access to through my two email accounts and make changes to the document. It also gives you the options of only allowing a person to view the document as well, restricting their ability to make changes to it. This will come in handy when I am not the only person with access to the document, but our whole group is. That way we can all see what is happening and what changes are being made to the documents that we are submitting for grading eventually.