NEWSLETTER - GET INTO THE GROOVE
The release of Office 2007 saw great improvements in collaboration brought about by the tight integration of Groove. Now Office Groove 2007 enables workers to share any Microsoft Office document within a workspace using the Groove Files tool, SharePoint Files tool or other tools that support file attachments such as the Discussion tool, Meetings tool, and Forms tool.
While most people will have heard of Groove, very few will probably know what it does and how it can benefit them. So with this article we try and answer those questions and hopefully help you get into the Groove (apologies to Madonna!)
What is Groove and how will it benefit my organisation?
Office Groove 2007 is a collaboration software program that teams can use to share information and work together on project activities - from simple document collaboration to custom solutions integrated with business processes.
Teams using Office Groove 2007 work inside collaborative workspaces, which put all team members, tools, and information in one place. Groove workspaces keep teams up to date automatically and efficiently enabling them to work anywhere, anytime and with anyone, so they spend less time coordinating and more time working.
By helping to increase both team and individual productivity, Office Groove 2007 will help:
- Complete projects on time and within budget
- Reduce travel and phone costs
- Team members improve the quality of their work because they spend less time coordinating with each other and more time on their own contribution
What are the key parts of Groove?
There are five core elements of Office Groove 2007:
- Workspaces - Containers created by information workers to share information and work together on team projects
- Tools - Applications added to workspaces by team members for the purposes of sharing and working together on information, both structured (for example, forms) and unstructured (for example, files)
- Presence and communications - Built-in presence awareness, chat and messaging
- Alerts - Text and audible notifications that inform workers of key events and work activity
- Launchbar - A single starting point for users to monitor all Office Groove 2007 elements including workspaces, contacts, presence and alerts and to execute basic functions such as creating new workspaces and communicating with or inviting users
How does Groove integrate with other Microsoft products like Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Office SharePoint Server 2007 and InfoPath 2007?
Office Groove 2007 features a new tool called SharePoint Files that provides document library integration with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007. The Groove SharePoint Files tool provides a smooth way for teams to collaborate on documents in a Groove workspace, publish them to a Windows SharePoint Services team site for sharing with a larger group and store them on Office SharePoint Server 2007 for retrieval by the organisation at large.
It also features a new tool called Groove InfoPath Forms that project teams can use to import InfoPath forms solutions into a Groove workspace for the purpose of collecting and aggregating data. The resulting InfoPath XML documents can be exported from the Groove workspace or integrated directly with an enterprise system.
What are the system requirements for Groove?
Groove requires the following:
- Computer and processor - 500 MHz processor or higher
- Memory - 256 MB RAM or higher
- Hard disk - 1 GB (a portion of this disk space will be freed after installation if the original download package is removed from the hard drive)
- Drive - CD-ROM or DVD drive
- Display - 1024x768 or higher resolution monitor
- Operating system - Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack (SP) 2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1 or later operating system.
- Other - Integration with Windows SharePoint Services requires connectivity to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Built-in InfoPath Forms Tool requires Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007. Groove/messenger integration requires Windows Messenger 5.1 or later or Communicator 1.0 or later. Includes a 1 year subscription to the Groove relay service
- Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, 32 bit browser only
- Internet access
To find out more about how Groove can help your organisation, please contact us on 01928 80900.
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