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It could just be me, but my experiences with document collaboration remind me of a football game. It sounds crazy, I know, but working with a group and sending emails off to other members of the group caries with it that familiar uneasy sensation of Thanksgiving Day football games, where I often play quarterback and just as often wonder whether members of my family will catch the pass, and if they do, what they will do with the ball. Using groupware in document collaboration is similar to having a game plan that separates the “Turkey Bowl” family football team from the real competitors.

Groupware on Three

Now, this doesn’t have to be the team cheer. But it could be, because groupware is distinguished from other document collaboration software by three characteristics designed to work the way businesses do. Since businesses frequently experience ad hoc document collaboration, groupware designed using Digital Thread, Digital Signature, and Ver sion History most effectively manages and controls ad hoc editing and keeps businesses informed.

As a document manager, groupware helps businesses piece together the puzzle of ad hoc document collaboration. However, when sifting through the millions of indexed pages under “groupware” in any search engine, it is important to know what you are looking for. To that end, let me explain a little more of the “Groupware on Three” concept. Another helpful resource is my article Gr oupware: 3 Tips for Sifting Through Collaboration Suites.

Digital Thread

Business collaboration requires a lot of do cument sharing through email. Often document sharing creates a lot of confusion. Emails are being sent out, drafts are being edited, drafts are being saved in multiple locations, and changes are getting sent back to you out of order. Everything is jumbled up like a dog pile of lineman at the end of a play. The temptation at this point is to be a ball hog, and to run the ball ourselves. In football, Steve Young could do it, but in business, nobody can. It just doesn’t work.

The Digital Thread literally threads document versions together, so that all of them are tracked and none of them get lost. Information is placed in the metadata of the document you are working on. This metadata is traceable and identifies various versions of documents, changes made, and locations stored, proving groupware to be an effective document manager.

Digital Signature

A Digital Signature opens up in emails sent and received, which displays the location of the most recent document and the version you are currently receiving. The Digital Signature takes the guesswork out of document collaboration.

Version History

As mentioned before, document versions are sent back and forth throughout document collaboration; however, groupware that utilizes Version History creates and displays a flowchart of where the document has been and when it was there.

Version History is an essential groupware tool, especially when merging time rolls around. Version History puts everything in its proper place in order to eradicate the normal confusion of ad hoc document collaboration.

As a content management tool, groupware utilizes these three tools not only to track the ad hoc collaboration but also to help piece the document back together again with simplified merging procedures.

Unlike the Turkey Bowl, collaboration with groupware will make a team play - even if it is ad hoc-successful.

Joe Miller is an author of informational articles and online advertisements on business, technology, and health. Information on Groupware is available at NextPage.com.