Collaboration Server: Building Effective Teams

Extension Server provides the Collaboration Module to facilitate increased team work and collaboration between Extension employees.

Supplying an integrated set of communication tools that permit extension agents and educators to share files, information, and links, as well as to schedule activities and meetings via a shared calendar, allows dispersed staff and resources to work in synthesis with one another this previously was not possible through traditional communication methods.

Benefits

• Permits collaborative workspaces for extension staff, agents, educators and experts where they can exchange ideas and develop best practices 
• Allows content management teams to work collaboratively to develop and approve content for the Knowledge Repository 
• Unifies and focuses research initiatives involving multi-county/state efforts

Features

• Document Management
  The workspaces provide excellent document management capabilities. Documents can be easily uploaded from local machines or from the Knowledge Repository. Support is also provided for various document formats.
• Forms Submission
  Support is provided for forms. Forms to be created for various applications and submitted through the Collaboration Module.
• Workflow Management
  Administrators and managers of the extension can design workflow process to automate the adherence to business rules and processes. The workflow designer provides a drag-and-drop interface making the review and approval processes simple.
• Project Management
  The workspaces allow for the creation of projects and task assignments to various individuals or teams. Project managers can track the progress of the projects using Gantt charts.
• Video Conferencing Meetings
  Online meetings provide a means for team members to participate in project planning sessions and live video conferencing discussions. It helps to reduce cost by eliminating travel time and the need to reserve rooms and halls for meetings. It offers support for Video Conferencing, PowerPoint Presentations, Whiteboards and Application Sharing.
• Communication Tools
  The Collaboration module provides Email, Instant Messaging, Multi-Threaded Discussion Forums and Online Meeting Rooms as part of its integrated communication tools. These allow for the Extension teams and participating customers to exchange messages and carry out real-time discussions.
• Calendars
  Shared calendars are integrated into the workspaces so that team members remain up to date with important dates, meetings, conferences, deadlines, etc.