Tools for Internal Collaboration
FITT
Communication & Collaboration Tools
Collaboration of people from different teams, institutions or companies:
Inter- and intra-team collaboration need usable tools
One-way communication
vs.
interactive communication tools
Challenge: Implementation of tools
that minimise collaboration efforts
that are used without time consumption
that are up to date
Technology Transfer involves different persons: researchers, TT
officers, lawyers, companies, …
Tools in Practice: Overview
MFG’s internal communication and
collaboration tools consist of:
MFG Intranet:
Central platform for internal information
MFG InnovationWIKI:
MFG knowledge pool
CRM:
Community Relationship Management tool
Pidgin:
Instant messaging system
Process in Practice: MFG Intranet
Central platform for internal information and communication
Used as front page on the web browser & door to other communication
tools
Structure: blog format (OS content management system TYPO3)
•
main part: blog postings•
left side: links to other MFG tools•
right side: feeds to the latest articles of the InnovationWIKI as well as to externalnews platforms
Process in Practice: MFG InnovationWIKI
Internal knowledge pool of articles about MFG related topics
Information on projects, tools, book reviews, conference reports as well
as articles featuring trends
Ever employee has an account and can read, write and edit articles
Articles are linked with each other by direct links and categories, which
enables to see connections between projects, experience and topics
Structure on the front page:
a tag could with the categories, a list with the most recently created articles and the most popular sites, a “wish list” with articles that need to be created
Process in Practice: CRM
Community Relationship Management (CRM): more than a database with
contact details
CRM system helps to manage and administer the contacts of each
project manager
Relations to different target groups (regional
– national – international;
politics – science – industry) can be visualised and managed
Links between persons and projects, events or documents
Management of events: registration, mailings, etc.
Process in Practice: Instant Messaging
Pidgin: instant messaging system
Free software, only used internally
Every employees has an account, usage is optional
Tool for short messages, informal notes, reminders, etc.
Amendment to telephone, email or direct communication
Timing
When were the tools started?
•
MFG Intranet: July 2003 – first version – several updates since then•
InnovationWIKI: October 2006•
CRM: Mai 2008 (current system)•
IMS: October 2008 How is it organized?
•
MFG Intranet: everyone contributes, one person nominated for technical maintenance•
InnovationWIKI: everyone contributes, one person nominated for technical maintenance, content and training sessions•
CRM: one person nominated for technical maintenance and training sessionsMFG Intranet
PRO’s
Central platform to inform
employees
Browser front page with
connection to all communication tools
All employees can write postings,
no central editorial person needed
Efforts for installation and
maintenance are quite low
CON’s
For vivid contribution employees
must be active and willing to contribute
All posts can be commented
a communication culture and netiquette must be practised
MFG InnovationWIKI
PRO’s
Knowledge pool of MFG project,
topics and trends
More than pure documentation:
Links between different articles, interactive format, collaborative way of editing
More than 1.600 articles show a
vivid contribution
CON’s
Time consuming for employees Wiki contributors need to be
motivated – in general, there are more passive than active users
Administrator needed for
technical implementation and the content side
Community Relationship Management
PRO’s
More than a database: linking of
different data
Connections between people,
projects, documents, etc.
Decentralised and collaborative
database
CON’s
Costs, especially for the software Human resources for
implementation and maintenance needed (data and software)
Instant Messaging System (IMS)
PRO’s
Easy way to post links,
comments, remarks and reminders direct to one person
Hardly no resources needed for
implementation and maintenance
CON’s
Only used within MFG, for
external communication tools like Skype are used simultaneously
Can be a waste of time if used for
chit-chat
Optional tool: not every employee
Why?
MFG Intranet
• To have a central communication platform which is accessible for all employees • To have a central platform, where all other MFG tools are linked
• To stop mailings which might get lost in crowded mailboxes
• To have an up to date intranet, as all employees post their news
• To have an intranet without an editorial team that manages the content
MFG Innovation WIKI
• To create a central knowledge pool with articles about MFG relevant topics
• To save knowledge and experience when projects end or project managers leave the company
• To create a collaborative tool, where all employees can work together and contribute
Why?
Community Relationship Management
• To have a up to date / state of the art database solution
• To manage efficiently the relations MFG has to politics, science and business • To create links between projects, persons and documents
• To have a documented history for all contacts
Instant Messaging
The instant messaging was first implemented and used by a small lead user group. Their acceptance was so high, that the tool was offered to all MFG employees. It
supports the following actions:
• To post short messages and reminders • To exchange opinion with one person
Outcome
The tools are part of MFG’s knowledge management,
which was recently awarded for its excellence by
the German Ministry of Economics and Technology
MFG Intranet
MFG Intranet became the central platform for relevant news
Internal survey: Intranet was used and read by every employee at least once a day Integration of trends, e.g. the integration of new news tools like twitter
MFG InnovationWIKI
WIKI is a knowledge pool for MFG related topics and trends Currently more than 1.600 articles
Internal survey found out that it is used by every employee Makeovers (e.g. limitation of categories) are planned
Outcome
Community Relationship Management
The Community Relationship Tool was a significant improvement
Internal survey: 80 per cent expressed their satisfaction about the tool and use it from every day to at least once a week
The linkage between contacts and documents or projects is a huge advantage for MFG, in the future some more trainings to effectively use all the features of the database are planned
Instant Messaging Tool
About 2/3 of MFG employees are using the instant messaging tool every day Reduction of internal phone calls and emails with little content
Lessons Learned
Looking back now, what would you …
•
… do different? Nothing really…•
… improve? Stronger user involvement, more surveys and feedback channelsImplementation of the practice of MFG « Tools for Internal Collaboration »
in Interface Entreprises-Université de Liège, Belgium (a member of the
LIEU network)
• Context
• LIEU/ULg was looking for professionnal and integrated solutions
for internal communication, contact management, exchange of
practical information, knowledge pool...
• Study visit in June 2010: Interface Entreprises-Université de
Liège visit to MFG facilities
• Presentation of MFG tools
• Easy to use • Well structured • Widely used
• Good balance between communication and knowledge management
• Lessons learned
• Proposed solutions
• MFG advice : « Confluence » by Atlassian, a powerful Wiki • We wanted to use it as
• an Intranet Portal • a « Wall »
• a Wiki
• Interface has no CRM and the team is too small to use efficiently a internal chat program
• The blog system is included in Confluence but should not be used in short future
• Adopted solutions
• « Joomla » is our « home page » with numerous links and a Facebook-like wall
• Confluence is our knowledge management tool and Wiki
• Why to use an Intranet at Interface Entreprises-Université de Liège ?
• Internal communication
• Knowledge management
• Easier collaborative work
• Tools and documents available from everywhere (multi-site)
• Internal demand from the team
• Obstacles encountered
• We wanted to build our Intranet by ourselves (cost and, above all,
mastering technical tools)
• Necessity of two softwares: « Confluence » does not have a Wall
build-in so we had to use Joomla
• Hosting « Confluence » on a Linux Server located in our server room
• Linux is the best choice for web-based tools (security, reliability, costs, …) • Linux is not « ready to use »
• Difficult to configure « Joomla » and « Confluence » on the same
platform
• Well thought structure is mandatory
• Resistance of the team to change (new tools mean new habits)
• Method & timeline:
Lessons learned in Liège
Constitution of a workgroup Installation of Confluence on a test server Configuration of Confluence Work on wiki structure Installation of Confluence and Joomla on a Linux server (production installation) Configuration of Joomla Integration of users 23 early adopters Progressive integration of remaining users (22) Visite to MFG 4 to 6 months
