Evaluating Groupware
From Superk
For several years now, I've had a strong interest in finding a powerful groupware/collaboration package that would provide me with advanced scheduling, project tracking and task management. Of course, the first thing that pops into most people's mind is Microsoft Exchange, but to me, this is not an acceptable option. Exchange (besides being expensive - remember, it requires you have a unique license for each client in addition to the server itself) is a bulky, complicated, buggy application that will only run on the Windows OS. This article aims to explore some of the other options available that fit the criteria listed below as well as fitting a goal to remain as open-source and configuratble as possible.
Contents |
Criteria
My criteria for evaluating groupware/collaboration packages is fairly simple:
- Free (in all regards) Open-Source Software (FLOSS)
- Client-side should be cross-platform
- Server-side should also be cross-platform
- Server-side should definately be Linux/*BSD compatible
- There should be a web component for accessing the services
- It must support at least Tasks, Calendar (including shared), Contacts (possibly shared), Project Management, Multi-User (a given)
Some of the things that would "sweeten the pot":
- Stand-alone client-side support (ie, Outlook, Evolution, Kontact, etc.)
- Integrated web-based email and/or IMAP email services
- Notes and/or wiki element for free documentation
- Ideally the notes and/or wiki contents could be linked to/from other services of the system
- Hooks into the host's filesystem for binary file storage/sharing
The above criteria offers a very rough framework for the types of packages that will fit the needs I have in mind. Some of the points from both lists may be included/overlooked depending on the strengths of other aspects of the software.
Groupware Packages That Fit
There are huge lists of groupware packages that fit some all or none of the criteria listed above, but I'm not interested in evaluating them all. This article overviews my experience with the few that seemed to fit my needs the best given the environment, financial state, my experience and other factors that helped determine which to choose.
OpenGroupware.org
OpenGroupware.org is a very promising application that seems to fit the majority of the above criteria nicely. It provides a very robust system with fairly complex user/group handling as well as many other features that provide very similar capabilities as those of Microsoft Exchange.
Perhaps it's most notable feature is it's ability to connect to many mainstream groupware-enabled clients including Outlook (2000+), Evolution, Kontact, Mozilla suite and others through the use of connectors or open standards. This relationship (while extremely attractive) also has its complexities, however. The connector for Outlook (ZideLook Outlook Connector) is most definately not cheap and in some environments may make this solution financially unviable considering some of the discounts offered by Microsoft (most notably educational/non-profit). Because of the high cost of the Outlook Connector, I won't be able to evaluate it's usefulness here, but it does seem to offer a very interesting alternative to connecting to an Exchange server. There are many philosophical and technical reasons for not using Exchange that may make the cost of this connector worth it.
Additionally, OpenGroupware.org offers services that make it possible to connect other clients to it directly through it's ZideStore service. This service provides dynamic iCalendar/vCalendar information through a webDAV connection served directly by OpenGroupware.org's ZideStore service. This makes it very easy to connect clients that support subscribing to iCalendars (Mozilla Suite, Kontact, Apple iCal, etc.) and have them update automatically.
Where OpenGroupware.org really seems to show it's stuff is in it's web interface. Everything the software offers is available through this interface making it ideal for users who travel or work from multiple locations. While the interface isn't quite as polished or easy to use as some of the other applications, it is thorough and powerful. A little bit of a learning curve is required in order to get the hang of where everything is and how it all relates (I'm still on the curve). However, this interface is highly configurable through OpenGroupware.org's complex and powerful API. While this API is the heart of the power of OpenGroupware.org it's also one of it's most intimidating features.
OpenGroupware.org is definately not for the faint-of-heart system administrator, but given an administrator with the proper knowledge of system internals, filesystem, database, etc., this system can be made to fit perfectly into just about any environment. This API is well documented through OpenGroupware.org's site, but in a somewhat disorganized manner using their document management system (Plone). This in addition with the difficult to search mailing list archives makes it somewhat of a challenge to become an expert in managing OpenDarwin unless you already come with a strong system's skillset.
Another issue I personally have with OpenGroupware.org is the fact that it does not (and has not intentions of) supporting MySQL as their DB backend. I'm sure they have very good reasons, technically, for supporting Postgres primarily but in my environment, we've standardized on MySQL for most of our other application services so this requires us to include yet another DB server in the mix. It would be nice if this service would work equally as well (work at all) with a MySQL backend so that it could be integrated better into the environments I work in. This may end up being a larger stumbling block than anything else.
Group-Office
Group-Office is both a free (as in no cost) and commercial product. It comes at no cost in an unsupported community version as well as a supported, more robust Pro version that costs money. While the majority of the features found in the Pro version appear to also be in the community version, the added support that comes with the Pro version may be a necessary requirement by some environments. For this evaluation, the community version was used.
This application seemed to provide much of the functionality found in OpenGroupware.org but in a much simpler form (both for the user and the administrator). While OpenGroupware.org is build on a powerful and complex application server, Group-Office is almost entirely PHP which makes it very easy to administrate and customize. Because it works with MySQL, it's very easy to incorporate into my existing environments as well. Used soley as a web-based application, Group-Office provides a lot of functionality and features that nearly entirely complete the criteria listed above. Everything from project management to built-in email is included.
However, Group-Office (at least the community version) has a feeling of being a little too light at times. What I mean by this is that some of the functionality seems a little sparse in Group-Office when compared to something like OpenGroupware.org. This is sometimes made up for in speed and simplicity, however which makes for a difficult choice. There are a few points that specifically felt lax to me:
- Addressbook - The fact that the addressbook feature lacks LDAP access is a major hinderence to me. Since Global Addressbooks and other shared resources are often stored in central repositories like LDAP, it would be nice to be able to draw from that.
- Wiki Integration - Having a built-in wiki is a really nice feature of Group-Office, but the fact that it seems impossible to internally link to other objects within Group-Office is a problem. It would be nice to create links from the wiki to a Task or Calendar item just as easily as it is to create an internal wiki link. Also a more robust wiki (like MediaWiki would have been nice, but probably overkill).
- Notes - Again, it would be nice if there were a way to easily link notes to wiki pages and vice versa.
Despite it's minor issues and lack of real robustness, Group-Office seems like a nice package for simple, straight-forward groupware/collaboration features. The professional version is reported to also offer synchronization with Outlook and Pocket PC devices which is also a plus. Better integration with a wider variety of groupware-related clients would be nice though.
dotProject
dotProject is a slightly different approach to the groupware/collaboration concept that focuses more on project management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). However, the features offered for exactly this type of work are fantastic despite their simplicity. This package definately does not fit all the requirements of either criteria list, but because of it's strengths in project managemetn & CRM, it deserves consideration.
If project management is the primary concern of a groupware system in an environment, this package is ideal. It is extremely simple to configure and maintain while being powerful enough to provide the features truly necessary for group project collaboration. It's based on a MySQL backend which integrates nicely with my environments and allows the use of LDAP for simple authentication. Projects, tasks and other items can be assigned to groups, departments or individuals and notices sent to the assignees via email.
While the interface for dotProject isn't quite as slick as Group-Office, it's certainly more than adequate and fairly attractive. Efficiency lies in it's simplicity. After spending a short time with the interface it becomes second nature and very easy to navigate. However, at times it's a little difficult to see where certain things are kept. For instance, to create/view departments, it's necessary to go into the Companies section. Even if you have the Departments module visible, it will simple tell you to handle Departments through Companies. I suppose this makes sense, but it would be nice to be able to deal with departments by themselves too.
Probably my favorite feature of dotProject is it's ability to create dynamic Gantt charts based on the projects, tasks and users included in the system. This makes it incredibly easy at a glance to see what needs to be done and when. This feature alone along with the entire applications simplicity may make it the best application for general project and task management.
At this point I have not found any stand-alone client integration available for dotProject, but perhaps this is not such an important issue.
