eCollaboration and Enterprise Content Management
IS 904
Tero PäivärintaUniversity of Agder
3.9.2010
Agenda
• Possibility to log-in 8.30 for those needing practice in Live Meeting as such
• Groups & Group work topics?• Some ideas lifted up for everyone
• A closer look at & closer comparison of the three main concepts – Discussion-oriented ”go-through”– ECM– eCollaboration– Social Computing / Web 2.0
• Sharing the cases
Groups / Group work topics
• The newcomers in the course – brief introduction round?
• Situation
Basic Concepts
• Enterprise Content Management (ECM)– ”integrated enterprise-wide management of the life
cycles of all forms of recorded information content and their metadata, organized according to corporate taxonomies and supported by appropriate technological and administrative infrastructures” Munkvold et al. 2006
– ”strategies, tools, processes, and skills an organization needs to manage its information assets over their life cycle – including assets such as documents, data, reports and web pages” (Smith and McKeen, 2003)
History – Content management
• Archival/library science -> document management -> content management– Library of Alexandria (200 BC), medieval monasteries -> libraries
• information retrieval– Records management (paper, microfiche etc.-> electronic
records)• metadata, longevity, retention
– Electronic document (file) management (1960-70s)– Relational databases (1960-70s)
• technical separation from ”file management”– Structured documents (1980s)
• e.g. SGML -> XML, granularity of content blurred from ”file”– (Web) content management (mid-1990s)– (Content) portals (2000)
• unified access to all recorded information -> finally logically under the same ”umbrella”
Example: CM ”systems” in Statoil 2003• Effective search and navigation
depends on you knowing where the information is stored, such as
– The internet browser and Eureka
– Start-meny and Active Desktop– Lotus Notes workspaces– Lotus Notes database catalogue– Citrix Program Neighborhood– Docmap and Virtual Library– Common and private disks– Internal Net Sites– 165 different formats in
digital libraries and archives ..
How many ”content managementsystems” exists in this course / UiA?
Is content managed to a satisfactory extent?
(If not, what would be the most ”interesting” areas?)
Does it make sense to phraseECM this widely? Why, why not?
Major issues mentioned in connection to 48 ECM cases (Päivärinta & Munkvold 05)
Content Model
Infrastructure Administration
Change Management
Objectives Impacts
Enterprise Model
Main objectives and desired impacts (of ECM)
• improved internal & external collaboration• value-added / new customer services and products• reliability & quality of information content• modern/professional image of organization• efficiency, effectiveness, flexibility of work• meaningfulness of work• organizational memory• direct cost savings (info operations & facilities)• compliance to external regulations & standards• platforms & capabilities to develop targeted applications
quickly
Basic concepts (2)
• eCollaboration– ”global access to and the management of a
common pool of digital assets used to collaborate, support work processes and share information between the company and their customers, employees and business partners” (Statoil eCollaboration strategy, 2002)
History – collaboration technologies
• 1960s Stanford (Englebart) – first ideas of hypertext, word processing, data conferencing
• ”Office automation” – early 1980s• Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW)
– 1984– merger of telecommunication & computers
• Since, a large number of technologies under varying labels– knowledge management, digital collaboration,
eCollaboration, c-Commerce…– document-based systems / workflows early included
also in the concept of eCollaboration
”Time-space” matrix of ”traditional” collaboration technology
(Some electronic meetings
which facilitate group-decision-
making)
Electronic ”whiteboards”…
Document mgmt
Calendar, scheduling
Workflow mgmt
Electronic bulletin boards
Audioconference
Videoconference
Data conferencing
Instant messaging
Desktop conferencing / application sharing
Document mgmt
Web-based team rooms
Calendar, scheduling
Workflow mgmt
Electronic bulletin boards
Diff
eren
t pl
ace
Sam
e pl
ace
Same time Different time
Adapted from DeSanctis & Gallupe -87
Categories of eCollaboration Technologies
• Communication– E-mail, IM, audio/videoconf.
• Shared information space– Document mgmt, team/project rooms, data conferencing,
application sharing, electronic bulletin boards
• Meeting support– Electronic meeting systems
• Coordination– Workflow mgmt, calendar & scheduling
• Integrated products– Collaboration product suites, integrated team support packages,
e-learning systems
Basic Concepts (3)
• Social computing (a.k.a. Web 2.0, online communities)-”A large number of new [Web] applications and
services that facilitate collective action and social interaction online with rich exchange of multimedia information and evolution of aggregate knowledge… Examples include blogs, wikis, social bookmarking, peer-to-peer networks, open source communities, photo and video sharing communities, and online business networks.” (Parameswaran & Whinston 07)
History of ”social computing”
• Early on-line multi-player games 1970s, Zork (MIT, 1977) MUD (Multi-user dungeon, Essex UK, 1978)
• WWW – CERN 1980s, early 1990s– ”Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive
space, and I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along.” (Tim Berners-Lee)
• Napster (1999-2001) – peer-to-peer MP3 sharing• The rest… applications on the WWW
– ”collaboration”, social interaction, blurring fun & serious networking, outside the corporate boundaries
• Enterprises started to interest in possibilities to utilize these technologies/ideas since the early 2000s
Basic Concepts
Enterprise Content Management
eCollaborationSocial Computing
Blog
Records management, archiving
IM
2nd life
YouTube
Corporate Wiki
Wikipedia
TeamSite
Telephoneconferencing
Document-basedworkflow
Calendar
Difficult to categorize? Examples.
Data/Documentstorage
Corporate
portal
CorporateWWW-siteExtra
net
Del.ici
.ous
WWW-gamesLinkedIn
MSN
FolksonomyCorporate taxonomy,metadata
Enterprise search
Flickr
Framework for further discussion
Content Model
Infrastructure Administration
Change Management
Objectives Impacts
Enterprise ModelPeople / Culture
Communication /
Argument:In addition to ECM, alsoe-Collaboration and socialcomputing applications in enterprisesrequire a holistic understanding of these issues (the elements of people, culture &communication model added to the picture, if compared to Päivärinta & Munkvold 05)
Why these altogether?
• line of argumentation:– ECM – basis for any serious information processing in the
enterprise– …but ECM is providing limited value alone, unless adopted to
support information utilization by groups (or even crowds)• organizational uses needs to be discussed together with
eCollaboration in general
– …while social computing innovations provide new opportunities for enterprises to utilize collaboration
• …where information content often still needs to be managed, both content used as a basis & content resulting from this social computing.
– I.e. The trend is that organizations need to utilize integrated information systems with elements of all of these.
• numerous challenges
An important remark
• This course is interested in the enterprise view on these ideas and technologies.– e.g. all of the ideas related to particular
concepts or technologies need to have some significance or use for an enterprise
– (e.g. Facebook’s importance for maintaining personal social connections is not per se in our interests, whereas it will be, if we can utilize it for a business purpose)
ECM
eCollaboration
Social computing
Summary (2)
t
Framework
Content Model
Infrastructure Administration
Change Management
Objectives Impacts
Enterprise ModelPeople / Culture
Communication /
ECM: Objectives & impacts
• Thinking exercise & discussion: go through each objective for 1-2 minutes (alone or groups):– What would the following things be concretely in university
courses (1 example per each)?– …and how to measure them?
• ECM objectives / desired impacts (Päivärinta & Munkvold 05):– Improving internal / external collaboration– Value-added / new customer services and products– Reliability and quality of content, less errors in products and
practices– Modern & professional image
• (to be continued on the next slide)
ECM: Objectives & impacts (cont.)
– Efficiency, effectiveness, flexibility of knowledge work / business processes
– Meaningful knowledge work / less tedious routines– Organizational memory– Direct cost savings (e.g. of information processing,
etc.)– Satisfying external regulations / standards– Platforms / capabilities to develop / maintain targeted
(and emerging) content management applications
• Do you find any other categories? (let us know…)
A Wider View: ECM vs. eCollaboration vs. Social computing: Objectives
• eCollaboration objectives– Collaboration effectiveness of
teams & groups highlighted• Often also informal teams -> less
organization-unit-focused thinking than in ECM
• Knowledge ”mobilization” here and now
• Customer contact– Quality of decisions (i.e. group-
decisions are better?)– (direct (travel) cost savings +
cutting non-meaningful travels)– Image?– ”Platforms”– Highlights the team/group view
and often task-oriented focus on ”now”
• To exaggerate: (ECM mostly ”organization / enterprise –oriented” ?)
• Social comp. Objectives– ”Individually-originated objectives
turn to loose community-feelings”– Keeping oneself upgraded on
”what’s fancy”– Expressing oneself– Connecting people who like to be
connected• Knowledge exchange as a happy
”side product”?– Building voluntary competence
networks– Image?– Meaningfulness of the social
milieu – the work should also be socially and intellectually rewarding (even fun)
– Person-oriented focus on satisfaction at work (and social-human relations)
• Assumption: knowledge sharing and other benefits follow this…
Framework
ContentInfrastructure Administration
Change Management
Objectives Impacts
Enterprise ModelPeople / Culture
Communication /
ECM: Content model(s)
• Discussion: What would the following elements be in UiA’s course content ”model(s)”? Examples?– Content presentations, structures, views?– Content life-cycle– Metadata– (Corporate) taxonomies (vs.? ”folksonomies”)
• Discussion 2: What needs to be ”modelled”?• Discussion 3: Who ”meets” the content model(s) in
practice and how?– i.e. who needs to be knowledgeable of ”content modelling”,
concerning the particular areas of it?• Discussion 4: Is / Can / Should there be ”enterprise-
wide” content modelling?
ECM vs. eCollaboration vs. Social computing: Content/Communication model
• eCollaboration– Ad hoc group communication
an important part• Meetings, e-mails, instant
messages etc. ”abstract” categories of communication
• Combined to more formal ”genres”
– Need to manage content in relation to most usual group communications tasks
• Social computing– Communications about
oneself (profiles, interests, humour, expertise)
– Structures to network under common interests
– Rich communication means, free sharing
• Video, pictures, comparisons…
– Quick and flexible linking of information
– ”Folksonomies” (vs. ”taxonomies” to organize content of interest
– Platform for ”citizen” movements… opinion-expressing
Framework
Content Model
Infrastructure Administration
Change Management
Objectives ImpactsEnterprise
People / Culture
Communication /
ECM: Enterprise model(s)• ”… a shared idea about what needs to be done in the enterprise,
who does what, who is in charge of what.”?• A number of different ”conceptualizations” and their mixtures
– Business / support processes, tasks– Resources, roles, teams, organization units (budgeting entities)– Projects– Geographical sites– even persons… etc.
• How to organize content ownership / responsibilities? • Discussion: What ”enterprise models” are in active use in UiA /
courses?– Who decides? – or… is there many competing ones?– Do the ”enterprise-models-in-use” match to the models indicated by
information systems applications?• Discussion: How do particular kinds of objectives relate to particular
kinds of ideas of the enterprise? (i.e. what is the unit for analysis for expected benefit from developing ECM according to a particular goal?)
ECM vs. eCollaboration vs. Social computing: Enterprise model
• eCollaboration– Generic ideas about the group
/ team collaboration scenarios• Tasks and task sequences,
generic / technical types of user roles
– Meeting host, participants
– Specialized applications may build more focused and formalized role structures
– Often crosses e.g. budget unit boundaries
– ”Formalizes” cross-unit task groups?
• Social computing– Networks of people with
common interests• Relationships build around
common interests or previous social relations
– Makes ”the informal organization” visible?
• Could that be used for enterprise purposes?
– ”Visible individuals” and ”responders”
• E.g. blogging typically not practiced by many, but commenting can then be
Framework
Content Model
Infrastructure
Change Management
Objectives Impacts
Enterprise ModelPeople / Culture
Communication /
Administration
ECM: IT infrastructure• All the hardware & software & IT services needed to make ECM
work– Analysis alternatives – which relate to which content / part of
enterprise / type of people…?• Infrastructure challenges in ECM:
– Integrating applications & tools throughout content life-cycle– Seamless user experience of content retrieval and production– Update management of hardware, software, and even operating
systems (still)– Technology updates to make content sharing among applications &
devices possible (towards ”application-independent” content formats ?)– Information security issues– Lately: competing infrastructures between different parts of enterprises
• Mergers, or otherwise.
ECM vs. eCollaboration vs. Social computing:IT infrastructure
• eCollaboration– In addition to ECM– Mostly a (more or less
standardized) set of available person-to-person and team communication tools, sponsored by the enterprise
– Technical challenge: accessibility and stability of use
• Social computing– So far: web-based
applications (more or less) ”allowed” to be used by companies
– Technical challenge: information security?
– To become: ever more integrated as a part of content mgmt & e-collaboration ”offices”
• Problem – does it then work only inside a firm?
Framework
Content Model
Infrastructure Administration
Change Management
Objectives Impacts
Enterprise ModelPeople / Culture
Communication /
ECM: Administration issues
• Regulations, standards, policies, routines, administrative procedures
• Awareness• Organizational support for new roles?
– From local archivists to support persons for global production / retrieval of content
– Cf. J. D. Edwards – five new organizational roles to support new content mgmt applications
• Technical support• Discussion: Which administration issues are the
most challenging ones?
ECM vs. eCollaboration vs. Social computing: Administration
• eCollaboration– Awareness– Motivation to adopt– Support for learning
• Ability to adopt
– Cultivating the practices
• E.g. ”good e-meeting practice” beside mastering the tools as such
• Social computing– ”What counts as real
work”?• Policy, shared culture• (less individual
adoption problems among younger employees?)
– Information security practice
• E.g. anonymity not allowed
Framework
Content Model
Infrastructure Administration
Change Management
Objectives Impacts
Enterprise ModelPeople / Culture
Communication /
Change management• Justification of ECM initiatives
– How to make a business case to get corporate sponsoring?– From justification to ”benefits management”
• Maintaining mgmt support & development resources– ECM is seldomly a ”project”, but a process
• Competence acquisition & upkeep– AIIM Feb 2008 – Lack of ECM competence does not cease in the
foreseeable future• Organizational / user resistance for change /
standardization– Again: ”Benefits management” -> Benefits realization– How to involve users?
• Often ”benefit disparity”
• Discussion: How well is change management taken into account in previous content mgmt / collaboration initiatives at UiA?
ECM vs. eCollaboration vs. Social computing: Change mgmt
• eCollaboration– Key issue: how to introduce
new tools so that they reach a ”critical mass” of users within a relatively short time-frame
– Illustrative business cases to motivate /justify
• Individual users• Organizational sponsors• ”What is the value of our
e-mail application?”– (We’ll come back to
implementation issues in organizations later)
• Social computing– Key issue: how to make
potential value of social computing clear for management?
• Obstructive: how to ”fight” against employee use of soc. comp.?
• Supportive: how to foster a sensible ”corporate attitude” and to make it clear to all employees?
• ”Why should our employees mingle during the office hours?”
– Who should pay for implementing these in the corporation?
Summary
• ECM, eCollaboration & Social computing highlight slightly different issues– Objectives / impacts, enterprise,
communication/content models, infrastructure issues, administration & change management challenges
• In addition to ECM, eCollaboration & social computing perhaps highlight more– People-oriented issues– ”Cultivation” of corporate culture– ”ECM” is more driven and cultivated by content
management professionals, should be almost ”invisible” background service for users
• Vs. eCollaboration & social computing!
Framework
Content Model
Infrastructure Administration
Change Management
Objectives Impacts
Enterprise ModelPeople / Culture
Communication /
Culture
• Foci – Cultural ”main differences”– ECM – robust management of ”enterprise
information”– eCollaboration – effective groups / teams on
more or less pre-known tasks– Social computing – individual motivations to
self-expression, social networking, fun -> ”happy accidents” of knowledge mobilization?
”People”
• Discussion– What kind of people-related issues can /
need to be managed / recognized?• ECM• eCollaboration• social computing
The Cases
• Go-through Tero’s list of suggestions in the SharePoint Team site
• Any comments?