Desktop Video Conferencing EVO Proof of Concept

April 2010

Agenda

• EVO Proof of Concept

– Objectives

– Why EVO?

– POC format, timeline, commitment, and support

– Participant and project responsibilities

– Surveys

– EVO v1.5 and v2

• EVO Demonstration

Objectives of the EVO Proof of Concept

• Determine desktop collaboration requirements

• Determine the size and demographics of the market

• To assess the capability and suitability of EVO to provide communication and collaboration functionality

– Identify potential support requirements of the tool– Identify potential training requirements for users– Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the tool

• Make recommendation to Unified Communications Steering Group on how suitable EVO would be as service delivered to staff by ITS

Why EVO ?

• Unlike most other free tools EVO has the capability for multiparty video conferencing, screen sharing, and whiteboarding.

• It is a currently being offered and supported by the Australian Research Collaborative Service (ARCS)

• It is already being used by a number of academic communities within Australia and around the world

• The solution is hosted externally and requires little investment in new infrastructure

• It is free for users to join and use

EVO Functionality

• Instant messaging (one to one and multiparty)

• Video conferencing (one to one and multiparty)

• Recording of collaboration sessions

• Support for telephone conferencing

• Real time screen sharing

• Whiteboarding

• File sharing

• Cross platform

The Proof of Concept

• Format:

– 5 week trial with weekly training, activities, and surveys

– Entrance and exit surveys

• Timeline:

– Week 1: Getting Started, Buddy Lists and Instant Messaging

– Week 2: Basic Audio and Video

– Week 3: Advanced Audio and Video

– Week 4: Screen Sharing, Whiteboarding and File Transfers

– Week 5: Using EVO as a collaboration tool, integration with room based video conferencing tools

Commitment and support

• An average of an hour and a half per week for 5 weeks– 1 hour training and using EVO– ½ hour survey

• Training and activities require at least one other buddy to participate with you

• Scheduling time to complete your training and activities is you and your buddies’ responsibility

• A small project team is available to provide support via the web and within EVO for proof of concept participants only

• EVO is not a service provided by ITS or supported by the ITS Service Desk or your local IT expert

• If you do not have a suitable webcam the project will loan you one

• You can use the built in microphone and speakers but we encourage you to use a obtain headset and noise cancelling microphone

Yammer – support community

• Yammer is a web based tool where people within the same organisation can collaborate and share ideas/information.

• A group has been created within Yammer for participants to post questions, find solutions to problems, and help other users with EVO.

• Sign up at: www.yammer.com

• Support group: https://www.yammer.com/unimelb.edu.au/groups/evopoc

Responsibilities

Participant Responsibilities• To commit to the Proof of Concept charter and process• To represent your area of expertise/business function• To schedule time with your buddy/buddies to complete the weekly

training and scenarios• To complete the entry, exit, and weekly surveys• To actively communicate issues to the project team via the project’s

support process.

Project Team Responsibilities• To fully prepare the training materials and surveys• To collate the survey results and all user feedback• To respond to support requests in a timely fashion• To present the findings of the Proof of Concept within a report that is

presented to the Unified Communications Steering Group

Surveys

Entry Survey• Captures information about your current communication and

collaboration usage and activitiesWeekly Surveys• Captures feedback relating to each week's activities• Identifies strengths and weaknesses of EVO and assess the usability

of EVO as a desktop collaboration tool – Were there any issues or problems?– Were the functions easy to learn and use?– Does the functionality meet your needs?– Is the interface well designed?– Was EVO robust and reliable?

Exit Survey• Capture information about your overall impression about EVO

EVO version 1.5 and version 2 (beta)

• The proof of concept is seeking feedback on the current version of EVO (1.5)

• Version 2 of EVO has now been released in beta, however a number of bugs still need to be ironed out

• Both versions are inter-operable, if you are collaborating with someone outside of the proof of concept they may be using version 2, their interface will look slightly different

EVO version 1.5 and version 2 (beta)

Version 1.5

Version 2

Contact / Information points

www.uc.unimelb.edu.au/evopoc

http://evo.arcs.org.au/evoAU

Debbie Keogh, Project Manager, x42741

Hilary Sissons, Business Analyst, x42707

© Copyright The University of Melbourne 2008

Thank You