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O3Spaces Positioning PaperWorkplace vs. Sharepointon document centric collaboration

Document Management and Collaboration

Introduction

This leaflet presents a comparison based on the results of an independent

technology scouting on O3Spaces Workplace as commissioned by SURFnet BV.

SURFnet is a subsidiary of the SURF organization, in which Dutch universities,

universities for applied sciences and research centers collaborate nationally and

internationally on innovative ICT facilities. The research focused on a comparison

between O3Spaces Workplace and Sharepoint and their ability to facilitate

document centric collaboration.

Comparison of functionalities of

O3S W k l d Sh i t

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O3S W k l d Sh i t

Copyright 2008 O3Spaces B.V. All rights reserved.

O3Spaces B.V. | Hanzeweg 12d, 2803 MC Gouda | The Netherlands | Tel. (+31) 182 680 269 | info@o3spaces.com | www.o3spaces.com

Disclaimer: All Product names, logos, brands and any other trademarks are the property of the respective owners | Copyright 2008 O3Spaces B.V. All rights reserved.

Inviting and controlling members

To invite potential members in O3Spaces Workplace a name and

e-mail are all that is needed. Invited members will get an e-mail with a link to

activate their account and choose their language etcetera.

Sharepoint works more or less the same although it also has a function to

retrieve your password without contacting an administrator which O3Spaces

Workplace only provides as option.

Presenting documents to large groups

O3Spaces Workplace takes a different approach to present information to a public

that is not part of the Workplace environment. Documents stored in the Workplace

repository can be accessed from portals and internet sites through easy to use file links.

O3spaces does not open its Workplace interface as public site.

In some situations Sharepoint delivers some advantages because in Sharepoint it

is readily possible to make public sub-pages of different form (document libraries,

wikipages). These sites are all accessible by a URL. This makes it possibly more

suited for a broad, open public, but with obvious administration challenges in

the long term.

Accept project documentation in the environment

Uploading a document, creating directories, moving documents and deleting

them is all quite simple and efficient in O3Spaces Workplace. Uploading a

document in Workplace for instance only takes 1 click (with drag & drop) to 3

clicks at most.

Sharepoint works quite similar although it works a li ttle bit less efficient. To use

the example before this: Uploading a document takes at best 5 clicks.

Collaborating on documents

Working together on documents in O3Spaces Workplace also suits casual,

less advanced users. Functionalities like locking, version control and adding

comments are all easy to use. A drawback in this could be that version control

does not offer branching.

Sharepoint in turn delivers the same functionalities but version control is only

possible for Microsoft Office Documents.

Additionally, it delivers advanced options like workflows and manage copies

that may be a bridge too far for most users.

O3Spaces already announced that they will also deliver workflows in one of the

next versions of Workplace.

Keeping the project Calendar up to date

Adding items to the Calendar in O3Spaces Workplaces is quite simple with

overviews per day, week, month and year. It is relatively compact with much

functionality and the administrator can determine in detail which fiel ds to show

to present the information in the best possible way.

Sharepoint also comes with an excellent Calendar in two forms: a web-part

and an individual page. The first is less adjustable compared to the individual

Calender page that delivers overviews in the same way as the Calender in theWorkplace does.

Administration of a Workspace

Administration of a Workspace in O3Spaces Workplace is straightforward. The

options are mainly concerned with the roles that are attributed to the project

participants. The average Space supervisor will not have any problems using it.

Compared to this, the tuning features in Sharepoint are very extensive. This can

offer advantages to an advanced supervisor but for an average supervisor it will

be hard to get to the bottom of it.

Archiving a space

O3Spaces Workplace doesnt deliver an explicit archiving functionality but

nevertheless archiving is possible in several ways. For instance by setting a

Workspace or even Unit Inactive. Deletion of an environment and associated

users is only possible via the administration environment (Studio).

ConcludingSharepoint has more, less usable functionalities, can be more widely

employable but with a price tag concerning purchase, deployment,

administration and use.

For the end user O3Spaces Workplace offers a more intuitive and more

efficient collaboration environment.

Sharepoint locks its users into Microsoft on all levels, server and client, OS

and Office for years to come.

O3Spaces Workplace embraces open standards, is application and platform

independent.

O3Spaces Workplace is a fast moving, nimble and extendable product both

wit ha proven track record and high potential.

Try O3Spaces WorkplaceA free community edition of O3Spaces Workplace is available for download on

the O3Spaces community website.

Visit http://community.o3spaces.com and download a pre-configured

deployment of O3Spaces Workplace. No registration required.

Visit www.o3spaces.com for more information, screens, demos, features

& requirements and prices.

Contact information

O3Spaces B.V.

Hanzeweg 12d, 2803 MC Gouda

The Netherlands

Tel. (+31) 182 680 269

info@o3spaces.com | www.o3spaces.com

Item Sharepoint Portal Server O3Spaces Workplace

Training Time Up to days for the typical User Up to half a day for the typical users, because of the

consistent end-user ready interface

Configuration Time Typically weeks to build and adjust because of the

needed implementation time

Typically days to build and adjust because of the end-

user ready approach of O3Spaces

Part of Daily Work Yes. Used specifically for sharing Yes. Every user uses O3Spaces constantly on their

Desktop for all document related activities

Build in search capabilities Yes Yes. With support for ODF, PDF and MS formats. Full text

search of all content types within authorized Spaces

End user ready interface No. Needs i mplementation. Has p oor navi gation

facilities

Yes. With build-in user friendly navigation controls

which support. 100+ Workspaces with the same

experience

Create multiple content types for announcements, etc. Yes Yes

Reduction of E -mai l w ithin Workgroups Some r educt ion of fi le dupl icat ion and e-ma il

broadcasts

Yes. By use of the Workplace Assistant with

built-in notification service a high reduction of

e-mail and thus storage

LDAP support Yes, only Active Directory Yes, integrates with any LDAP servers like OpenLDAP,

Novell directory service, Sun Directory server and Active

Directory

Deploy in minutes on a single server and support a

small organization

Yes Yes

Scale to terabytes of data and thousands of users in a

en enterprise

Yes Yes

Build in notification services Yes, by e-mail Yes, by e-mail or real time through the integrated

Workplace Assistant (on the desktop)

Discussion boards related to documents events or

general discussions

Yes Yes

V er si on in g, ch eck- in /che ck -o ut fu nc ti on s Ye s, o n M ic ro so ft d ocum en ts on ly Ye s, in te gr at ed w it h t he O pe nO ffi ce .o rg , S ta rO ffi ce &

MS Office suites. Automatic versioning, check-in/check-

out on all file types

Securely extend collaboration to your partners and

customers

Yes , t hrough browser int er fa ce only Yes , through browser int er fa ce and the always -on

Workplace Assistant which makes real-time notification

and action-taking possible

S up po rt o f o pe n s tan da rd s N o, ti gh tl y i nte gra te d as pa rt of th e Mi cro so ft of fic e

software stack

Yes, integrated in the opensource/openstandards

productivity stack using a.o.

Running multiple OS No, Windows only Yes, runs on Linux/Solaris/Win32/Mac OS both client

and server

Role-based security Yes, based on Active Directory Yes, connect to LDAP service. Roles are fully

configurable

Workflow Yes In development. The repository can provide hooks and

triggers for external process engines.

Calendering Yes Yes, standards based

Mail integration Yes Yes

Tasking / Scheduling Yes Yes, currently in development

Bulk import tools Yes Yes, multiple options

http://community.o3spaces.com/http://www.o3spaces.com/mailto:info@o3spaces.comhttp://www.o3spaces.com/http://www.o3spaces.com/mailto:info@o3spaces.comhttp://www.o3spaces.com/http://community.o3spaces.com/