I have a client who has been using WebOffice (from WebEx) for a variety of tasks within their small organization. The problem is that they only really need a small subset of the features WebOffice provides (Contact list, Database, and Document Storage).
They've asked me to develop a website focused on these three features with the rationalization that this should be more cost-effective, since they currently aren't using many of the features of WebOffice they pay for.
What are some open-source alternatives that I could implement for them? Sharepoint sounds like it would be too bloated and Google Apps may not be as collaborative as they would like.
We looked at sharepoint and went like "meh". Anything interesting you want to do with it requires prohibitive licensing, and if you expose any piece of it to the internet then the cost just blows any budget away.
We are piloting a deployment of Alfresco, with KnowledgeTree also being a very decent option, IMO. As for the main site, something like OpenAtrium looks like a pretty decent and flexible fit without much configuration needed. OpenAtrium is based on Drupal.
SharePoint sounds like a good match? Did whoever told you it was bloated also mention why?
You might only need WSS which is free (if you have Windows Server).
My company hosts LumiPortal (www.lumiportal.com) which is similar to WebOffice but with drive letters for storage. If you have inhouse technical expertise, then on the open source side we see Joomla and Drupal, which could be thought of as classic content management systems. If you have in-house technical expertise, you might look at Drupal and their document management component first.
Call WebOffice customer service and tell them. They will probably adjust your payment options to suit your needs.
There's a good roundup of online collaboration/office suites here although it is a bit dated now.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/web_office_2007_year_in_review.php
Webex WebOffice hasn't been updated in 5 years and has been sunset by Webex with no migration path (confirmed in their forums) so I would get off it ASAP.
With the addition of Wave to Google Apps it would seem to be a much more cost effective and modern replacement.
Related
My company is in need of a task management system to handle scenarios as simple as "Purchase a computer for X" to "Relocate a person to another country". The simple scenarios are a single tasks handled by a single person, whereas bigger tasks can be broken down into multiple sub tasks delegated to multiple people during the workflow. Additionally the clients and vendors need their own views into the process.
We are evaluating different solutions from a custom application built on Workflow Foundation to SharePoint to BPM products like Metastorm and BPM.Net.
Here's my current understanding of these solutions:
Workflow Foundation - Low level workflow designer and/or library with no host environment. It seems we would have to reinvent some wheels if we went this route such as fault tolerance and document management. Some of the answers on stack also cause concerns such as the lack of versioning and a complete overhaul for VS10/.NET 4.0
SharePoint - Built for document management and collaboration but trying to create advanced workflows and tasking on top of that seems like a hack. Plus all workflows have to be tied to either documents or lists. I cant envision how a list (or list of lists) can address this issue.
BPM products - Mature workflow engine at a seemingly high price. BPM.Net is the only solution for which I could find some level of technical detail but im still not sure how different developing against this product would be from developing against Workflow Foundation.
Are there any workflow engines dedicated to solving all the workflow pains that can be easily deployed with their own hosting environment and initiated through a webservice?
Are there any other options I am missing?
Thanks in advance.
****Edit**
To answer the questions below the workflow needs are pretty light. Basic routing of tasks to approvers and subcontractors.
Whats driving us too look deeper than PM software is the nature of the business not the need for advanced workflow. We are basically in the business of procuring goods and services through subcontractors for our clients which can also include full employee relocation. The interface of the package should reflect this by being customer branded as well as intuitive for this line of business.
Basically if im moving my family to the other side of the world Im not sure i'd want to interface with Jira or Sharepoint or any other PM software to facilitate this.
If you are on Microsoft stack I would definitely recommend SharePoint for this scenario. As it seems to be very simple you can go with Windows SharePoint Services edition because it is free and it has everything you need.
You are right when you say that ShartePoint workflow are bit limited. IMHO the best way to overcome that limitation is to purchase Nintex workflow to create your workflows. It is cost effective solution that can help you design workflows you need.
You can find workflow samples inside the product (as workflow templates) and on the web site.
Nothing you mentioned has much to do with workflow. You're just doing project management. If that's the case, a simple bug tracker (like FogBugz! ;) would work - but if you're going to show it externally, it may not be the most professional presentation.
The closest off the shelf solution I can think of would be Project Server - though, depending on the number of projects and project managers, the desktop Project with a sync to a webserver for client views may be enough.
If that's overkill - because your projects don't require a lot of resource scheduling, Gantt charts, or other PM artifacts - you can take something like Trac and replace "bug" with "task". ;) (Seriously though, that'd probably get you 90% of the way there.....)
Have you looked at RT? I believe it can handle all your requirements, including that it's designed to let customers interact with the system by email, rather than having to log into the website. If you've emailed IT support desks then you've probably interacted with it without knowing... You can also completely customise the web interface and allow customer access.
Can't vouch for the quality as I haven't used it, but I did watch an online-demo video of Intalio, which has BPM and workflow capabilities.
We use Basecamp to control this sort of "task management" stuff. I'm not sure if it fits your needs totally, as it's a little light on the document management side, but it has a web service (REST) API, customer / vendor facing components, and basic interaction / chat capabilities.
The best part about it is that the API is simple enough where you can offload a lot of the "management" for it to admin support personnel, like assistants and interns, by providing custom scripts. If you've got people who aren't programmers using it you'll probably have better luck with it than even something like Trac or FogBugz.
I have/am going through a similar process. We wanted a lightweight workflow for internal use by our sales team. Most of the third party apps we looked at ,K2 and Skelta BPM.Net in particular, looked way over the top for what we needed. I'm now 2 months into working with Windows Workflow Foundation 3.0 and I have to say it isn't the most pleasant coding experience I've had.
If your workflows will truely be simple then it is pretty easy to build a workflow and hook it up to some web pages for the UI. But if you need to be able to change it on the fly, or do versioning (ie the user says we want another step added, then its a whole lot of hacking to get it to work - and it only works if you limit your workflow to being really simple), then you are in for a fair bit of work. And forget about it if you use an Oracle database.
The next version of windows workflow will have it's own runtime environment, code name dublin, with will provide a WCF interface into the workflows.
If your timeframe allows you could use that.
For information on Dublin and the next version of WF see:
http://www.microsoft.com/net/dublin.aspx
My vote is for FogBugz. Unless I am missing something in your requirements, why would you want to reinvent the wheel by using a code based workflow solution where you have to code up the flows yourself when you can use a perfectly good project dependency solution like FB or even MS Project Server - which lets you create nice dependencies for resources and people.
Check FileNet
FileNet is expensive but makes a good job with content and process management, but I guess is not what you are looking for.
We use Captaris Workflow, it is pretty good but it may be expensive for your needs.
In my organisation, we have some very inefficient processes around managing requirements, tracking what was actually delivered on what versions, etc, do subsequent releases break previous functionality, etc - its currently all managed manually. The requirements are spread over several documents and issue trackers, and the implementation details is in code in subversion, Jira, TestLink. I'm trying to put together a system that consolidates the requirements info, so that it is sourced from a single, authoritative source, is accessible via standard interfaces - web services, browsers, etc, and can be automatically validated against. The actual domain knowledge is not that complicated but is highly proprietary and non-standard (i.e., not just customers with addresses, emails, etc), and is relational: customers have certain functionalities, features switched on/off, specific datasources hooked up - all on specific versions. So modelling this should be straightforward.
Can anyone advise the best approach for this - I a certain that I can develop a system from scratch that matches exactly the requirements, in say ruby on rails, grails, or some RAD framework. But I'm having difficulty getting management buy-in, they would feel safer with an off the shelf solution.
Can anyone recommend such a system? Or am I better off building it from scratch, as I feel I am? I'm afraid a bought system would take just as long to deploy, and would not meet our requirements.
Thanks for any advice.
I believe that you are describing two different problems. The first is getting everyone to standardize and the second is selecting a good tool for requirements management. I wouldn't worry so much about the tool as I would the process and the people. Having the best tool in the world won't help if your various project managers don't want to share.
So, my suggestion is to start simple. Grab Redmine or Trac and take on the challenge of getting everyone to standardize. Once you have everyone in the right mindset then you can improve the tools you use for storage.
{disclaimer - mentioning my employer's product}
The brief experiments I made with a commercial tool RequisitePro seemed pretty good me. Allowed one to annotate existing Word docs and create a real-time linked database of the identified requisistes then perform lots of analysis and tracking of them.
Sometimes when I see a commercial product I think "Oh, well nice glossy bits but the fundamentals I could knock up in Perl in a weekend." That's not the case with this stuff. I would certainly look at commercial products in this space and exeperiment with a couple (ReqPro has a free trial, I guess the competition will too) before spending time on my own development.
Thanks a mill for the reply. I will take a look at RequisitePro, at least I'll be following the "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" strategy ;) youre right, and I kinda knew it, in these situations, buy is better. It is tempting when I can visualise throwing it together quickly, but theres other tradeoffs and risks with that approach.
Thanks,
Justin
While Requisite Pro enforces a standard and that can certainly help you in your task, I'd certainly second Mark on trying to standardize the input by agreement with personnel and using a more flexible tool like Trac, Redmine (which both have incredibly fast deploy and setup times, especially if you host them from a VM) or even a custom one if you can get the management to endorse your project.
I am currently working on a project which requires migration of content from different content management Systems to SharePoint. Are there any good, preferably open source, tools that would help me do this? Also, what are the best practices that I would have to keep in mind when it comes to such projects. One more thing that i would like to factor here is reusablity, because we might have to work on similar migration projects, from other Content Management systems in future.
You can check http://www.codeplex.com/SPMigration (open source, project started by a Microsoft consultant).
This framework gives you an importer tool, as well as some exporter example (FileSystem for example). You'll problably have to code your own exporter.
This MSDN blog also goes into some detail about the Migration API and may be useful as its generally very had to do this sort of thing without getting your hands dirty
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdeveloperdocs/archive/2007/11/30/content-migration-in-sharepoint.aspx
Also, IMHO you shouldn't dismiss proprietary products as although they can be expensive they may save you considerable time and therefore cost if you have a large conversion project.
http://www.tzunami.com/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.avepoint.com/products/sharepoint-migration
Tricks and tips -
http://www.parallelspace.net/portals/ALS305-mwherman-Content%20Migration-1-1-18-RC6_FINAL.ppt
We have had good mileage from going to the nearest university and grabbing some IT students to do a manual migration.
The students like the extra cash and it is sometimes easier when the Information Architectures of the site changes between systems.
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Have any of you ever tried to run from sharepoint? I've worked with sharepoint enough to know that it is not something that interests me. My interests are more along the lines of APIs / backend / distributed development. Have any of you found ways, as consultants, to move away from sharepoint and keep learning other things of interest? I'm currently in a position where sharepoint is in huge demand and I can't quite find a way to simply step aside from it. any suggestions ?
If I infer correctly that you work for a consulting firm then find out what other kinds of things your firm works on. Learn those technologies better that the people who currently work on them for your firm, involve yourself in those projects, even if just in a hallway conversation manner, and come up with better (faster, cheaper) solutions for the problems your firm is solving.
Your options are really seem to be 3-fold
convince your boss your talents
would be better used elsewhere
convince your co-workers they want
you on those other teams
convince your company's clients that
they want you, specifically.
Learn Java, or Ruby.
The Microsoft sales model of "attach" whereby they sell a solution comprised of multiple technologies and then sell the next solution on the basis of "well you have already invested in SharePoint so you already have the skills in place and the infrastructure for this new bit of technology we have" is here to stay... it's very successful.
SharePoint is cloud computing for business who have MS shops... you avoid it by not doing C#. If you're doing C# then given enough time, your apps will need to run in the corporate cloud and you should be looking after your career by embracing it.
Just my 2p. Sorry if it's not quite the answer you wanted.
I know exactly what you mean. I think you don't mind the idea behind a product like SharePoint, but really hate the way its been implemented and how problematic it is. I know its a nightmare to work with.
As a C# developer, I cringe when I hear the SharePoint word, SharePoint is Lord Voldemort. But unfortunately it comes with the job of being a senior C# / Microsoft developer.
I say unfortunately because its likely if you're working in a corporate structure sooner or later you will end up having SharePoint in your solution. Not because its good, but because as others have said - MS use SharePoint as a Trojan horse to get and keep business.
There might be some hope with the new version of SharePoint coming out (2010). Maybe this will finally include a better programming / implementation model.
Otherwise either work for smaller companies (usually less pay, but not always), or try to play down your skills as a MOSS developer if possible. Never actively market them unless your salary depends on it. Remove the skill from your skill matrix, and turn down jobs that completely focus on MOSS. Some MOSS integration here and there you can live with. An entire solution focused on MOSS will drive you insane.
If all else fails, learn other non Microsoft languages, and within a year or 2, SharePoint will be but a faded memory.
I know lots of developers who are thinking about quitting IT because of SharePoint. I would say don't let it be the end of your career.
And finally bitch and moan, and inform managers on a weekly / daily basis, as to why you are battling in SharePoint. Let them know, and constantly remind them how bad a technology it is.
When life deals you lemons. Make Lemonade.
Seriously, if you are seeing SharePoint in such high demand, maybe working with the beast is the best idea. SharePoint is really just middle-ware. SharePoint can simply be a distribution point for your solutions (i.e., a user interface such as a web application can be hosted on SharePoint through a Web Content part). If you look at it, SharePoint may even prove useful as a document respository or small scale data store, in the form of lists.
Maybe you should turn down SharePoint contracts and accept contracts that interest you.
Depending on the market you are in you can simply tell your boss at the consulting company you work for that your not interested in doing Sharepoint projects anymore and that you'll be forced to look elsewhere if they continue putting you on Sharepoint projects. That would work around West Michigan where the developer demand is high and the supply is sub-par.
I'm, on the other hand, just starting to use SharePoint to enreach my currently boring C#-only projects. I'm starting to use it as a front-end to the distributed and complicated systems: simple configuration and customization, reporting, management, system control - looks like all this is available in this package it it's easy to make is usable by non-techies and by beginners.
I personally don't want to work with SharePoint anymore. I've worked on developing a solution for it and even went full charge with a web integration of it. I hated it.
First you have to master the awful programming model then handle all the deployments and it's not even the beginning. If you are developing a product for SharePoint, you have to debug the software itself which is a feat on it's own.
My solution to this is to be very upfront about it. I don't mind doing knowledge transfer and helping out people but I don't want to be developing/deploying SharePoint applications.
My boss get it, my friends get it.
Our latest joke come from someone who said a few months ago that it was "easy and fast to deploy application with SharePoint". The joke? "Did he just put easy/fast in the same sentence as SharePoint?"
So unless you salary would be lower because of it... downplay your skills on it and be upfront to your boss. :)
Have you ever looked at Alfresco (http://alfresco.com)?
It serves many of the same purposes as SharePoint, but does it from an Open Source J2EE application. It will leverage your existing collaboration / content management experience and expose you to a whole bunch of open source technologies.
Full disclosure: I work for Alfresco.
I've already given this suggestion to another guy...Running from SharePoint won't be difficult because technologies are similar to each other according to their structure. SharePoint is not the worst technology to be used, although it is limited in some way... Fortunately, software sphere is too wide to be afraid of not finding anything you can be interested in.
I am looking for a simple system to manage inbound emails from a support mailbox for a group with about 3 support people. I've looked at OTRS which seems to have the features that we need. Unfortunately, so far the UI still looks like a confusing mess.
Are there any good FOSS tools that would meet this need? I've heard murmurings that something called fooogzeeebugzo might have similar features, but it seems quite expensive for such simple needs.
Did you try IssueBurner? It was designed for this purpose. You can forward your mailbox (e.g. support#yourcompany.com) to a IssueBurner group and you can track the inbound mails until they are closed.
Here is a link to their video: http://issueburner.com/a/video
I have to agree, Fogbugz is probably the best out there. I have used both the hosted version and the purchased version which I hosted. It is top-notch.
BugTracker.NET is free, open source, and widely used. It has integration with incoming email. In other words, it will accept an incoming email and turn it into a support ticket.
My company recently started using Mojo Helpdesk: www.mojohelpdesk.com. It's a hosted service, not FOSS, but it's pretty cheap and the interface is slick.
TicketDesk- C# issue tracking system and support system
http://www.codeplex.com/TicketDesk
TicketDesk is efficient and designed to do only one thing, facilitate communications between help desk staff and end users. The overriding design goal is to be as simple and frictionless for both users and help desk staff as is possible.
TicketDesk is an asp.net web application written in C# targeting the .net 3.5 framework. It includes a simple database with support for SQL 2005 Express or SQL Server 2005. It can leverage SQL server for membership and role based security or integrate with windows authentication and Active Directory groups.
RT - Request Tracker handles inbound mail. I'm working to add inbound mail support to TicketDesk, but that might be a little while before that makes it into a release.
FogBugz is great as others have mentioned. I use it for my bug/feature tracking system, but I like to separate out my support ticketing system for my support staff to use. Another tool that has great email integration also is called HelpSpot, they have hosted and non-hosted versions for purchase, depending on your budget. It has a lot of great features, that make the prices worth it. Take the tour and see for yourself.
Scope out SmarterTrack, Help Desk Software from SmarterTools:
We use FogBugz...er, "fooogzeeebugzo"...and while it may be a bit expensive for your needs, it works very well.
bugzilla is more of an issue tracker than a request tracker, but it can be configured to handle email-based status tracking. That said, I think Steven has it- RT is the standard recommendation for this that I've seen.
The on-demand version of Fogbugz is a pretty cheap option for just a few people, and works really well. We did that for a while before moving it inhouse.
I've used fogbugz for over 12 months now and more and more I'm finding one of the most valuable features is the in built email support. I've got an on demand account and I'm finding more and more that I don't even check my email in the morning as all my business correspondence is put straight into fogbugz.
I realize that FOSS is your primary desire and I definitely agree with this. If I were to limit myself to FOSS, I would go with RT 3.8, http://blog.bestpractical.com/2008/07/today-were-rele.html#screenshots
However, if you are willing to entertain commercial solutions and are looking for a Helpdesk-"ish" application. I just deployed WebHelpDesk with great success at my current employment, where I am the primary sysadmin and Corporate IT person. They just released a new version, 9.1.1 and it is very well done. The email integration is superb and beyond what I have seen with most other FOSS and commercial issue/bug trackers, given that it is built to run a Helpdesk and not be a software or source code issue tracker. It runs on Windows and *nix, they have a great demo and you can obtain a 30 day trial installer. I have become a big fan of this software and think it has a reasonable price of $250/year/technician (support person).
If you want more info on how we deployed it, please email me and I'd be happy to discuss it at length. I have no more connection with them than I am a very happy customer.
Thanks for all the tips. For the moment, I am looking heavily at eTicket as it was trivial to setup and seems to be developing nicely at the moment. I may look at RT as well, though.
I'll second the suggestion for RT. See my post here for more thoughts and details on our setup.
From my personal experience I can recommend using Bridgetrak.
It works pretty smooth in our environment and includes rich helpdesk functionality for powerful tickets tracking.
I have a lot of experience using this tools - feel free to ask any questions!
As most of the answers are a little bit outdated, I would definitely recommend OsTicket (http://osticket.com/), a great open source project that offers lots of customization and a user friendly interface.
I have been using it for the last two years and I would rather choose OsTicket than OTRS or RT.