MicrosoftÒ Solutions for:

The Need for Collaboration in the Corporate World

 

 


Executive summary............................................................................................................ 1

From chaos to collaboration – the business case for collaboration................................... 2

Breaking the corporate 'glass wall'............................................................................. 2

The virtual team and its collaborative needs........................................................... 4

Collaborative technologies as services.............................................................................. 7

Integration of collaborative services................................................................................. 8

Microsoft's collaborative portfolio................................................................................. 10

Operating system and storage services.................................................................. 10

Collaborative services................................................................................................ 10

Collaborative clients................................................................................................... 12

Collaborative development tools............................................................................ 12

Standards and collaboration........................................................................................... 14

The future for collaborative services............................................................................... 15


Executive Summary

 

To achieve differentiation in today’s markets, organisations need to ensure that individuals and teams across the whole company, suppliers and customers can collaborate successfully. By ensuring that all employees are working from the same information and enabling them to work in a manner best suited to their requirements, organisations can reduce time to market and stock inventory levels while minimising bottom-line costs. Technology can bring together the best ideas from all people at all levels of an organisation and create a new kind of corporate intelligence – one informed by correct, up-to-date, actionable information. When an organisation has this, it has a Digital Nervous System (DNS).

 

Microsoft provides the foundation tools for such an effective collaborative environment. From information storage services such as Microsoftâ Exchange Server and Microsoftâ SQL ServerÔ, through operating system services via Microsoftâ Windows NTâ Server to advanced collaborative services including NetMeetingâ, NetShowÔ and ActivePages, Microsoft provides an optimised, fully integrated environment for the future. As we move into the new millennium, e-commerce will become a major driving force as organisations fight to attract, capture and leverage customers.  Areas such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM) will require increased use of both asynchronous collaboration, for example e-mail, discussion databases, and synchronous collaboration including data sharing and whiteboarding. Microsoft, with initiatives such as the Supply Chain Initiative, will continue to be at the forefront of this revolution.

 

Through its continued driving of industry standards, Microsoft ensures not only the highest levels of functionality internally within your organisation, but full capabilities to interact with suppliers and customers in a secure, reliable manner. Providing full transactional collaboration via Microsoftâ Message Queue Services and Microsoftâ Transaction Server, Microsoft provides backbone services for the support of global Internet trading to businesses of any size. 

 

Through partners, Microsoft enables the integration of other, non-IT collaborative technologies. For example, the capability to bring voicemail into the PC world via the Telephony Application Programmer’s Interface, (TAPI), and room-based video conferencing via the ITU H.320 and H.323 standards provides the means of including highly mobile users into the corporate collaborative backbone.

 

Microsoft is dedicated to the continued support and evolution of the collaborative environment. As a key pillar of its DNS framework and as one of the pillars of a corporate knowledge management network, collaborative computing provides immediately identifiable business benefits to the workplace, and sets the foundation for future success via business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce.

 


From Chaos to Collaboration – The Business Case for Collaboration

 

Breaking the corporate ‘glass wall

The need for effective collaboration has never been greater.  Lack of effective collaboration affects an organisation’s ability to meet time-to-market constraints, affects bottom line costs, and minimises top line profitability. Conversely, well-implemented and controlled collaboration can provide a major business differential against competitors by offering the means to be highly responsive to market conditions. But the explosion of information sources in day-to-day business operations has led to major problems in the corporate decision-making process. The move from the internal organisation towards global servicing via customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and other e-commerce activities also leads to a need for a solid collaborative foundation (see Figure 1). The interest of possible clients must be gained at the earliest opportunity, the client captured at their point of contact and this contact must be exploited. Inventories must be closely controlled, utilising just-in-time logistics to minimise stock and maximise capacity to provide the newest product to the customers. To achieve this, the collaborative environment must be optimised, information feeds must be integrated wherever possible, and the right tools must be available to visualise and disseminate this information rapidly and meaningfully.

 

Figure 1 - Collaboration through the corporate ‘glass wall’

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Table 1 provides a detailed look at the many ways in which we collaborate by both technological and non-technological means. Although there is an increasing need to identify all pertinent information on a subject, users now have paper-based, voice-based and electronic data sources to consider. The increased use of web-based information feeds, multimedia images and sound only increases the difficulties in searching for content. As one of the major pillars in the provision of a corporate knowledge management environment (see Figure 2), the collaborative needs of individuals and teams within and outside the organisation must be catered for. Microsoft brings together all information within your organisation through universal connectivity of feeds via a DNS framework. Providing controlled, secure information storage based on a solid operating system foundation in conjunction with enterprise scaleable messaging, synchronous collaboration tools, Internet and intranet solutions, search engines, filtering agents and client solutions, a DNS environment leads the way in providing businesses with a means of optimising the corporate knowledge base.

 

Figure 2 – Microsoft’s knowledge management architecture

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The virtual team and its collaborative needs

In the decision making process, organisations are generally no longer dependent on single entities making specific decisions. Team-based decisions are the norm, but the nature of the team is changing. Today's teams are no longer a structured hierarchy of people in a specific area, but may consist of a loose dynamic of geographically dispersed members, along with technical resources, suppliers, customers and informational sources outside the normal boundaries of a single company. The problem now is how to ensure that the parts of the team can work effectively at different times and across different locations, while still allowing for the different modes of operation of each individual.

 

It is imperative that a user can access information in a way that meets their needs. Users have different modes of work (see Figure 3), where a full desktop computer is not always the best tool for the job. Organisations must allow for these different means of accessing, manipulating and disseminating information. For example, by the use of synchronous discussion tools, a user out on the road can participate in a virtual meeting using voice-to-PC technology via a mobile phone. By integrating back-office systems through the corporate glass wall, the sales force has the ability to check stock inventory for a product while at the customer's site via a hand-held device and a mobile phone.


 

 

Synchronous Collaboration

 

Asynchronous Collaboration

 

Non-IT

IT

Non-IT

IT

 

Personal

 

 

1 to 1

Telephone,

Chat

CTI, VoIP, IRC,

PC-VC

Mail, Fax,

Voice mail

E-mail, Workflow

1 to few

Meetings

Whiteboarding, PC-VC , Data conferencing, Narrowcast,

Voice mail,

Notice boards, Pamphleting

E-mail, Discussion databases, Workflow

1 to many

Presentations

Broadcast

Voice mail,

notice boards, pamphleting,

referenda

E-mail,

Discussion databases

Few to few

Team working

Room-based video conferencing

Pamphleting

COI,

Discussion databases

Few to many

Reporting

Broadcast

Open letter, pamphleting, referenda

 

Many to many

 

Broadcast

 

 

Corporate to

Customer

 

1 to 1

Telephone

CTI, VoIP, CRM, FoD

Mail, Fax

E-mail, CRM

1 to few

AGM, Seminars

 

Mailshot

COI, E-mail

1 to many

Presentations

 

Advertising

Web presence

Few to few

Tradeshows, lobbying

 

Lobbying

Technology forae

Few to many

 

 

Marketing

Web presence,

Technology forae

Many to many

 

 

 

Web presence, Technology forae

Corporate to

Corporate

 

1 to 1

Board meetings

SCM,

Room-based video conferencing

Mail

EDI, SCM

1 to few

 

 

 

 

1 to many

 

 

 

 

Few to few

 

 

Magazines

COI

Few to many

 

 

Magazines

 

Many to many

 

 

Magazines

Technology forae

 

 

Table 1:  Collaboration                                                                  Source: Strategy Partners International

Notes:      CTI - Computer Telephony Integration                      VoIP - Voice over IP
CRM - Customer Relationship Management            COI - Communities of Interest
EDI - Electronic Data Interchange                            PC-VC - PC Video Conferencing
IRC - Internet Relay Chat                                         FoD - Fax on Demand

Items in bold are areas where Microsoft and its partners provide technology solutions


Figure 3: Collaborative profiles

 

Administrative user

·         Generally desk-centric, working from an office environment;

·         Computer-centric, uses e-mail and public folders for asynchronous collaboration;

·         Uses telephone for most synchronous collaboration;

·         May deal with large amounts of paper-based information.

 

Mobile user

·         Sales or field force, using portable device for data entry;

·         Mixed user – uses computer for data entry, contact management, etc;

·         Uses e-mail for most asynchronous collaboration;

·         Uses telephone for most contact with customers, data synchronisation with home base;

·         Uses telephone and/or mobile computer to participate in synchronous meetings.

 

Managerial user

·         Generally desk-centric, but has portable device for home, hotel and travel use;

·         Occasional computer user (personal assistant is major user);

·         Higher telephone usage;

·         Needs to skim knowledge layer from information;

·         Uses portable to access e-mails, modify documents/presentations while away from base;

·         Uses whiteboard technology to gain synchronous updates to reports/presentations.

 

Nomadic user

·         Desk-centric, but needs to move from one site to another on a regular basis;

·         Heavy computer user, uses telephone for synchronous collaboration;

·         Uses e-mail/public folders for asynchronous collaboration.

 

Remote user

·         Home or cottage base, uses desktop or connected laptop to carry out tasks;

·         Heavy computer user;

·         Uses telephone for data connection and synchronous collaboration to home base;

·         Uses whiteboard technology, data sharing for synchronous work collaboration;

·         May use video conferencing for synchronous meeting collaboration.

 

 


Collaborative Technologies as Services

 

Figure 4:  Collaborative services architecture

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Collaborative technologies are for everyone, not just for selected users within an organisation. Therefore, collaborative services must be made available at the foundational level, integrated into existing applications where applicable. Integration must be flexible, ensuring that applications can be upgraded or swapped out without the need for massive changes at the services level.

 

Collaborative services (see Figure 4) are underpinned by operating system services, providing basic transport and security services alongside file storage and print operations. In most cases, vertical host applications will be integrated at this level for file, data and printer sharing. Above this level, organisations need to look at how to build the collaborative services. Client side applications, for example Microsoftâ Office and Microsoftâ Outlook will talk directly to the collaborative services via provided application programmer interfaces (APIs). Many client/server applications will also talk directly via similar client and server integration. Existing two-tier client/server and host-based vertical applications may need to be integrated via data abstraction using data pumps or XML into the collaborative services.


Integration of Collaborative Services

 

The integration of existing applications enables us to maximise the return on investment in our IT collateral. Some of these applications may run on traditional legacy systems, challenging our abilities to directly integrate the application. Others may be monolithic client-side applications, standard two-tier or n-tier client/server applications, where we can more directly leverage the operating system capabilities and existing data abstraction standards.

 

Currently, integration is generally via standards presented by bodies such as the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), the Open Document Management Association (ODMA) and the International Telephone Union (ITU). These standards are dependent on both sides providing in-built support for the same version of the same standard – should the standard change on one side, integration may well be lost until the other side is upgraded. The impact of web-based technologies is forcing vendors to re-visit their stance on the usage of such standards. The ideal means of achieving integration is via application and service ‘stubs’ sitting between the application and the service. By the use of stubs, changes can occur in the application or the service with only the stub having to be modified to maintain integration.

 

As an example of data abstraction available today, Microsoft, via its Collaborative Data Objects (CDO), enables users to connect applications and clients to Exchange services under version 5.5. CDO provides a library of objects enabling clients and other services to access Exchange data and services transparently. With no visible client itself, CDO acts as a data abstraction and rendering tool to clients written in Microsoftâ Visual Basicâ, Microsoftâ Visual C++â or Microsoftâ Visual JavaÔ. As Microsoftâ Windowsâ 2000 Server and Exchange 6 become available, we can expect to see greater use of such technologies across the Microsoft product portfolio.

 

As time progresses, we expect to see co-existence and integration carried out via the extensible mark-up language (XML). Here, stubs will be written in the XML language to capture and abstract data from applications, making it available to other applications via the collaborative services layer within the IT infrastructure (see Figure 5). Information distribution will be eased by the use of Web-based Document Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV), where XML will be utilised to provide a common infrastructure for the control of information flowing across the dispersed resources of the virtual team.

 


Microsoft Office 2000 will be a major driver for XML and WebDAV.  Providing the capability for all data created to be in XML, the handling and transport of these data both internally and externally will be optimised, with greater fidelity, transparency and security. Microsoft is committed to the support of XML across its full product range, providing the basis for easy, transparent data and information collaboration throughout an organisation and beyond to our customers and suppliers.

 

Figure 5:  Data abstraction via XML stubs

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Microsoft's Collaborative Portfolio

 

In conjunction with its partners, Microsoft provides solutions across the range of existing IT collaborative needs, and enables the integration of many non-IT collaborative environments through the provision of industry-adopted standards such as the Telephony Application Programmers Interface, TAPI, and the ITU standards H.32x and T.12x. Microsoft’s existing product portfolio lays the foundation for the corporate Digital Nervous System (DNS), connecting all an organisation’s knowledge assets, enabling users to optimise collaboration and obtain business market differentiation.

 

Operating system and storage services

At the heart of Microsoft’s DNS vision is Windows NT, providing file, print and application services. With a self-monitoring file system (NTFS), in-built management console and unparalleled price-performance, Windows NT provides the basic tools for the construction of an advanced collaborative environment. Within the Windows NT product, the Internet Information Server (IIS) provides Internet services, for example HTTP and FTP combined with high levels of security such as SSL and S/HTTP, alongside advanced collaborative services such as Active Server Extensions and Active Server Pages.

 

At the storage level, SQL Server provides highly scaleable, relational data storage capabilities compatible with advanced data collaborative technologies including Microsoft Message Queue Services and Microsoft Transaction Server. Microsoft’s Jet storage engine provides informational data storage within the Exchange environment for more ad-hoc informational sources. Both storage environments work alongside, and interoperate with, the basic shared file storage capabilities of NTFS.

 

Collaborative services

At the messaging layer, Microsoft Exchange provides highly integrated, enterprise strength internal and external messaging alongside basic workflow services. Through the use of industry standards such as SMTP and MIME, Exchange provides the necessary transparency for an inter-organisational message infrastructure. Support for standard Internet discussion databases via NNTP provides transparent support for Communities of Interest (COIs). Microsoft's Message Queue Services and Microsoft Transaction Server provide the basis for secure transactions for customer relationship management (CRM), supply chain management (SCM) and other e-commerce applications.

 


 

 

Synchronous

Asynchronous

 

Personal

 

 

1 to 1

TAPI, NetMeeting, Partners

Exchange, Partners

1 to few

NetMeeting, NetShow, Partners

Exchange, Public Folders, Partners

1 to many

NetShow

Exchange, Public Folders

Few to few

NetShow

COI, Public Folders

Few to many

NetShow

IIS, Public Folders

Many to many

 

 

Corporate to customer

 

 

1 to 1

TAPI, Partners

Exchange, Partners

1 to few

 

COI, Exchange

1 to many

 

IIS, Public Folders

Few to few

 

IIS, Public Folders

Few to many

 

IIS, Public Folders

Many to many

 

IIS, Public Folders

Corporate to corporate

 

 

1 to 1

MQS, MTS

room-based video conferencing

MQS, MTS, Exchange

1 to few

 

 

1 to many

 

 

Few to few

 

COI

Few to many

 

 

Many to many

 

Technology forae

 

 

Table 2:  Microsoft’s collaborative portfolio
Microsoft NetMeeting and NetShow services provide the basis for interactive synchronous collaboration internally and externally using standards-based technologies including T.120 for data collaboration and H.320 for video. The support of these ITU standards enables non-PC based users, such as mobile telephone users and room-based video users, to be integrated into the PC world.

 

Collaborative clients

At the client level, Microsoftâ Internet Explorer provides a fully-functional browser and rendering environment firmly integrated into Microsoftâ Windowsâ 98 and Microsoftâ Windowsâ NT. Microsoft Outlook provides a messaging, calendaring, contact management and document control environment. Layering onto Exchange and integrating into Internet Explorer, Outlook has rapidly become the client of choice for users participating in the emerging collaborative world. The Microsoft Office family of products alongside Microsoftâ FrontPage 98 provides the means of creating, controlling and reviewing information.  Front-end applications such as Microsoft Project integrate with Exchange and Outlook, providing a transparent means of creating and tracking project tasks across the corporate DNS.

 

Collaborative development tools

Microsoft provides the tools to enable developers to maximise the collaborative possibilities of a Microsoft environment. Visual development tools such as Microsoftâ Visual InterDevÔ, Visual Basic, Visual C++ and Visual Java provide the application developer with a comprehensive toolbox for client and server-side applications. Visual Basic for Applications, common across the Microsoft Office family of projects, enables users and developers to quickly develop advanced, integrated collaborative solutions from within the client application.

 


Microsoft FrontPage 98 enables the easy development of collaborative web pages for both internal and external use. Integrated into IIS via ActiveServer and ActivePages and utilising the web publishing capabilities of Microsoft Office, organisations can rapidly develop a highly dynamic web presence enabling prospective customers to easily enter into collaborative interaction with the organisation.

Figure 6:  Microsoft's Collaborative Portfolio

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Standards and Collaboration

 

Microsoft continues to drive industry standards in the collaborative market.  Combining full industry standards support within IIS, Internet Explorer, NetMeeting and NetShow alongside de facto standards including COM+ and DCOM, Microsoft enables organisations to maximise their internal and external collaborative capabilities. Microsoft also continues to drive the development of these and other standards including XML, WebDAV, and the use of cascading style sheets (CSS) and other formatting capabilities within the web environment.

 

Microsoft continues to provide support for existing de jure standards – for example, partner solutions in the document management space are supported via ODMA standards, with synchronous collaborative solutions being supported via ITU standards (T.12x H.32x) etc.

 

Microsoft also provides enhanced standards based on de facto/de jure standards. The Distributed interNet Application architecture (DNA), based around the use of COM+, enables organisations to develop and deploy applications within and across the corporate boundary. The use of Collaborative Data Objects within Exchange enables the integration of other applications into the messaging environment through a library of components, and the advent of Active Directory within Windows 2000 will enable the identification and control of collaborative resources within the Microsoft environment and beyond via support for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

 

Thanks to the Microsoftâ BizTalk initiative, an extension to the DNA architecture, Microsoft will provide a framework that enables application integration and electronic commerce through the use of standard formats for exchanging business data. It consists of three parts:

·         Schema Syntax – a set of guidelines for how industry standards bodies and companies use XML to consistently describe business documents, the data exchanged between applications;

·         Message handling protocol – a standard set of tags on an XML message that describe how that message needs to be handled, in terms of security, error reporting, acknowledgements, and timestamps.  These messaging tags form the building blocks for using XML to define business processes between applications exchanging multiple BizTalk messages;

·         Topology for product descriptions – a standard way to class commercial products and services to facilitate merchandising, online markets, and enhanced search.

 

Microsoft will also drive real-world solutions via such work as the Value Chain Initiative (VCI), in which organisations will be able to see best practices in the use and deployment of Microsoft technology in the

e-commerce world.


The Future for Collaborative Services

 

The human/computer interface continues to evolve. In the short term, new products and releases from Microsoft including Exchange, SQL Server 7.0, Windows 2000 and Microsoftâ ActiveDirectoryÔ, will enhance the collaborative experience with improved integration and interoperation. 

 

Further down the line, we can expect to see greater changes in the way that we interact with computers. Already, voice recognition is beginning to play a role in how humans interact with computers, and voice over IP (VoIP) will hasten this evolution. Microsoft, in conjunction with partner Lernaut and Hauspie, is leading this evolution. Once voice and data share the same network, we will be able to deal with voice calls and faxes as peer services in the data arena, leading to a greater degree of transparency in the use of universal inboxes. Text to voice will enable us to access our e-mail from the telephone, with voice to text being used to respond to these mails back into the corporate environment.

 

As Microsoftâ Windowsâ CE continues to evolve, the prospect of the ‘wearable computer’ becomes more of a reality. Combining telecoms and computer technologies, we can expect to be able to access voice and data systems from a single device. The use of enhanced wireless cellular technologies will enable users to automatically transfer from an internal organisational network to the use of a public network outside the organisational cell. Wireless technologies within the home will provide ‘consumer cells’, further enhancing the collaborative capabilities for these all-in-one roaming devices.

 

Microsoft will continue to drive the technologies required to provide a full collaborative experience, bringing together all means of business and consumer collaboration through the application of foundational technologies. In conjunction with its partners, Microsoft will provide added business value for process workflow, document management and

e-commerce activities, enabling organisations to entice, capture and leverage business via enhanced customer relationships.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, Windows CE, BackOffice, SQL Sever 7.0 and Internet Explorer are either registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are held by their respective companies.

 

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions,

it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

 

This document is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.

 

© 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.