Workgroup computing
The term Computer Group Work ( RGA) or English Workgroup Computing describes a component of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). This is to support aperiodic and weakly structured team or group work that a high degree of cooperation ( cooperation required). Workgroup computing tries to facilitate or even enable collaboration through computer-aided, networked systems.
The team members can be geographically and temporally separated from one another, e.g. B. Software development in different time zones or continents. For this reason, there are also very different editors that enable real-time or time-shifted work. This requires special mechanisms to regulate work control (e.g. cursor movement, scrolling in the document) during synchronous (real-time) processing. Such conflicts are also referred to as mouse or scroll wars .
It is important that the processing takes place on the same document basis. This central data management allows the redundancies and the different versions of documents to be controlled well. In order to bridge the geographical distance, communication is of great importance.
Groupware is a collection of programs that mostly consists of modified application and communication programs that workgroup computing makes possible.
Components
- Group editors (time-synchronized or asynchronous)
- Joint data storage
- Access mechanisms that preserve data integrity
- Electronic meeting rooms and opportunities for spontaneous contact with team members
- Promotion of group and individual communication
- Personal Information Manager (PIM): Calendar, scheduling, notes, etc.
Demarcation
In contrast to this, workflow management systems, also part of the CSCW, are concerned with the coordination of structured processes, such as with business processes e.g. B. Standardized damage recording for insurance companies.
See also
literature
- Stahlknecht, Peter: Introduction to Business Information Systems , Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York 1995 Edition 6; ISBN 3-540-59101-X
Web links
- Intranet-based workgroup computing (PDF) by Kunow, Kerstin; Schwickert, Axel C. - University of Mainz Chair for General Business Administration and Information Systems Univ.-Prof. Dr. Herbert Kargl (763 kB)