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Title: |
Use Help-U-Plan's collaborative planning facilities to ensure
success for your project |
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Description: |
How to use Help-U-Plan's facilities for collaborative project planning and collaborative project management |
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Tags: |
Collaborative planning, collaborative project, project communication, project proposal, project timeline, Gantt Chart,
collaborative management, planning document |
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Suggestions:
1. Get familiar with the Workspace, where charts are created and modified
go to the Workspace now
(explanation for collaboration is also given there)
(see How it Works - collaboration)
2. Establish a collaborative group (via login)
assign a Master user and a collaborative group name (User ID for the Master)
add collaborative members with 'Read-Write' or 'Write-Only' privileges
3. Create your initial chart in the Workspace
4. Email collaborative members to take a look at the chart (from the Workspace)
members can add comments (Read-Only) or modify the chart (Read-Write)
(see For Managers)
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About Collaboration
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To Top
One of the most important things enabled by the internet is the process of collaboration; communicating about important matters related to a problem or a project. Help-U-Plan offers a simple approach to collaboration using the Gantt Chart, allowing the posting of feedback and comments to a chart without having to play phone tag. This feature is known as asynchronous (not connected at the same time) communication. This is how we now respond back and forth to emails, leaving an email trail of the discussion. This email trail, recorded on our server, provides a history of the discussion relative to each chart. |
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One of our greatest opportunities in solving difficult problems and executing complex projects is successful collaboration. Help-U-Plan's collaborative version, built around a Gantt Chart graphic, can help you make those difficult projects a success.
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How it Works To Top
The collaborative version of the Help-U-Plan service works seamlessly with the non-collaborative version. Know how to use the basic service, it's a simple step to using the collaborative version.
Collaboration is facilitated via two different folders within the standard Workspace. One of these folders is labeled  and the other is labeled  . The 'Charts' folder provides access to all of the currently stored charts in the collaborative group. Also offered in this folder is access to stored 'snapshots' of previously current charts, and the opportunity to create an additional snapshot from the current chart. Snapshots are listed in a drop-down list which includes the snapshot's date of creation. Users can go back and forth as much as they like between current versions of the stored charts and their historic snapshots.
The folder displays a text file which accumulates comments and feedback concerning the associated Gantt Chart. Any person in the collaborative group can append comments to this text. The text therefore becomes a running documentary on the changes in the chart over time, stored on our server. The associated text is loaded automatically when a different chart is selected for viewing.
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User Privileges To Top
There are 3 levels of privileges available in the collaborative version of the Help-U-Plan service:
1. Master
2. Read-Write
1. Read-Only
The collaborative group is established by the 'Master' of the group. This person establishes User ID's, Passwords, Email addresses, names, and privileges for all other users. Only the Master user can delete stored charts.
A person with 'Read-Write' privileges can create and modify any chart within the collaborative group. He/She is not allowed to delete any chart.
A person with 'Read-Only' privileges can view any chart within the collaborative group. This chart viewed will be the most current version saved by either the Master or a person with Read-Write privileges.
All persons in the collaborative group are permitted to save snapshots of the current chart. These copies are stored on Help-U-Plan's server are are available at any time for viewing. Each person is also permitted to add comments to the collabororative text in the 'Comments' folder.
All persons in the group can be logged in at the same time. This permits either synchronous or asynchronous communication, whichever is desired. In synchronous mode, voice communication would be via your telephone service, as we do not presently offer VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol).
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For Managers To Top
Since the manager makes all decisions regarding the collaborative group, this person decides who has 'Read-Write', and who has 'Read-Only' privileges. Only the manager will have Master privileges, permitting the deletion of plans and associated text files and Snapshots of Charts, as well as assigning members to the group.
On a technical level, please be aware that all persons with Read-Write capabilities (including the Master) could conceivably make changes to a Chart at the same time. This could be confusing and frustrating to users if they were unaware that others with Write privileges were logged on at the save time. Also, a Read-Write user could conceivably be making a change in a chart, while another Read-Write user was retrieving a different chart into the save database Workspace. Please keep this possibility in mind when you are assigning privileges to members of your group.
We have provided the feature 'whos on?' (within the folder) to help users be aware of their own group situation, and avoid this type of confusion. We expect that users who are on simultaneously will do so intentionally, and will be in contact by phone, or perhaps via comments in the associated text file. This could be a very beneficial type of collaboration, allowing some back-and-forth 'what-if' comparisons.
We do expect that most collaboration will be asynchronous (not at the same time), as this is how our much-used email system works, and it is how many of us find it efficient to work. It gives us time to think, and to look things up, before we respond to an email message.
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About Abstraction To Top
One of the principal meanings of abstraction is to remove detail. Removing the detail is very important to our understanding, whether it is something we are trying to understand ourselves, or something we are trying to convey to others. We get confused trying to comprehend the detail along with the important larger points, all at the same time. And so in the process of abstraction, we pick out the most significant aspects and omit the detail.
For example, when modifying an existing computer program, we sometimes create completely new documentation for the program simply to help us understand what happens. By looking at the complete code, we get confused. It is simply too much to get our minds around. So we create documentation in some form (text, flow chart, graphic, etc.) to show the important points (like milestones). We leave out the detail (the code) to prevent information overload. Without some approach like this, many computer programs are much too complex to be understood. We use the principle of abstraction to promote understanding.
And abstraction is very important to collaboration. Some collaborators need and want the detail; some do not. If you need significant detail, Help-U-Plan's services will likely not satisfy those aspects of your needs. For persons not needing the detail, a simpler presentation is crucial to understanding. Else, people may pretend to understand, or spend effort understanding detail when it is the more important points they should focus on. Particularly, simplicity is important for those who are heavy multi-taskers. These are people for whom detail is a distraction.
This illustrates why our simple, clear Gantt Chart is such a useful and powerful communicator. It illustrates important events and activities against an intuitive timescale, and depicts the relevant relationships with a link, or arrow. It uses common, easily comprehended symbols. Very simple. Consequently very powerful. An excellent example of using the principle of abstraction to help us understand and communicate important things.
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