1. SFSU-ISYS 363-Fall
2013
Section-01 Group: Eagles

2. Teamwork makes
the dream work.
Technology has become so advanced that
today businesses heavily rely on it and the
internet to help run their companies. Because
of this, collaboration tool software was
invented to give businesses a way to easily
manage teams therefore becoming more
productive and organized.
Collaboration software (aka workgroup
software) is software that supports teamwork,
whether team members are in the same
location or dispersed around the world.
Various collaboration software includes video
conferencing, task management organization
and document sharing. According to
Ichitect.com a few collaboration software
leaders at the moment are Zoho, Teambox and
ConceptBoard.

3. Eagles Criteria
• One of the features we are looking for in a collaborative tool is a communication application that will allow us to
communicate easily with each other. We would also prefer if there were more than one communication application
within the collaborative tool site.
• Since we are very busy college students (whose time is precious) we are looking for a collaborative tool that we will
be able to learn quickly. This way we won’t spend time learning the tool that could be spent working on the project
or other scholastic tasks.
• It would be helpful if the collaborative tool was easy on the eyes. Since we will be spending a significant amount of
time on the site it should be a site that we don’t mind looking at.
• Probably the most important need is a collaborative tool that keeps all of our projects, tasks and notes well
organized and easy to locate.

4. Pros
• Learning how to use Trello takes a small amount of time.
The site is fairly simple.
• The tasks that need to be done, tasks being done and
tasks that have been completed are all listed and shown
on the project board side by side. It is very clear and well
organized.
• Tasks are recorded on “cards” within a project board.
You can drag cards from one production list to another.
For example, the card “Create PowerPoint presentation”
was originally created in the To Do list and once it has
been completed the team member can drag the card to
the Done list.
Cons
• There is no note feature therefore there is no way of
showing the details of a task that needs to be done,
only the task itself is shown.
• There is no videoconferencing or easy way of
communicating with team members.
• The tool is too simple to be used for business
purposes. It is would be better used as a personal tool
rather than a collaborative tool.

5. Pros
• The label feature is easy and useful as it mimics a
feature already present in MacOS and Windows OS.
• Team members can readily create a task in a bar
similar to updating a Facebook or Twitter status. They
can also easily go back and edit any post that has been
made.
• Team members can use the “@” symbol to tag
anyone to a comment/task/note. This is helpful if
the team leader or a team member needs to grab the
attention of a specific team member.
Cons
• In order to access a note a task must be created first.
This means that the team has to search through multiple
tasks which is time consuming. In a fast paced business
environment this will waste time and money.
• Members are unable to comment or leave notes on
another member’s comment, making the means of
communication difficult.
• Having to create a post each time takes up space on the
page. Every post has to be read through to find what is
being searched for.

6. Pros
• Notes can be shared with individuals outside of the
team who do not use Teambox. Teambox creates a
link of the note which can be sent to anyone.
• Team members can communicate through
videoconferencing and the conversation feature.
• Tasks can be exported into an Excel spreadsheet. The
spreadsheet shows who is assigned to the task, when
it was created, when it is due and any hashtags
associated with it.
Cons
• Teambox is a free collaborative tool but only for
teams made up of 5 people. Once the team exceeds 5
there is a monthly fee.
• The tool is semi-confusing to navigate. Teambox
offers a wide number of video tutorials but time can
be wasted learning how to use the site instead of
getting tasks done.
• There is not a way to delete a project once it has been
created. If that feature exists it was not easily found.

7. Pros
• This collaborative tool is easy to learn and
navigate.
• It can be accessed on any mobile or tablet device.
• WeChat has a photo sharing feature. This can be
useful for a company looking to relocate that has
created a “relocating team”. Team members can
go to different job sites and send each other
pictures of locations discovered.
Cons
• Shouldn’t be used for professional companies. This
site is better suited for a small company whose
leadership is made up of young people.
• This tool uses QR codes to invite people to group
chats. QR codes our quite outdated and most people
don’t know how to use them.
• The company is more focused on people casually
communicating with each other rather than for
business purposes.

8. Pros
• This collaborative tool doesn’t require that team
members have a smartphone. Groups can have
conversations through SMS messaging by using
command codes created by GroupMe.
• If team members are meeting somewhere one team
member can send their present location to the team.
That way no one will get lost and everyone knows
where to go.
• The tool makes it very easy to add new members.
Cons
• This collaborative tool is meant to be used mainly on
a mobile device. Therefore it’s quite limited as to how
it can assist a group working on a project.
• There is no way to share documents with team
members.
• When trying to add new members text messages are
sent to them with may be confusing and sometimes
even annoying

9. Winners!
• The Eagles chose the collaborative tool Teambox as one of the winners. This tool was chosen
because it offered the best features that would support a team working on a project. This
collaborative tool was also the most organized of the 5 tools researched. It takes a little time to
learn how to use it but not so much that time is being wasted. We also found that the video
tutorials were really helpful.
• The other winner chosen is GroupMe. We will use this as a way to easily communicate with each
other.

10. References
• https://trello.com/
• https://www.producteev.com/
• http://teambox.com/platform/webinars-tutorials/
• http://www.wechat.com/en/
• https://groupme.com/
• http://ichitect.com/best-team-collaboration-tools/