Exchange & Outlook®: Constructing Collaborative Solutions

Defining Collaboration

It is time to define what I mean by advanced collaboration. After our previous discussion, we can safely say that advanced collaborative solutions should satisfy the following criteria:

• The collaborative solution should be based on the actual requirements placed on the management of information, not on an existing paper-based business processes.

• Information should be introduced into the collaborative solution only once. Additionally, the information entered should be maintained in a structured format so that it can be utilized at additional data management points.

• Emphasis should always be given to gathering and circulating only required information to reduce the demands placed on managing information that is not needed. ...