Open Source

At Open Source Development, we design and develop solutions to meet organizations’ needs for employee collaboration tools. Groupware applications are a set of web based programs/tools (having a common interface) that facilitate collaboration and sharing of information among employees/team members. It provides users with a platform to interact and share information, ideas, documents etc. Through our groupware solutions clients can ensure better coordination between team members which in turn will lead to an increase in efficiency and productivity of the employees.
We provide our solutions with an administrator module that enables the groupware administrator to manage the entire applications. Creation of users, assigning rights with the application, etc are some of the tasks that can be performed by the administrator.
Features
A host of software applications and tools can be integrated to create robust groupware solutions. Some of them include the following:

• Address Book: The contact details of all users can be stored in the Address book, from where it can be accessed as and when required.
• Task Scheduler: Through the task scheduler module, users can crate and assign tasks to workgroups or to individual users. Details such as start date, completion date, description etc can be entered for each task. Based on the tasks assigned, a to-do list containing the details of the tasks will be displayed to the user.
• Calendar: The calendar feature can be used to schedule tasks, meetings, events etc. Reminders pertaining to an upcoming task, meeting etc can be set. The calendar module allows the creation of a personal calendar (for individual use) as well as a public calendar (that can be accessed and viewed by all authorized users/members of the workgroup).
• Email: An integrated email module that includes all email features such as compose and send messages, organizing email messages into multiple folders etc is provided with the solution. Integration with third-party e-mail applications such as Outlook etc is also provided.
• Chat Module: An integrated chat module enables users to interact with each other. The chat module provides an easy mechanism for users (spread across geographical locations) to communicate with each other.
• File Manager: The file manager enables users to organize and store documents in a centralize repository from where it can be accessed and viewed by other users. Users can also set permissions restricting access
• Discussion Forums: Discussion forums enable users to create discussions topics and voice their opinions and views thereby facilitating exchange of ideas.
• Announcements: Through the announcements module news and latest happenings within the organization can be showcased. Announcements can be viewed by all users but the right to create announcements can be restricted by the administrators to specific users.
• Surveys and Opinion Polls: The opinions of the user can be sought via online surveys and opinion polls. Authorized users can create and configure the poll settings such as answer options, number of times that a user can vote etc. They can also create questionnaires seeking employee opinion on specific topics.

Solutions
Some of the solutions developed by Open Source Development include the following:
Groupware Manager
Our client, an IT consultancy firm based in Japan, required a group of web based applications that would enable them to provide their customers with a platform to share and synchronize information and knowledge between their individual workgroups. The solution was required to provide support for both English and Japanese and was also required to be compatible with different platforms such as mobile phones and PCs. Based on the requirements of the client, Open Source Development developed Groupware Manager, a solution that provides high-end tracking, management and synchronization capabilities. The Groupware Manager was developed as a fully customizable solution that could easily be configured by the end-users to suit their requirements. Tools enabling users to manage projects, schedule tasks etc were provided. An administrator module was provided that enabled the administrators to manage the Groupware Manager application.