[kwlug-disc] What collaboration software am I looking for?

Thu Nov 27 13:58:48 EST 2014

While there are a lot of good comments coming in, I should make sure that
everyone knows of a wonderful website called http://alternativeto.net .  If
you have an idea of what program you need (for example, a Windows program),
you can get alternatives to it by platform along with user comments,
ratings, etc.

I find it handy when I don't know what program to look for.

On Thu Nov 27 2014 at 1:45:27 PM B.S. <bs27975 at yahoo.ca> wrote:

> xtuple?
>
> http://www.xtuple.com/get-xtuple-erp
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XTuple
>
> Your list is in essence salesforce management, client relationships,
> customer service, etc.
>
>  > - A (growing) list of potential employers
>
> Salespeople, or customers, depending on how you want to look at it.
>
>  > - A bunch of people who are looking for placements (which we call
>    "participants")
>
> Prospects, or potential sales, or sales leads.
>
>  > - Actual placements that are made between the participants and
>    employers
>
> The other side of the top (salespeople/customers). A placement could be
> considered a sale.
>
>  > - Make notes about each participant, including which employers they
>    have approached for each participant
>
> Journal or customer / supplier interaction history notes.
>
>  > - Keep track of employer information (such as contact information and
>    prior placements)
>
> (Built in) Contact db / app, with notes.
>
>  > - Keep track of tasks to be done with each participant and employer
>
> Tasks assigned. Including calendared 'waiting for' (GTD parlance).
> (Journal item above, dated with date due.)
>
>  > - Record and evaluate placements that are made
>
> After sale follow up.
>
>  > - Generate reports on all of the following
>
> Moving target. There's a reason why most people csv data -> calc.
>
>
> Your requirements also make me think wiki is some part of the solution
> so that they have a place to put notes and thoughts, share them, and
> gain a single repository from which to pull initiatives / thoughts /
> ideas. This could even be a starting point. One article per client and
> supplier, and wiki words would cross-reference.
>
>
> I like what William said - pen and paper. They won't like that, but it's
> the honest truth, and the real (selling) point is that through doing
> what they do with pen and paper for some period of time they will be
> better able to express their desired result from any computer processes.
> And be better able to define specifications to help you short list
> potential solutions.
>
> [It's not clear from your note, but for all I know this has been going
> on for a while, and they're already at this point.]
>
> More importantly, through such they will better appreciate the
> administrative burden / overhead involved in any system. And if they
> perceive sufficient value to the result knowing the overhead work
> required to accomplish, there's a better chance for a successful, not
> abandoned, implementation.
>
> e.g. Contact maintenance, diligent data entry, task assignment entry and
> reporting, and so on.
>
> Put xtuple on a livecd or something so they can take it for a spin. At
> the least they'll start to get a sense of the nature of the beastie,
> what and how to organize things, and what sorts of things might be
> involved.
>
> Regardless of your ultimate solution given your requirements list, the
> conceptual frameworks to be delivered will be similar, regardless of the
> specific solution chosen. Perhaps a demo cd or something will get you
> some buy in. Bonus, I suppose, if you could fire it up in a vm and they
> could access remotely. i.e. Equivalent to taking that live cd and going
> on to the next person. Person one might put in a contact and make a few
> notes. With a vm person two would be able to see that and build on it.
> By the time you hit person X they will be able to see how it might fit
> your environment. Or not. (Let alone if the live cd -> vm is actually a
> working server multiply-accessible by bowser - your demo becomes
> production if they like it. Native clients, if any, could be installed
> later.)
>
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/postbooks/files/10%20PostBooks-VMs/ ?
>
>
> Else "20 Top Cloud Services for Small Businesses"
> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361500,00.asp ?
>
> http://www.zoho.com/ ?
>
>
> On 11/26/2014 11:58 PM, Paul Nijjar wrote:
> >
> > I am trying to research some FLOSS alternatives for a problem some
> > people at my work are having. They are trying to track the following
> > things:
> >
> > - A (growing) list of potential employers
> > - A bunch of people who are looking for placements (which we call
> >    "participants")
> > - Actual placements that are made between the participants and
> >    employers
> >
> > They want to do things like the following:
> > - Make notes about each participant, including which employers they
> >    have approached for each participant
> > - Keep track of employer information (such as contact information and
> >    prior placements)
> > - Keep track of tasks to be done with each participant and employer
> > - Record and evaluate placements that are made
> > - Generate reports on all of the following
> >
> >
> > I am looking for something maintainable, somewhat customizable (in
> > case they have extra fields to add to the different groups),
> > installable on an internal Debian or Ubuntu server, and relatively
> > lightweight (this is a team of a few people, not a Fortune 500
> > company).
> >
> > Some jargon I have been looking at includes: "ERP", "CRM". I am not
> > even sure what category of things I am looking for. It feels like I am
> > looking for some collaborative project software, maybe.
> >
> > In my mind this does not seem that different from the problem the
> > infamous UW Jobmine system is trying to solve.
> >
> > Rolling our own database-driven application is a possibility, but one
> > I would prefer to avoid unless there is nothing that does what I want
> > (especially if the database application we end up using is Microsoft
> > Access, which would break my stony heart).
> >
> > I am sure that this is a solved problem. What software am I looking
> > for? Categories of software to search for would be helpful. Individual
> > software packages to try would be helpful. Personal experiences of
> > solving these problems would be very helpful. I am in the beginning
> > stages of my research and I am flailing around.
> >
> > - Paul
> >
> >
>
>
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