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Have you ever tried working on a project with someone on another campus, or in another state or country? You probably spent hours on the phone, trying to describe what you were looking at or thinking about. If you were lucky you might have been able to send files through e-mail. Take heart - there is a better way.

Collaborative workspaces are secure, virtual "rooms" designed to enhance the exchange of information among a group of workers (also known as a team). Searching the market has led to the identification of dozens of companies with a variety of products that address the opportunity to one degree or another (see the online Buyer's Guide at www. nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 6842).

We invited eight and completed testing on three product suites that offer a full range of real time and messaging functionality for virtual teams: Groove Networks' Groove Client 2.5 and Enterprise Management server; iCohere's Workgroup Suite 3.1; and Documentum's eRoom 6.0 (Documentum announced Version 7 on July 21.). Some companies declined to participate in the review because their products were near the end of a product cycle and the upcoming generation of solutions is significantly different than current commercial offerings. The products we tested have significant differences in how they address challenges facing members of a virtual workgroup and how they help users navigate through the spaces. While all the tested products offered a range of functionality we gave Documentum's eRoom a Blue Ribbon Award. We found the product's use of icons and collapsible navigation easy to use, feature-rich and very responsive. From an administrative view, we like how the platform does not require a separate messaging server.

Setting up the systems

Documentum's eRoom was by far the easiest to install.The only prerequisite is a fully patched Windows 2000 (or newer) Server. The only mark against the system as we tested it is that the Real Time Server, which supports the collaborative meeting environment, must be installed on a separate Win 2000 server.

Groove's Enterprise Server was almost as easy to install. But in addition to installing on a Win 2000 Server, you need to install Microsoft SQLServer 2000.As long as the SQL server permissions are set up correctly, Groove Enterprise Server will install with minimum effort. Our only hitch was understanding some of the options presented, most notably the wording of Certificate Authority settings.

While certainly not difficult, iCohere's Workgroup Suite install required the most preparation. In addition to installing Win 2000 Server and SQLServer 2000, you need to install MacroMedia's ColdFusion MX and Microsoft Outlook 2000 (or newer), and enable Terminal Services and FTP access. ICohere's support staff uses FTP to upload the installation files and then connect to your server using Windows Terminal Services. The installation then is completed for you. The biggest drawback of this configuration is that it requires membership in a domain that has Exchange services available for the sole purpose of sending e-mail. The domain membership is required to launch Outlook without a password challenge.

ICohere shines in the configuration phase, however. After a member of iCohere's staff remotely connects and installs the system, it creates workspaces to your specifications as part of a standard installation. As part of a pre-installation survey you document how many workspaces you need, what functions will be in each room and other details. When iCohere is finished, you have a complete set of workspaces ready for use. While users can be given different permission levels within a workspace, the administrator controls creating new workspaces.

Groove lets users create new workspaces and invite whomever they feel is appropriate to join.The roles of manager, participant or guest can be assigned to the invitees. Groove workspaces contain a default set of features, such as discussion boards and file transfer areas, which then can be customized to fit the purpose of the workspace.

Documentum calls its workspaces rooms - new rooms can be populated with objects from a template, or a blank room can be created in which you can create your own objects later. A user with permission can create rooms as he sees fit, using those objects (tools) that best suit his needs and creativity. Individual items also may have permissions set on them. For example, a folder might be created to hold documents. Some users can be given the right to read and edit, while others can only read.You also can choose to hide the folder from users who get no permissions within the folder.This detail in access control is one of eRoom's strengths.

With a Web-based platform, there is virtually no setup needed to join a community or workspace. A Web browser is all that is required to get up and running with iCohere and eRoom.You can supplement the browser experience on eRoom by installing an optional plug-in. The plug-in gives members easy access to project downloads from a local machine, a workspace preferences configuration tool, monitoring, a quick-start button on the system tray and Outlook synchronization.

Groove's client is a run-time application that also integrates smoothly with Outlook, but it must be installed on all team members' systems. In contrast to the Web-based systems, Groove Workspace relies on the client application, which is only compatible with Windows-based systems.

Both iCohere's Workgroup Suite and Documentum's eRoom have password protection for the browser-only user (when running the plug-in, eRoom will remember the password). For iCohere users who forget their passwords, a temporary password can be e-mailed to the user.With Groove and eRoom, if a user forgets his password, a system administrator needs to be notified.

Activity and asset management

Two major challenges that team members face are managing time and project-related files. All three systems we tested have project- or space-specific calendars. Groove and eRoom (through its optional client plug-in) support calendar synchronization with Outlook. ICohere's calendar is Web-based and internal to the application. All three systems also could reflect local times for events or deadlines, permitted recurring events, and could issue notifications to team members if a calendar or project management milestone changed. We also liked that all three systems could link a calendar item to other tools or files. For example, a calendar item in Groove can become a link to the meeting area's agenda, list of participants and minutes. Similarly, a calendar item in eRoom can become the basis of a poll or vote.

Keeping track of your files, whether they are documents, diagrams or slide presentations, can be a headache with e-mail - the collaborative spaces handle this issue very well. Groove's client-centric model (all files are replicated by the client on team members' hard drives) is well-designed for a mobile worker who has a lot of storage space on his notebook. We found that Documentum's database-centric model offered the richest capabilities in terms of asset management and the most elegant interface for viewing author names, last change date and the like. Both iCohere and Documentum have file check-in, checkout, review and approval systems, and other advanced file-management features that are highly controllable by the "owner" of the workspace. All three systems provide file encryption for security-sensitive applications. Groove supports co-editing documents and synchronized navigation (the ability for the host of a space to have all participants in a meeting or project space see the host's screen in real time on their screens), while iCohere offers this through a third-party partner (for example, WebEx or PlaceWare). Documentum's Real Time Server option has file viewing and application and/or desktop sharing seamlessly integrated within eRoom-facilitated meetings.

Additional features

A collaborative workspace must have a directory or contact database to help members find or get to know one another. ICohere had the most flexible and feature-rich approach, letting us post team members' photos or graphics (although we hit a bump when trying to upload a large graphics file into a profile), or even audio files. Documentum was limited in its directory information,but gives users the ability to modify everything but their logon names. Groove places the burden on the system administrator to maintain a "corporate" profile of a user, but lets members create and self-maintain additional "personal" profiles. In addition to a local directory, Groove users can be listed in a "global" directory hosted at groove.net. Both Documentum and Groove could leverage multiple Lightweight Directory Access Protocol directories or Windows domains. However, Documentum had a feature that was unique - the ability to authenticate using RSA Security SecurID tokens.We did not test this feature, as it required additional software.