Free Version Launched
Our free version has just been launched to great success!
We’ve had a fantastic uptake and now even more people or seeing the benefits of collaborating online. The free version (and by free we mean free for life, no catches, no commitment just sign up and start using the software straightaway), is restricted to 200Mb of storage and 25 users and at the moment does not include the features of the premium version, but the way we see it, if you want to share documents online, with automatic version control, watchlists, RSS feeds and a host of other features – look no further.
If you’d like to collabor8online for free , Click Here, video help can be found Here
Clone users!
Collabor8 offers extensive security levels enabling some members of staff to see all projects or folders and others to have a more restricted view. Although this is a very powerful and useful tool it can cause problems in larger systems, particularly “mature” systems that have extensive or complex folder structures and sophisticated permissions. Take for example a new member of staff joining the administration team. Ideally, rather than visit each project in turn and assess the appropriate permissions required, it would be easier if we could copy or clone the permissions from an existing member of the administration team. The new modification allows you to do exactly that, although you may subsequently edit the permissions to further restrict or enhance access as required. The video below shows the feature in use.
Upload a number of files at once!
Another new feature we’ve added is to allow users to add groups of files or attachments rather than simply adding them one at a time. In the past, when uploading drawings, documents, images or other attachments, the user had to select one file at a time and repeat the process. Now using the conventional keyboard shortcuts of “click and control” and “click and shift”, multiple files may be selected and uploaded at one time. The video below shows the feature in use.
New Feature – Templates
Following requests from various users we’ve added a Templates feature to the latest release of our package. This new release will be rolled out across the network automatically to existing subscribers over the next couple of weeks, at the moment plans are to include the features in “premium” versions and above but this has not been finalised yet.
The Templates feature allows you to create a range of folders, images, text and attachments and save them as a Template. When you then start a new project you can create a new group of folders based on your previously created Template. There is no limit to the number of templates you can create, or the number of folders you can put in them! (Unless of course you run out of disk space!) This very powerful feature is destined to be come very popular with users. The Video below shows feature in use.
5 Reasons Why
It’s been suggested that our previous article “10 reasons why you should collabor8online” was a little long-winded, so we’ve talked to a few customers and asked them to give us their “reasons why”, here are the top five.
1. To publish Drawings, Specifications and Project documentation. Making sure that everyone has the most recent version and establishing one place for all project documentation.
2. Assigning project tasks to individuals and tracking progress. The “To-Do” list feature allows you to assign tasks to individuals, the To-Do list is visible to all project team members allowing all to see who is doing what, by when. A neat feature will automatically alerts the creator of the task (by e-mail), when the task is marked as completed.
3. Publishing manuals, in-house drawings and specifications. The manufacturing sector have picked up on this, using the product as a safe repository for all internal documents and giving registered clients access to the same where appropriate.
4. A register of purchase orders and invoices raised, keeping track of orders raised, anticipated delivery dates, invoices and payments without the need to grant access to sensitive account information.
5. Project Management. It sounds simple, but a tool that allows access from office, site and home to manage documents, tasks, issues, and calendars is our most “searched for” term.
If you’d like to learn more, Call 0161 920 6491 or Click Here
Self Hosted Version
Our self-Hosted version is proving surprisingly popular, despite the initial investment requirement (unlimited licenses start at £10,000) for larger organisations the ability to locate such a strategic project management tool within their own domain is proving an attractive option. For example, a company called Contractor Ltd, may own www.contractor.co.uk and with the self hosted version collabor8 can be located at www.projects.contractor.co.uk. For those not wishing to splash out unlimited licenses, we can offer a dedicated server version within our premium package, which allows users to use their own domain name in the same fashion.
If you’d like to learn more, Call 0161 920 6491 or Click Here
10 Reasons Why (you should Collabor8online)
1. Save Money – a compelling reason in the current climate! Yes you can reduce printing costs, remove postage costs and generally work quicker and more efficiently but most importantly, “by working together” you can reduce mistakes, mistakes are expensive!
2. Everything you need is outsourced -so there’s no need to invest in complicated IT infrastructure as all you need is a PC or Mac and an Internet connection.
3. Fewer items to clutter up your inbox. All your project information in one place.
4. Create confidence through transparency - by publishing information online and sharing it with colleagues, contacts and clients you include the people that need to contribute and make everybody’s lives a lot easier.
5. Clients love it – by giving your clients easy access to the information they want, it saves them chasing you for it and reinforces the relationships that differentiate you from your competitors.
6. Anytime, anywhere. Work from home, work from site, work late, work early – whatever suits you. Online collaboration tools are available 24/7.
7. Configurable to your needs. Publish what you want images, documents, tasks or calendars, invite who you want to share, remain in complete control.
8. Be Green – online collaboration is great for your sustainability credentials.
9. Create a lynchpin – a central, secure and searchable repository for all company information that, over time, can become the “go to” resource for both current and archived information.
10. Helicopter view, lots of projects, only interested in a few crucial aspects? Create a watchlist and Collabor8 will automatically update you about the content you are interested in.
If you’d like to learn more, Call 0161 920 6491 or Click Here
The Semantic Web – Are you ready for Web 3.0?
“Oh No” I hear you cry, not something else I’ve got to get my head around! Something new, something different and something that definitely sounds expensive. Ok ok don’t worry, before you rush off to trade in your old computer equipment (as surely this will mean further upgrades), let me give you a brief history.
In the beginning there was the web, sometimes called the Internet or anything in between. Most of us managed to “get online” and get reasonably happy with e-mails web pages and all the things that the Internet brought to us. Then someone came along with something called web 2.0, (this certainly sent me into a blind panic thinking I’d have to learn a whole new set of standards and terminologies), but I found the explanation strangely comforting. The original web, Web 1.0 if you like, was about connecting machines Web 2.0 was about connecting people.
Facebook is an obvious Web 2.0 product, with the business network Linkedin being the more business orientated example of how the Internet is now used to connect people, rather than simply their computers.
So are you ready for Web 3.0? Let’s have a look at the explanation, those of you will have an iPod or i-tunes may have used the “genius” feature. It’s a fascinating little gadget which looks at the tunes you have loaded on your device and automatically suggest other tunes that are similar in style and content. If you like, based on what music you have already it will suggest music that it thinks you will enjoy. There are other applications that do similar things, for example buy a few books from Amazon and you will find that it begins to have “suggestions” for your reading list, interestingly drawing on information gleaned from other purchasers who had bought the same book as you. So Amazon is not just learning about you, it’s learning about everybody!
If you’re getting scared now, I think that’s a natural reaction, yes the machines are learning and so is the web. Think about this scenario: your alarm clock is connected to your computer, and your computer has your diary, based on your appointments the web decides what time to wake you, it knows where you live and using Google maps it can calculate your journey time (even allowing for traffic conditions). Whilst you’re on the road new information can be delivered to your mobile device/phone, in the ultimate scenario your fridge can remind you that you’ve run out of milk and tell you to buy some on the way home, even telling you who has the best price at the moment! OK at this point let’s call Mr Schwarzenegger and tell him the machines have taken over!
Well Collabor8online we can’t set your alarm clock and we don’t know who has the best price for milk, but we can tell you when there have been significant changes to project documentation that you have said you’re interested in, we can send you one line e-mail saying “the specification has just been changed”, or “a new version of this drawing has been released”, or even “your boss has commented on your interim application document”.
If you’d like to move (a little) toward the Semantic Web, call 0161 920 6491 or click Here
Setting up Collabor8
Whether you’re setting up the system via our website, or taking part in a free trial or promotion, the video below take you through the first steps when setting up your system. The first part of the video shows registration for one of our free promotions (this may have already been done for you), the second part shows how to add your first user and create a folder.
For support e-mail : support@collabor8online.co.uk
Take Our Survey
We recently conducted a survey and the results have really surprised us.
We asked people which administration tasks that gave them most headaches and the answers were not what we expected! So, we’ve adjusted our poll and we’re now giving users a chance to name their own answers!
Which administration tasks do you really hate? Take the poll below, if you don’t like the suggested answers, please add your own - once you’ve voted, the results will be displayed!
Thanks again for your feedback it’s very much appreciated
Poll Question: What is the Admin task that gives you most headaches?
You can vote for current most popular:
- Don't agree with any of the answers above? Type your answer below.
- Enter a number between ninety six and 101:
