Still the most important part is we knew what the product needed to do because you’ve told us,  after that what we call is irrelevant.

Quick overview below–with invitation to beta test–we plan to launch in May, please let us know what you think,  your feedback is the principal component that drives our development.

To take part in the beta test e-mail support@collabor8online.co.uk or Call 0203 369 6491

Collabor8online formally launched it’s service in 2010,  the service is now delivered to over 1150 users predominantly in the UK,  but with systems as far afield as South America and China.

Collabor8online  started out as an online document sharing product, recent developments have moved the application further towards a complete project management solution. The system includes automatic version control of all documents, sophisticated access control allows administrators to grant view, view/edit  or view/edit/delete  access rights to individual users and above all a familiar user interface ensures ease-of-use for users of all levels.

For more information contact here.

• New “Full Calendar”
• Drag-and-drop events and To Do items
• Multi-day Events & To Do’s can last any number of days
• Move events on the calendar & even change their duration with just a click
• New clearer easy-to-use user interface
• Easily see where you are
• Caters for long folder names
• In-line editing of to-do items .. and More …

Thinking outside the box?

Why is Collabor8online better than Dropbox?

Let’s get one thing out in the open before we start–we’re not “dissing” dropbox in any way whatsoever it’s an excellent product and it fulfils a specific need for a great number of (we’re sure) very satisfied clients. It’s just that it sets out to do a limited number of things and it does them very well, Collabor8online does more.

The biggest functional difference is that Dropbox automatically synchronises content. You don’t get to decide when you “push your content” out to the cloud to be shared with your colleagues and contacts, it happens automatically. With collabor8Online you make a positive decision, when you are ready, to put your content into your “shared” space. In that sense the programs actually satisfy different requirements.

Did we mention the Collabor8online also includes automatic version control, If you upload a document and then replace it with a more recent version, Collabor8 will automatically replace the existing document and increment the version number

This leaves everyone in no doubt which is the most up-to-date copy. Furthermore, Collabor8 keeps all historical versions and administrators have the ability to revert to a previous version if they wish.
However, there is a security issue here, because once synchronised the data is downloaded onto the local device of any user you are “sharing with”, even if you switch off that connection, the last version of content remains on the device.  A potential problem if for example a laptop is stolen .With collabor8Online, as there is no automatic synchronisation, when you switch off the connection, your data remains safe on our secure file servers.
Being specific, if you’re sharing the contents of your folders with Dropbox it’s either all or nothing. You can’t offer users restricted access to your content. We collabor8online you can offer view only, view and edit and view edit and delete permission levels. Furthermore permissions are set for each folder independently, so you can share some content with some users, different content with different users and in each case decide whether they should just be able to view only, or view and edit (and even delete if you want to really share your content!)

In Collabor8Online you can “watch” any folder or document on the system will automatically send you an e-mail any time that content is updated.

Collabor8online allows you to create calendars for each project and share them with your contacts – Dropbox doesn’t have calendars

Collabor8online allows you to create to-do lists for each project and share them with your contacts – Dropbox doesn’t have to-do lists.

Collabor8online allows you to create messages or comments about content and share (via e-mail) with your contacts – Dropbox doesn’t have messages/comments.

So, Dropbox is a great application that does some things the collabor8online doesn’t do (e.g. synchronise), but it doesn’t do it a lot of things that collaborate DOES do, such as watch folders, calendars, to-do lists, messages and e-mail integration.

Hope we’ve cleared that up?

Call 0203 369 6491

Ever since Oliver went to the front of the class and said “Please sir, can I have some more” it seems that, no matter how full your bowl is, there is always someone that will ask for more.

And often with good reason, whilst 2GB is an awful lot of space, it’s not as much as 10GB, which in turn is not as much as 20/ 40 or 100GB. In terms of disk storage space there is simply no such thing as “one size fits all”.

Companies, like people come in all different shapes and sizes, so whilst 25 users may be sufficient the some, 50 users won’t be enough for others nor will 100 for that matter.

And then there’s the issue of control. Can I access the application from my own website, within my own domain, can I integrate it with my own particular quirky application?

For this reason we’ve extended our range of dedicated server options, all with:

• Unlimited users
• Unlimited projects
• As much disk space as you want to pay for
• Located in your own domain name
• Configured exactly as you would like

Call 0203 369 6491

The original post here Happy New Year 2010

With  palindromic answers

OK I promise to try to get out more ..  it’s working in IT that  does it.

Perhaps we should ask this question in the form of a survey?

So, one more time is issuing project drawings and specifications:

1. Simple and straightforward
2. Difficult and time-consuming
3. A nightmare

The next question would probably be why?

Not, why as in why is it difficult? but rather why as why do allow it to become difficult and problematic when there are a variety of tools available to make this task easier and less time-consuming?

I’m sure we all start with good intentions, you have some drawings to issue, there are several stages that need to be addressed.

Firstly, there’s the good old drawing register that will need to be updated (where’s that kept again?) Then the “interested parties”, “contractors and subcontractors” clients, and of course your own team (I think the generic term is stakeholders), need to be informed and finally but of course not least the content itself needs to be delivered.
Taking that stage by stage identifies the hurdles:

• Where was that drawing register kept again–is it easy to update?
• Then things get a little more complicated exactly who are the stakeholders on this project? Probably almost the same as the last project , but not quite (must be sure to include everybody, the consequences of missing one or two persons out can be quite catastrophic!).
• Finally of course the content needs to be delivered. Depending on which decade your business is working in that could be print multiple copies (oh dear the cost!), package up (time and effort, distress), deliver (postage, courier, carrier pigeon, or carrier eagle more like!)
• But no, let’s be realistic–nowadays its e-mail, much easier surely! – Perhaps not, [your e-mail has been rejected] because it was too large/too suspicious looking/not from our own department/your client did not get the e-mail/did get it but lost it/replied to you with amendments (which you now need to reintroduce and start the whole process again)

I did mention there was an easier way.

Create a project folder in Collabor8online
Upload the drawing register
Upload the drawings

That’s it - Collabor8online does all the rest for you!

When you upload amended drawings to Collabor8online, it will automatically notify all stakeholders and  increment document version numbers. You can access documentation stored on Collabor8online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and from anywhere with an internet connection.

All comments, feedback and contributions are channeled back through Collabor8online giving you one channel of communication, leading to one version of the truth and less frequent nightmares!

Call 0203 369 6491

Rosebery Group’s Gary Burgen

The clients embraced it immediately and that has no doubt assisted the rapid uptake of Collabor8 across the whole group. With the type of projects we deliver, it is important that we address the needs of every department, from the Quantity Surveyors and Civil Engineers through to the Electrical and Mechanical Contractors. With Collabor8online we have found that we can keep everything in one place, and everybody knows where that is.

Read Rosebery Group Full Case Study

Dave Moran of D&L Electrical
 

Collabor8online met all our requirements with regards to providing a documentation extranet for our MCS work, were already looking at how we can extend its usage to other areas of our business, but so far we’ve been delighted with the results. Most importantly it sets us apart from all the contracting organisations who aren’t offering this type of service

Read D&L Electrical Ltd full case study

Read More Client Testimonials

London 0203 369 6491
Manchester 0162 920 6491
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Winning Contracts is hard, so when you win one you better make sure you run it as efficiently as possible.

For example, are you fully equipped to react quickly to project changes? Collabor8online lets you update your project documentation quickly and make all team members aware of project changes.

By team members we don’t just mean your team, but your subcontractors and your clients. Client “buy in” is a hugely important factor in the success of online project management systems. Clients feel “included”, they have access to the information about their project that’s important to them. Issues are brought out into the open, discussed and resolved before they cause a problem. Crises are averted, mistakes minimised or removed completely, time is saved, money is saved, job done.

With an online project management software solution such as collabo8online, you have one central repository from your project documentation and you can access all your files from wherever you are and whenever you want.

Operatives can update project information from site, complete timesheets or job sheets from home, more travelling averted, more time saved, efficiencies gained.

The question is how long can you afford to manage without it?

NO long-term contract, you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel any time!

We’ve had a record week signups, from from Lancashire to Lima, from Pennsylvania to Ponders End even as far away Shanghai The Cloud is shrinking the world!

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PS can anyone recommend a Mandarin translation service?