It’s all about Groove and SharePoint Workspace

Hommes & Process announced today the availability of GrooveIT! Backup. 

A new product in the GrooveIT! line

Aligned on GrooveIT! line philosophy, Hommes & Process delivers a new application focused on Groove and SharePoint Workspace. This new one is focused on workspaces archiving: GrooveIT! Backup helps users to archive their Groove and Shared folder workspaces on both Groove 2007 and SharePoint Workspace 2010. 

Market was awaiting for such a solution since Groove DataBridge Server (and its embedded Backup Service) was removed(*) from Office V2010 line. GrooveIT! Backup is built as an application but manage workspaces archives the same way that the former Groove DataBridge Server did: Workspaces are periodically and automatically saved as compressed and encrypted files. 

The fact that GrooveIT! Backup is proposed as an application (and not a server) is an approach that allows small organizations (SMBs), that hadn’t means and resources to set up and support a dedicated server, to easily get access to workspaces backup capabilities. 

Why do we need a backup solution?

As you already know, Groove and Shared Folder workspaces contents are automatically synched between members. If a device crashed or is stolen, it’s quite easy to restore user’s account and then get workspace content from other members. In this context, if each workspace is shared at minimum by 2 members, there’s a simple efficient mean to get data back. 

So, why do we need a backup solution? 

The answer is that, if content is synched, involuntary deletions are also synched. Thus, if a member deletes a file, a tool or a workspace, there is no mean to restore it. SharePoint Workspace is designed to support hardware failure… but not, human failure! 

It’s why, GrooveIT! Backup was created.
By archiving workspaces, members have the ability to restore a former version of a workspace and get its content back. 

GrooveIT! Backup features

There are 2 ways to use GrooveIT! Backup:
- On-demand archiving lets user choose workspaces to backup and archive files location. Then, archiving is launched.
- In another hand, user can also create archiving rules: user chooses workspaces to backup, archive files location and also a frequency. Archiving is then automatically launched according to the chosen frequency. This second approach is particularly interesting because it allows to define backup scenarios based on workspace content criticality. 

In both cases, archive files can be locked with a password to avoid unauthorized restoration. 

2 GrooveIT! Backup versions are available based in targeted uses: GrooveIT! Backup – Personal Edition for individual usages and GrooveIT! Backup – Enterprise Edition for centralized archiving. 

To learn more

You would like to give a try, learn more or buy a license. Choose one of the 2 links below: 

GrooveIT Backup – Personal Edition 

GrooveIT Backup – Enterprise Edition 

(*) Groove Databridge Server 2007 is still available but do not support V2010 workspaces.

You maybe already know Yung Chou from Microsoft as he already spoke about Groove 2007 during past conferences like TechED. He just published a new article describing the main features of SharePoint Workspace 2010. Both Groove workspaces and SharePoint workspaces goals are explained and there’s some interesting focus on specific points like security/encryption, or differences between 2007 and 2010 versions of the product (What is removed / What is added).

Article is available here : http://blogs.technet.com/sharepointexperts/archive/2010/03/29/sharepoint-workspace-spw-2010-explained.aspx

Thanks Yung for this article!

Discover in a few seconds added value provided by SharePoint Workspace 2010 :

Source: Microsoft ShowCase : http://www.microsoft.com/showcase/en/gb/details/c92bf2aa-fd11-45ec-bb33-986acfe20e27

Hommes & Process announced during Microsoft TechDays France that GrooveIT! for Outlook and GrooveIT! for SharePoint are now “Office 2010 ready”!

As a reminder, GrooveIT! for Outlook provide users with the ability to send emails, attachments, contacts, tasks, events and RSS feeds, from Outlook to Groove/SharePoint Workspace. The transfer can be done on demand (you select an item and decide where you would like to post it in Groove / SPW) or based on rules (You create a “link” between an Outlook folder and a location (workspace / tool) in Groove/SharePoint Workspace and/or define some publication criteria (ex : if this email contains this text…)). With these features, GrooveIT! for Outlook provides users with the ability to easily archive information and/or share it with their team.The new version allows user to use GrooveIT! for Outlook in Outlook 2010 and to post choosen items in Groove workspaces (V2007) hosted in SharePoint Workspace 2010.

GrooveIT! for SharePoint is an application hosted in Internet Explorer that help users to collect files stored in SharePoint and share them in Groove. The new version will allow user to collect files in both SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010 file librairies and publish them in Groove workspace (V2007) hosted in SharePoint Workspace 2010.

If you already use GrooveIT! for Outlook V2.x and/or GrooveIT! for SharePoint v1.x, note that you have the ability to upgrade for free!

If you do not already know these tools, do not hesitate to give them a try!
A 30 days full-featured version is available for free.

And finally, if you are interested by these 2 products, note that a specific package called GrooveIT! Essentials will provide you with the 2 products at an “optimized” price!

More details on http://solutions.hommesetprocess.com

Workspace Dashboard: a single place to manage offline and online collaboration with Microsoft Office SharePoint and Microsoft Office Groove. HOMMES & PROCESS is launching a new Groove Workspace solution called Workspace Dashboard. Workspace Dashboard is dedicated to organizing and scheduling team projects within Microsoft Office SharePoint. Using a single dashboard, it also provides a social mapping tool allowing human resources departments to analyze social networks within their organizations. Workspace Dashboard enables the creation of projects sites within SharePoint and can also generate templates for Microsoft® Office Groove® workspaces which will be used to coordinate and standardize online and offline collaboration.

Key benefits:

Online collaboration, or centralized mode, with SharePoint enables:

•  Convenient supervision
•  Usage reporting
•  Project life cycle management

Offline collaboration, or decentralized mode, with Office Groove 2007 enables:

•  Mobile teams collaboration (without or bad internet connection)
•  Agile teamwork – Cross-organization projects
•  Security is always on – encrypted data storage and transfer. 

Workspace Dashboard acts in mixed mode between the online and the offline world, it helps to:

•  Manage data
•  Coordinate centralized and decentralized collaboration
•  Manage mobile and sedentary users.

How does it work?

The main site enables users to search for existing projects and easily view the most recent changes. A collaborator can join a project or create a new one when this is an authorized option. A new project involves the creation of a new SharePoint project site and a new Groove Workspace. The project manager will then be able to invite his/her team members, assign them roles and give them access to the SharePoint site or to the Groove workspace(s) or both. 

Each project site allows working with documents, files and/or business forms. These data are synchronized in the corresponding Groove workspace. Also workspace member management can be handled by project: member invitations, role assignments, project access management. According to the project requirements and defined user rights, a project member can work within the SharePoint project site or within Groove workspaces. When a project has terminated, it can be closed and archived. When needed, a project can be easily restored on request.
 

The Groove workspace reflects the content of the SharePoint site. It enables mobile and offline use. Additional tools are available if needed for mobile users.

The social mapping tool can help Human Resources departments identify the links between users, learn about who is working with whom, view the most successful projects and identify expert profiles within the organization. This kind of valuable information translated into graphical schemes can help make the right decisions when dealing with Human Resources.

 
A capacity planning functionality is available to help managers, analyze application use, plan the resources needed to make it work better and make sure users get the required service level at controlled costs.

To learn more about Workspace Dashboard
SharePoint and Groove users can learn more about Workspace Dashboard functionalities on HOMMES & PROCESS solutions website (lien) http://solutions.hommesetprocess.com. Or ask for personalized information at (lien) http://www.hommesetprocess.com/fr/contact.

Office 2010 Beta was available for MSDN and TechNet members for few days.
Microsoft just annouced that Office 2010 beta is now public!

If you would like to give it a try, visit this website.

Microsoft WPC – Worlwide Partners Conference – starts today at New Orleans.  Several major announcements are expected.

At the same time, Microsoft publish several videos dedicated to Office 2010: each product is demoed with its set of new features and improvments. Word 2010, Excel 2010, Access 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Publisher 2010, OneNote 2010, … , and of course SharePoint Workspace 2010!

See What’s New in Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010 (Formerly Microsoft Off…

If you carefully follow Hommes & Process news, you may already know that the team was finalizing a new product included in the GrooveIT! line.

GrooveIT! for Microsoft Office SharePoint is now available!

What’s that?

 GrooveIT! for Microsoft Office SharePoint is designed to provide SharePoint users with a simple, effective and secure way to extract SharePoint documents and rework them.

By “rework”, I mean: Have the ability to read and modify these documents from outside of SharePoint (so being offline) , the ability to add new resources, but also have the ability to share documents with people outside of the company: customers, partners, etc.

More than a simple download, GrooveIT! for SharePoint uses Groove 2007 functionality to achieve synchronization and security.

How does it work?
 

GrooveIT ! for SharePoint adds a button in your IE toolbar. This button is automatically activated as soon as you navigate to a SharePoint site containing a documents list.
 
Users only need to click the button, choose the source list and a name for the workspace and finally validate. And that’s all! This solution really is “idiot-proof”!
 
SharePoint and BPOS
 
The good news is that GrooveIT ! for SharePoint not only works with corporate SharePoint sites but also support BPOS (Business Productivity Online Services) sites. Using GrooveIT! for SharePoint, Groove 2007 become the natural and efficient offline client for your BPOS documents!

2 versions… 2 ways to use it!
 
To comply with corporate policies, GrooveIT! for SharePoint is available in 2 distinct versions.

The first one allows users to extend the workspaces created by GrooveIT! for SharePoint by inviting members or adding new tools.

•  If corporate policies allow invitations to be sent to people outside the company then this approach is the right one to support cross-organization collaboration. It’s a way to extract controlled and limited information from SharePoint and enable a team to work on it.
•  But GrooveIT! for SharePoint also permits users to work with colleagues on the same content in  “draft” mode before publishing finalized versions to SharePoint websites.
•  Finally, GrooveIT! for SharePoint helps mobile workers by providing a way to take documents with them, in a secure and easy way, when they are away from the company.

The second version (called “Special” Edition) ensures that documents stored in SharePoint will not be shared. Workspaces created by GrooveIT! for SharePoint are closed. No one can be invited to these workspaces. This version is the perfect tool to provide users with a secure Offline SharePoint Documents Client!
 
 To learn more…

You will notice that GrooveIT! for SharePoint is completely aligned with Microsoft’s strategy, that plans to link more closely Groove and SharePoint in next year’s major release (Office 2010). Finally, with GrooveIT for SharePoint, Hommes & Process provides you with a kind of preview of what Office 2010 will be made of!
 
You would like to learn more or give GrooveIT! for SharePoint a try?
Please visit: http://solutions.hommesetprocess.com

Would like to learn more about Office 2010?

Microsoft launched a new video website to support the 2010 launch campaign : http://www.office2010themovie.com/

Also available,  a blog and a forum dedicated to Office 2010 :

•   http://blogs.technet.com/office2010/
•   http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/office2010general/

Do you use SharePoint and work with Groove? Tell us about it and get free software!

Microsoft’s User Research Group is conducting series of studies for SharePoint products and technologies at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA, and is looking for participants in the Puget Sound area. The research team is looking for individuals who use SharePoint at least twice a week and have experience working with Groove. Each participant will receive a gift item they select from a list of some of Microsoft’s most popular hardware and software titles.

If you are interested please email itusable@microsoft.com with your name phone number and insert Groove into the subject line.

You can put me in copy if you find it suitable.