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.

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

Microsoft published few days ago a new white paper dedicated to Groove and SharePoint integration. Of course, this paper explain how to use Groove to add Offline experience to SharePoint but also explain benefits provided by Groove to extend SharePoint beyond the Lan (ie, how to provide external users with the ability to access and contribute on Corporate content stored on SharePoint)

This white paper is downlaodable here : Extending SharePoint with Groove collaboration

As a reminder, I also wrote a paper about this topic about 18 months ago.
This paper is available here : Groove and SharePoint : Importance of a common implementation

I published few days ago on the French Speaking Groove Community website a set of pictures taken during Microsoft TechDays 2009. A nice way to have a global overview and summary of what happened during these 3 days at Paris.
Visit : http://www.groovons.org/2009/02/17/techdays-2009-synthese-en-images/

Few weeks ago, I wrote several postings related to the usages of Groove in Education and Research sector.
A new case study is now available: EM Lyon Business School

” At Ecole de Management de Lyon (EM Lyon Business School), students learn about real-world uses of information technology in business. Just as today’s business workplace has become increasingly decentralized, with employees using technology to stay connected while working remotely, EM Lyon students need to remain in contact with peers and complete group projects while working at off-campus internships and other assignments. Students found this difficult using traditional desktop software, so the school explored options for building a robust collaborative platform that would facilitate communication while also teaching students about real-world information sharing strategies. By carefully analyzing student needs and taking advantage of the power and flexibility of Microsoft® Office Groove® 2007, EM Lyon created a virtual office solution that met its requirements and was easy to use.”

Read the whole case study: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000003197

From Feb 10th to Feb 12th, Microsoft TechDays 2009 will take place at Paris. 3 days to discover new Microsoft technologies and products. Of course, it will be a good opportunity to learn more about Groove :

- Hommes & Process will have a booth on the collaboration & communication village. Demonstrations and Q/A about Groove usages and architecture are on the agenda. You will discover new versions of our GrooveIT! products.

- The French Speaking Groove Community will also have its own booth. The right place to discover Groove and exchange tips and tricks on the best way to use the product.

- Finally, I will be speaker on 2 sessions dedicated to Groove. The first one will focus on Dev and Integration capabilities provided by Groove technologies. The second one will be more usages driven. I will illustrate some use case and demo how Groove can be integrated more other products.

Hope to meet you there !

Alistair Speirs, an Office Technology Specialist at Microsoft Australia published few days ago an article called “The Case for Groove“. In this article, he explains why Groove perfectly fits IT requirements and is a perfect solution to enable collaboration in “organisationally, geographically and chronologically dispersed teams“. 
A “must -read”!

As a sumary, Alistair also mention sectors/activities in which Groove is deployed and /or effective in the Asia Pacific : “Emergency services agencies, utilities companies, mining and resources companies, schools, small businesses, mobile sales teams… etc”.   We have quite the same analysis and results here in EMEA.

And I really enjoy his last sentence : “The great thing about Groove is that it solves problems that we never thought we’d be able to solve. That sort of magic is applicable in almost any organisation.”

I really invite you to read his article!

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.

Attending TechED is a right opportunity to do a web review and list new articles published on Internet and related to Groove. Of course, most of these items will / would be covered during the session dedicated to Groove next Friday. (As a reminder, for TechED attendees : Friday14th – 9 AM – Room #131 : “How to extend and integrate Groove”)

- Matt Shanon wrote an article related to InfoPath integration with Groove : In this article, he explains all required steps to prepare an InfoPath Form to be injected in a Groove workspace:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd185656.aspx

- You use Groove Forms or InfoPath Forms. Read this article to learn how to improve Forms Performance. This article was written by Josh Goldman:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc984181.aspx

- Also, this very interesting article regarding Groove and Sharepoint integration issues:
http://blogs.technet.com/weeklygroove/archive/2008/11/10/understanding-and-troubleshooting-the-sharepoint-files-tool-in-groove-2007.aspx

- And also this video by Ian White and Mark Ryan, explaining how to use Groove to improve network security and operationnal effectiveness:
Use Groove to improve Network Security and Operationnal effectiveness 

- Finally, my colleague and friend, Jean-Michel Davault, is finalizing a book about Groove. Have a look to his blog. At this stage, the book is available in French but is currently being translated:
http://jeanmicheldavault.blogspot.com/2008/11/microsoft-office-groove-la-confiance.html

All is said on this drawing: Groove client, Offline support, Cross-firewell support, SharePoint synchronization, Groove Relay Server, Groove Manager, Connection with the PKI, Connection with Active Directory, Groove Databridge as a Backup solution, Groove DataBridge as an integration solution (with SharePoint or other BackOffice applications by using Web Services)