SamePage suite puts virtual meeting members on the same page WebFlow smells suite success on intranets By Rebecca Gold

December  1996

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WebFlow Corp. just released the newest version of SamePage Suite, an intranet management application that is sure to leave procrastinators and goof-offs shaking in their inefficient boots. The latest in Web-based collaborative information systems, SamePage Suite is an "Intranet Work Processor," a shrinkwrapped application that allows multiple users to access a document via the Web.

The SamePage Suite aims to make the everyday business of corporations smoother, faster, and clearer. Potential customers include businesses that rely on document review and task management, particularly those team members that are not located in the same office. The basic goal of SamePage Suite is simple: to eliminate the inefficiency and chaos of meetings, paper memos, and disjointed voice mail messages by getting everybody who is involved in a project "on the same page."

WebFlow (Santa Clara, CA) is dedicated to combining groupware technologies with corporate intranet architecture. Its main product, the SamePage Suite, consists of two components -- SamePage and Take Action! The former functions as an interactive word processor, while the latter is basically an interactive to-do list and account manager.

Live on the Web, a SamePage document, can be reviewed by all required readers. Each reader is able to comment on the document and read the suggestions of co-workers, saving plenty of time in what is all too often a needlessly long and drawn-out process. Take Action!, is geared towards task management. Rather than enter comments as in SamePage, Take Action! users assign, change, or check the status of tasks. Take Action! is the whiteboard of the nineties, an action item manager.

At the suggestion of many of its clients -- which includes Charles Schwab, Sun Microsystems, and America Online -- version 2.0 of Take Action! contains several added features, beginning with complex task management. Through tiered tasking, subtasks are clearly defined and information such as assignees, expected completion dates, and verification that a task was completed can all be listed. The task detail page now features collaboration, allowing multiple users to access progress reports, report changes, and view a complete history of the updates and changes made. In addition, sites are more customized than before, so users can tailor their tables and columns to accomodate their specific needs.

By linking project members who are in different departments or states, SamePage Suite creates an environment similar to a virtual meeting room. Version 2.0 now allows multiple authors to work simulateneously on a single document. Other SamePage features include chapter divisions for faster download, an automatic chapter navigation tool for faster chapter to chapter review, and automatic image transfer for Microsoft Word and Powerpoint documents. --Rebecca Gold

Resources

• Webflow Corporation
  http://www.webflow.com

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