Projectplace

Projectplace is Web-based project management software, available as a subscription service from the Swedish application service provider, Projectplace International AB. Launched at www.projectplace.com in September 1998, it was one of the first hosted Web applications available on a pay-per-use basis.^[1]

The Projectplace software provides a suite of project management tools, similar to such applications as Microsoft Project. However, rather than purchasing software, clients pay to access Projectplace from a remote Web site. Projectplace modules include Document Archive, Issue Management, Planning & Tracking, Meeting Management, Project Portal, Discussion Forum and Contacts.

The service is available in five languages: Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, English and German.

Software development

Projectplace software is based on BSCW (Basic Support for Cooperative Work), a shared workspace platform developed by the German National Research Center for Information Technology (GMD). Projectplace AB founders Mattias Hällström, Magnus Ingvarsson and Peter Johansson, while working at the Swedish Institute for Systems Development (SISU), participated in the development of BCSW. In March, 1998, the three acquired a BSCW source code license and began to develop Projectplace as a commercial application.[2][3]

In 2000, the Projectplace platform won for Best Supporting Technology or Service in the European Commission-organized e-Work Awards, as an example of a best practice in new working environments for the "Information Society".[4]

In education

Although marketed to the business sector, Projectplace has been applied to education. Maastricht University used Projectplace as the framework for development of its new Project Centered Learning (PCL) method of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning. In their formal PCL experiment, "the project environment (Projectplace™) consisted of a personal and a group space. ... The group space contained a document archive, discussion forum, project calendar, task and Gantt planning facility, contacts, participant's directory, wastebasket, group announcements, and web based help system. The 'owner' of the group also had an administrative tool available. All participants had round the clock support by the environment’s provider."^[5]

The selection of Projectplace as the Electronic Project Environment (Dutch abbreviation: EPO) for the PCL project was based on a formal evaluation of its suitability as a learning tool:

To support these geographically and temporally dispersed students, a tool was sought that could support teams working in projects at any time and from any location, requiring only a MS Windows based PC with an Internet connection. Prior to selecting a tool, a functional analysis based upon catwoe — a soft systems methodology developed by the University of Lancaster (Checkland, 1981) - was performed of the tasks and activities in project-centered learning (Kirschner, Plugge, & Lutgens, 2000), including the tasks and activities of the tutors guiding the group. Based on these findings Projectplace™, a commercially available electronic project work environment, was selected (http://www.projectplace.com).^[6]

The final report on the PCL experiment, "Using EPO to Stimulate Learning in the Health Sciences", concluded:

An electronic project environment proved to be a very good means of supporting asynchronous collaboration, except for reaching consensus and making group decisions. The results clearly show that the students appreciated the EPO capabilities to exchange documents, discuss problems and plan their activities. However, an EPO cannot replace the richness and effectiveness of face-to-face meetings, which was NOT a goal of the experiment. ... Overall, the students evaluated the general aspects of the course positively. PCL as an educational model, the project work and the collaboration among students were all appreciated highly, as well as Projectplaceâ„¢ as an electronic learning environment.^[7]

See also

• Computer-supported collaboration

References

• ^ Langham, Martin. "ProjectPlace Gets IT Documents In Focus" Bloor Research: Sep. 14. 2004.
• ^ Plugg, Leo, et al. "Using EPO to Stimulate Learning in the Health Sciences". Maastricht University.

External links

• Projectplace Web site
• Collaborative Work Environments - directory of online collaborative workspace software and services

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