Categories of Groupware

Workgroup software, more commonly known as groupware, helps individuals work in teams by sharing information. Groupware can be divided into three categories depending on the level of collaboration:

Communication can be thought of as unstructured interchange of information. Common communication types includes: discussion, action request, meeting announcement and reference documental, and are used to signal the intent and type of communication.

Conferencing refers to interactive work toward a shared goal. Brainstorming or voting are examples of this. Conferencing’s advantage over e-mail is that it allows many people to become involved, while e-mail is usually restricted to a small number of people.

Computer based conferencing is an increasingly popular business applications it enables the distributed or virtual business to operate when decision makers are geographically separated.

Co-ordination refers to complex interdependent work toward a shared goal. Coordination can be classified in two major categories: impersonal coordination and coordination by feedback.
Categories of Groupware