1-page Solution Brief - Posted 5/25/2007
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U.K. Business School Increases Collaboration Among Students and Staff with New System
Durham Business School (DBS) needs to deliver high-quality collaborative research and learning facilities for all its staff and students. More than 1,000 students are distance learners, and some operate from locations as remote as Africa and Eastern Europe. DBS wanted staff and students to be able to share research faster. At the same time, it also looked for ways to accelerate internal processes.
On the advice of IT partner Waterstons, DBS decided to participate in the 2007 Microsoft® Office system Rapid Deployment Programme (RDP). DBS wanted to:
- Take advantage of Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 features to improve research and collaboration.
- Help students contribute to group projects with Microsoft Office Groove 2007.
- Spend less time on scheduling and e-mailing.
Colin Ashurst, Senior Teaching Fellow, Information Systems and Business Transformation, DBS, says: “We’re positive that new features of the 2007 Office system will help us to improve collaboration among our students and academics.”
Across DBS, small user groups are working with various products of the 2007 Office system. Ashurst is anticipating that, with the feedback from users so far, products such as Groove and SharePoint Server will become major collaborating tools for DBS. By improving search speed, Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2007 helps staff search for e-mails and documents faster, while Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007 can transform paper-based resource approvals.
Mike Waterston, Managing Director, Waterstons, says: “Small things such as presence alerts make a huge difference to the way our staff use their time.”
Groove complements the online collaboration within SharePoint Server. It allows groups of up to 20 people to collaborate on the latest documents—even when offline. This is a major advantage for students and staff working in remote locations or different time zones.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Document published May 2007
