Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Ubidesk – Online business team collaboration software

Posted: 19 Oct 2009 03:45 AM PDT

I've previously written about several collaboration tools such as Yakkle and the more robust 37signals. But like any tech person, I always keep an eye out for the next tool to come along and blow everyone away.

In this post we're going to talk about a new online team collaboration tool called Ubidesk. What makes Ubidesk stand out from it's competitors is that it has a very clean interface and a great set of features.

It not only allows real-time collaboration among people across different continents, but it also includes all the tools necessary to manage documents, task lists, projects, group calendars, and notifications.

Here are the main features of Ubidesk and how they can help your small business or team manage projects efficiently.

Document collaboration – One of the nice features of Ubidesk is the rich-text editor built into it. It supports many fonts, text formatting, image insertion, spell checking, and lots more.
If you have multiple people working on the same documents, Ubidesk has an excellent tool to highlight which parts of the document were written or edited by which person based on a color coding system.
It also includes a nice revision history and comparison feature whereby you can see all the older versions of a document and also compare older versions to new ones to see what the differences are.

Finally, all documents also have full security meaning you can prevent some people from viewing a document and prevent others from editing it. You can also link documents to certain tasks that you create so that they are related to each other and everything is organized.
Task Management – Unlike most task management programs out there where you simply add a task and then click a check box after it is finished, Ubidesk takes a new approach that mirrors reality more closely.First, a task must be assigned to someone, which makes sense. After it is assigned, the person clicks a button to "Start" the task. Then it moves into the "started" status and eventually moves to "complete" when it's finished.
Other cool features of the task manager module include a Task Log that tracks the complete history of the task, including who edited it, what was added or deleted, when the status was changed, etc.

Lastly, there is a task timeline that basically turns your tasks into a Gnatt chart, which is very cool.
Projects – In terms of project management, Ubidesk lets you create public, protected and hidden project types. Everyone can see public projects. Everyone can view protected projects, but only members can edit it. Hidden projects can only be viewed by members.Also, every project has at least one project leader who has administrative rights in the project. They can add/remove members, create/delete folders, and do pretty much everything else.
Group Calendar – Here you have a personal calendar and a space calendar, which lists all the events from everyone who is included in that space. It has a very nice interface and has all the features of a normal calendar application.
Notifications – Finally, Ubidesk has a robust notification system to help keep everyone informed about their tasks, projects, and events! You can get email notifications for document edits, discussions, tasks, and more.There is also a Recent Documents and Recent Activities page that lists out all the current stuff going on in that space. You can also view a list of Upcoming tasks to see what has not yet been completed.

Overall, it's a very feature-rich collaboration tool and you can sign up for free! Definitely check it out if you have a small business or a small team of people you need to work with! Enjoy!