Topshare International BV

Introduction The starting point is the organisation of the project and the software should be able to support in a flexible manner this organisation. Not all projects are the same. For instance in a Network of Excellence (NoE) the emphasis is on people and the exchange of knowledge. Communication is key. In an Integrated Project (IP) the focus is on Research. People are of course still important, but one sees less people in an IP than in a NoE. Our challenge was and is to support all kinds of organisation types.	Step 1 Explain
The address book -> Persons - Teams - Organisations In most cases we start with inviting people to register themselves to the site. In the the address book we create the Organisations (legal entities). The registered persons are added to the Organisation they belong to. Also Teams are created (persons cross organisations). This way the organogram is build. Specials focus is on the profile. We will ask people to fill out the entire profile, the more we know, the better and all searchable within the address book. The persons, teams and organisations are also used to set the permissions (The authorisation) on folders and items (content). In some cases the register button is not shown on the public website and a excel sheet is used to import persons. Furthermore, the administrator of the site has the authorisation to add persons.	Step 2 Get the people in
Adding content While people are registering themselves to the site it is time to provide content for them. Depending on the priorities the the public pages are set up or the secure pages are the first to provide with content. Adding content is easy and intuitive. We use a rich text editor, everybody can do it.	Step 3 Add content
Permissions Key in the process of setting up the internal (secure) pages is the authorisation. Every time we add a new folder we decide who (Persons - Teams - Organisations) should have which permissions (roles). For instance in a Secretariat area (folder) the staff should have the moderator role, while the rest of the persons should have read and/or write permissions. The same of course is applied to the different sub-projects (Work Packages - WP's). The people from WP1 can modified and add content, non-WP1 persons should be able to read (be informed) the content and in many cases will have the permission to ask questions/make remarks in dedicated folders.	Step 4 Permissions & Structure
The hard bit Setting this up is not that difficult and in a day or two the basis is there. The hard bit is the continuity. Content must be kept up to date. The organisation is changing all the time; people are leaving, new persons are coming in. In larger projects we suggest you appoint dedicated 'moderators' for the different area's. So WP1 should keep its own area up to date, the secretariat is responsible for procedures, etc, etc. A joined effort is the way to go. Apart from the content we engage moderators of the different organisations (Partner Coordinators) to keep the address book up to date and, very important, the profiles of their colleges. Please keep in mind that the address book entries are also used to mail Persons - Teams - Organisations (Distribution lists). You can mail any item to a distribution list.	Step 5 Organise
Miscellaneous Design. In most cases projects wish to have their own design. We employ designers, but it is also possible to implement design delivered by other designers. Training and consultancy. We are very experienced in the field of Real-time collaboration and project management. And we are happy to share our knowledge with you. Of course we use GoToMeeting to help you. Efficient and easy to use. Software modifications. The system is very flexible and it is quite easy to develop small forms (e.g. questionnaires) to gather structured information. This information can be exported to .csv files. The same accounts for registration regarding e-zine, polls, etc. Just give us a call for a quotation. You will pleasantly surprised about the price. Techniques. When you decide to use Topshare we can install the application remotely at any location. Or you can outsource everything to us.	Step 6 Can we help?