Collaboration isn't a new concept. In WinTOTAL, we've supported collaboration in it's simplest form with our integrated e-mail delivery. We know that file sharing is the core collaboration function that most appraisers need to accomplish, but we think it can mean so much more.

Here in our labs, we've been thinking about collaboration (Did you read Adam's blog on it recently, or his article on Windows Live Messenger?) and we've come up with three collaboration challenges we want to address:

• File sharing
• Communication with other assocaites via Instant Message
• Communication and assistance in real time with your XSite visitors

Are there solutions out there that do each of these things already? Yes. But we think we can do it better, and all in one solution instead of seperate applications for each. Head on over to the labs site and check out the project page for our new XSite Desktop Collaborator.

Thanks,

Paul E. Stansberry, III
WinTOTAL Product Manager
a la mode, inc.

Collaboration Concept

With the prices on computers continually dropping lower, gas prices moving higher, and appraisers collaborating from remote locations more, you are more mobile, flexible and technologically savvy than ever. E-mail, being an unreliable and sometimes frustrating tool, simply isn’t the most ideal way to shuttle files from one place to another. I hear from customers all the time that there needs to be a better way to move a file from one PC to another. With Armstrong on the horizon and Aurora pretty well tamed, I’ve been thinking of ways to solve this problem in WinTOTAL.

Today, how do you move a file from one PC to another? E-mail the ZAP from inside WinTOTAL to yourself and then grab it once you get home, upload it to the Vault and then download it from another location, move it to a USB drive and then take it to another computer, or some other way I’ve not thought of (you guys are crafty after all). None of those methods are necessarily a huge problem, but I think we can save you some trouble.

I’d written an article on Live Messenger’s capabilities, one of which being the Sharing Folders feature that lets you share files between people, but there’s also another tool I’ve used for some time that I think is better suited for appraisers and has given me an idea.

FolderShare is a free tool you can get from www.foldershare.com. In short, you make an account, and then install it on all the machines you want to be able to move files to and from. A specific folder on each PC is made, and then whenever a file is moved into that folder, it’s synchronized with all your PCs FolderShare folders. So, you could add your FolderShare folder as an attached directory in your Appraisal Desktop on each machine, and then when you want to work on a file from home, share it with a colleague or move it to a Tablet or Ultra Mobile PC, just drag it into your FolderShare folder and within seconds it’s available on the other machines (provided they’re connected to the Internet).

You can also read a very interesting article on FolderShare written by an appraiser, Brian Davis, on his blog AppraisalScoop.com.

Pretty neat, eh? My intention is to take that a step further. The premise behind FolderShare, technically, is simple. It’s something we could build on our own very easily. But appraisers don’t need to only move files to their own separate PCs, they need to be able to send them to trainees, co-workers and remote appraisers easily. Fortunately, we’ve already got an infrastructure in place that can accommodate that. The XSite.

Here’s what I’m thinking. For each appraiser in your company, if you have an XSite, they already have a profile set up in your XSite’s User Management. And Aurora communicates with your XSite already. So how cool would it be to be able to click the Folder button on the toolbar in your file cabinet, choose Add Shared Folder, choose “Bill” or “John” from a list of your XSite users, and boom, a new folder is added to your Files PowerView. Now, if you need to send a report to your trainee Bill or your remote appraiser John, just drag the file into their folder and it will then show up in their Appraisal Desktop within seconds. Because it would all be tied to the XSite username configured in WinTOTAL you could even make a shared folder with yourself so you could make a file available on a laptop when you’re at home or on the road.

I think this would be an awesome addition. Thoughts?


Adam Calvery
VP, Appraisal Products
a la mode, inc.