Traction TeamPage

Traction TeamPage

Traction TeamPage logo
Developer(s) Traction Software
Stable release 6.1 (1) / March 25, 2015
Written in Java
Operating system Cross-platform
Type Blog Wiki
License proprietary
Website http://www.tractionsoftware.com

Traction TeamPage is a proprietary enterprise 2.0 social software product developed by Traction Software Inc of Providence Rhode Island.

TeamPage is one of the first products in the enterprise blog and wiki market, with Traction release 1.0 shipped in 1999.

Traction TeamPage is a collaborative hypertext platform built to support working communication within and between groups and is modeled on Douglas Engelbart's On-Line System (the first hypertext journaling system) and influenced by the work of other hypertext pioneers including Andy van Dam's Hypertext Editing System and Ted Nelson's Xanadu.

Releases and features

The initial 1.0 Release of Traction TeamPage shipped in December 1999 and included features for web based journaling, collaborative editing and permission based project workspaces.

Traction TeamPage is known for features including permission filtered bi-directional linking, paragraph level addressability and inline comment threads, and a journaling model which records time stamped label changes as well as wiki style content history. The platform includes a sophisticated permission model that aggregates multiple weblog/wiki spaces into Front Page, e-mail newsletter, and search views.

With TeamPage Release 3.5[1] in March 2005, it became the first blog/wiki type product with integrated WebDAV.

Traction TeamPage Release 3.7.2 first shipped in December 2006 with support for widgets, export to PDF or WordML briefing books, mobile skins, and a wiki-style edit history views with a roll-back option, and an optional FAST Search module providing automatic entity extraction and drill-down navigation as well as integrated attachment search.

Traction TeamPage Release 4.0[2] first shipped in June 2008 with support for moderation, page name history and management and user profile pages. Moderation allows for typical publish and reject operations for comments, but also makes it possible for authorized users to work in and fully experience the Draft version of the wiki or flip to the Published version to compare. Page Name management is the first to introduce page name history, the ability to alias page names across wiki projects, and the concept of a global page name space from which names can be applied to any wiki project space.

Traction Software's Live Blog Micro-Messaging plug-in,[3] announced November 2008, is the first implementation of micro-blogging on an enterprise social software product. The original Live Blog interface can be deployed as an interface to a single workspace or across the server. It leveraged all the linking, tagging, threading and permission controls available throughout the rest of the product. In TeamPage Release 5.0, the Live Blog interface was evolved into a pervasive capability, present in each space and in a server Front Page wide roll-up which could display status posts from all users or those you are following.

Traction TeamPage Release 4.2,[4] first shipped in November 2009, brought subscription features into the interface, introduced the ability to reply to comment on subscription notifications, added Table of Contents navigation from root articles for each space down to their child articles, and bundled the Metrics plug-in into the installed software. Subscription features allow for easy subscription (via Jabber or Email) to a space, a user, a document or a tag. Metrics reports provide overview and detail on user read, author, edit, comment, tag, and search activity.

Traction TeamPage Release 5.0[5] first shipped in June 2010 with Traction's "Proteus" user interface based on Google Web Toolkit (GWT) technology along with integrated Twitter-like asymmetric follower model, integrated microblogging in each space, activity streams, extensible user profiles, incorporation of profile information into search, TeamPage Microsoft Outlook Social Connector, and other social networking extensions. Attivio replaced FAST Search as the provider of optional Traction TeamPage advanced search capabilities.

Traction TeamPage Release 5.1[6] first shipped 14 Dec 2010 with action tracking integrated as part of Traction's social software platform. One click can add a task tag to any Traction page, comment, status post or paragraph, with automatic rollup of actions by person, date, milestone or project. Projects can be used to collect a set of tasks and milestones to organize activities by date or common goal. Release 5.1 also incorporates Attivio with Advanced Japanese Linguistics for Japanese language content analysis and faceted navigation as well as international search over mixed Latin, Cyrillic, Middle Eastern and Asian language content[7]

Traction TeamPage Release 5.2[8] first shipped 10 May 2011, adding activity dashboards. Activity dashboards show consolidated status, actions, related documents and discussion centered on any project or milestone, drawn from the flow of collaborative work. Reporter Ron Miller summarized this as: "Using the project metaphor as the basis for understanding information in the corporate social stream, the idea is to give you a hook on which to hang the information."[9] TeamPage 5.2 also introduced drag-and-drop file upload and image insertion for Web browsers supporting the new HTML5 standard.

After TeamPage Release 5.2, Traction Software's stated release policy[10] shifted to releasing incremental updates on a rolling basis to introduce new features, improvements, and bug fixes. Traction Software updates TeamPage for all Cloud hosted customers, and provides update installers for customers who choose to deploy TeamPage on their own systems. Traction Software stated that updates with major improvements are typically released on a semi-annual to quarterly basis, with minor improvements and bug fixes on a quarterly to monthly basis depending on the urgency of any associated bug fix.

Traction TeamPage Social Enterprise Web and Attivio Plus[11] options first shipped 15 Nov 2011. The Social Enterprise Web[12] option enables TeamPage to share, tag, comment, task, index and search linked public Web or company intranet pages. TeamPage Web browser extensions, inline badges and comment widgets link external Web sources to TeamPage discussion and provide visual feedback. The Attivio Plus[13] option integrates deep search and discussion with live content stored in external line of business systems. The option provides permission-aware search, analysis, tagging, tasking, and sharing of content spanning TeamPage, SharePoint, email in Exchange, Documentum, File servers, SQL Databases, the public Web, private intranets, and other sources.

TeamPage Summer 2012 release:[10] One-click action to allow TeamPage members to invite other people to join a TeamPage space (automatically creating account and adjusting permissions as needed per configurable rules); section table widget shows entry properties, including properties added as entry, task and custom entry type extensions; new TeamPage developer SDK/SDL features; rewritten SDL documentation with FAQ and tree-structured index of SDL tags.

TeamPage Winter 2012 release:[10] Calendar Events used to record meeting and other dates can be created, edited and shown along with project, milestone and task related dates. Project, task and milestone dashboards can now shown Twitter style status dialog focused on that specific activity; zoom out to see all status dialog in a space, from a person, or a merge stream of all status your have permission to see; type-ahead navigation and Attivio query completion suggestions; emailed notifications include a list of attached files; new sort options for Project, Milestone, Task sections; Java 7 update; user interface and performance improvements; developer updates.

Teampage Spring 2013 release:[10] Unified search for quick lookup of people, spaces, tasks, projects and milestones; "finish later" and autosave support for articles, tasks, projects, milestones and comments; updated IOS 6 iPad and iPhone support; streamlined header design and navigation; Cloud pricing options, first month free; developer updates.

TeamPage Fall 2013 release[10] Upgrade to Java 7 as default and recommended Java version; Compatible with Attivio AIE release 3.5.1; Improved developer SDK support for custom entry types; Improved YouTube widget; improved feedback and erase features; developer updates; bug fixes and performance improvements.

Traction TeamPage 6.0 release[10] first shipped 9 Apr 2014 with styling and performance updates for the Proteus skin; improved rich text editor; Jetty Web server to support session tracking, improved DDoS defense, compatibility with SPDY and WebSocket protocols; smaller memory footprint; redesigned setup interface; and security improvements including updated cryptographic algorithms including use of PBKDF2, and recording and optional login display of most recent failed and successful login attempts.

TeamPage Summer 2014 release[14] New features include in-page push Notifications, extending TeamPage's email notifications. Notifications focus on activity selected by each user using an article's Watch menu, or using automatic notification rules to watch actions on articles created, discussed, or mentioning that user. The in-page notifications menu shows the current notification count and expands to allow users to read, flag or clear their notifications. Added password strength and revocation / expiration policy controls. Other changes include: improved rich text editing for iOS devices; TeamPage SDK updates; internationalization updates.

TeamPage Fall 2014 release [15] New features include: support for @ style user "mentions"; updated popup profile card, profile page, and unified search to make @ user names more visible; interactive @ name auto completion works in TeamPage articles, comments and status posts; a new combo-box control for entry forms that supports type-ahead completion for spaces, projects and milestones; moving entries between spaces. Other changes include: TeamPage SDK updates; internationalization updates; performance improvements and bug fixes.

TeamPage 6.1: Spring 2015 release [16] The release focuses on improvements to the Project Management suite, including a new "Burn-up Chart" for tracking progress; user-defined interactive tables to dynamically summarize activity; and better tools for understanding the big picture for a project or milestone. This release also includes major under-the-hood improvements to TeamPage's forms SDK to make it easier for developers to create custom forms, or customized variations of standard forms.

Analyst and reviewer statements

In July 2002, in an InfoWorld test center review of Traction TeamPage Release 2.8, Jon Udell of InfoWorld wrote "(Traction) can be best described as an enterprise Weblog system."[17] This is the first use of the term "Enterprise Weblog" in the press.

Traction TeamPage has been recognized as InfoWorld's 2007 Technology of the Year award winner: Best Enterprise Wiki[18] (see review[19]), as well as a KMWorld magazine trend setting product in 2005 and 2006.[20] TeamPage is one of seven social software products reviewed by Clay Shirky in Esther Dyson's May 2003 edition of Release 1.0 (TeamPage subtitle "Weblogs Grow Up")[21] and one of nine blogging platforms evaluated in depth by Forrester Research's 2006 Blogging Wave report.[22] Traction TeamPage is also reviewed in Fuld & Company's 2006 Competitive Intelligence Software Report[23]

In a March 2005 report titled "Blogs Wikis & Beyond," Burton Group Analyst Peter O'Kelly wrote: "Although Traction's products are marketed as 'enterprise weblog' offerings, they are in fact powerful hypertext systems that exploit blog- and wiki-related advances to maximize simplicity but also do so on a scale that addresses elaborate hypertext application scenarios that would overwhelm wiki alternatives."[24]

In an October 2008 Intranet Journal Review,[25] in reference to the challenge of balancing unstructured collaboration with the need for moderation and audit controls, Paula Gregorowicz claims "TeamPage 4.0 offers some breakthroughs to this challenge via its moderation model which is likely to impact the face of enterprise intranet architecture."

A December 2010 [26] AppGap review of Traction TeamPage 5.1 wrote: "This is the action tracking part of project management for the regular employee, not the program management office. It brings this activity into the enterprise 2.0 world as every task is treated as an object for comments, RSS, and made searchable to those with the proper permissions."

A free Deloitte Center for the Edge study [27] on measurable business value of social software, published February 2011, includes an independent Deloitte case study of Traction TeamPage customer Alcoa Fastening Systems. Deloitte's press release[28] and study cite "a 61 percent reduction in time required for compliance activities" attributed to use of Traction TeamPage. The study includes quotes and data from Traction TeamPage customers Alcoa Fastening Systems and Ensign Bickford.

In his October 2011 Traction Software vendor review,[29] Chess Media Group analyst Jacob Morgan said "Traction sees collaboration in the enterprise just like consumer grade web services and applications, meaning when you type something into a search engine, you should be able to all the information you need and use that as a starting point to take a next action. Basically think of a search engine that has the ability to index all of your content internally, regardless of what system it resides on, it can be on an ERP system a CRM system, or anything else. This search ability is what binds everything together."

Funding and customers

In June 2002, a public In-Q-Tel customer agreement represents the first significant enterprise site license of a blogging platform.[30] In-Q-Tel (the venture arm of the US Central Intelligence Agency) invested in Traction Software starting in May 2000.[31]

In 2003, the US Department of Defense CIO office funded a Rapid Acquisition Incentive-Net Centricity (RAI-NC) pilot program, titled the "Liberty Project," to study the business case for using weblogs for net-centric project communication and information management. The study involved funding to add the WebDAV extension to the Traction platform and to support the following Liberty Project participants: Traction Software, The Office of Naval Research, the Army Night Vision Lab, Defense Acquisition University, Naval Underwater Warfare Center, Marine Corps, Ford Motor Company, and the New York City Police.[32][33][34]

In 2005, Corante published the first detailed case study of an enterprise blog deployment.[35] The case study, Dark Blogs Case Study 01 - A European Pharmaceutical Group, describes a CIO led effort to deploy Traction TeamPage for a Competitive Intelligence function which spanned the organization.

In 2010, Traction TeamPage customer Borlaug Global Rust Initiative[36] won a 2010 Forrester Groundswell award[37] for social impact of its use of collaboration technology to organize, conduct, publicize and manage international research to combat a new crop disease that has the potential to devastate the world’s food supplies.

Other public Traction TeamPage customers include: Alcoa,[27][38] Ensign Bickford,[27] Kuka Systems,[39] Enel (energy),[40] Ipsen Pharmaceutical,[41] Lucent,[42] SITA, the Western States Information Network, a law enforcement agency funded by the US Department of Justice and the State of California,[43] US Air Force.

References

  1. ↑ "TeamPage 3.5 Press Release". TractionSoftware.com. 2004-10-25. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  2. ↑ "TeamPage 4.0 Press Release". TractionSoftware.com. 2008-06-02. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  3. ↑ "Live Blog Press Release". TractionSoftware.com. 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  4. ↑ "TeamPage 4.2 Press Release". TractionSoftware.com. 2008-11-02. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  5. ↑ "TeamPage 5.0 Press Release". TractionSoftware.com. 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  6. ↑ "TeamPage 5.1 Press Release". TractionSoftware.com. 2010-11-09. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  7. ↑ "Traction TeamPage 5.1 Japanese Launch". TractionSoftware.com. 2010-12-14. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  8. ↑ "TeamPage 5.2 Press Release". TractionSoftware.com. 2011-05-11. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  9. ↑ Miller, Ron (2011-05-16). "TeamPage 5.2 adds dashboard and project tracking | Ron Miller, Fierce Content Management, May 16, 2011". Fiercecontentmanagement.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 "Traction® TeamPage 6.0 Press Release". TractionSoftware.com. 2014-07-14.
  11. ↑ "Social Enterprise Web and Attivio Plus". TractionSoftware.com. 2011-11-15. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  12. ↑ "TeamPage Social Enterprise Web". TractionSoftware.com. 2011-11-12. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  13. ↑ "TeamPage Attivio Plus". TractionSoftware.com. 2011-11-12. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  14. ↑ "July 2014 TeamPage Notifications". TractionSoftware.com. 2014-07-30.
  15. ↑ "December 2014 TeamPage @ Mentions". TractionSoftware.com. 2014-12-03.
  16. ↑ "March 2015 TeamPage 6.1 Burn-up charts, interactive tables, SDK extensions". TractionSoftware.com. 2015-03-26.
  17. ↑ Udell, Jon (2002-07-12). "InfoWorld July 2002 Test Center Product Review". Infoworld.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  18. ↑ "InfoWorld 2007 Technology of the Year award winner: Best Enterprise Wiki". Infoworld.com. 2006-12-21. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  19. ↑ Heck, Mike (2007-01-07). "Wikis evolve as collaboration tools". Infoworld.com.
  20. ↑ McKellar, Hugh (2006-08-23). "KMWorld Trend Setting Products 2006". Kmworld.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  21. ↑ Shirky, Clay (2003-05-20). "Social Software: A New Generation of Tools". edventure.com.
  22. ↑ Li, Charlene (2006-06-28). "Forrester's Blogging Platform Wave Evaluation, June 2006". Blogs.forrester.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  23. ↑ "Fuld Intelligence Software Report 2006/2007". Fuld.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  24. ↑ O'Kelly, Peter (2005-03-01). "Blogs, Wikis and Beyond: New Alternatives for Collaboration and Communication, Burton Group". Burtongroup.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  25. ↑ Gregorowicz, Paula (2008-10-24). "Putting Hypertext to Work for You". Intranetjournal.com.
  26. ↑ Ives, Bill (2010-12-02). "Traction Team Page 5.1 Moves Forward with Project Management Capabilities". Theappgap.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Miller, Megan et al. "Social Software for Business Performance - The missing link in social software: Measurable business performance improvements". Deloitte.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  28. ↑ "New Deloitte Point of View Addresses Business Value of Social Software". PRnewswire.com. 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  29. ↑ Morgan, Jacob (2011-10-07). "Emergent Collaboration Vendor Review: Traction Software". Jmorganmarketing.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  30. ↑ "June 2002 Press Release describing In-Q-Tel's expansion to an enterprise license". TractionSoftware.com. 2002-06-13. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  31. ↑ "In-Q-Tel's Traction Software Portfolio Company Page". Iqt.org. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  32. ↑ Jackson, Joab (2003-11-03). "Navy Team Evaluates Weblogs, Government Computer News, Nov 2003". Gcn.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  33. ↑ Brown, David et al. "Weblog Technology for Acquisition Program Management, Defense AT&L Magazine, March-April 2005". DAU.mil.
  34. ↑ Lilie, Cheryl (2004-05-01), "Weblogs Weave a New Communication Hub", Signal Magazine, May 2004, Afcea.org, retrieved 2012-05-04
  35. ↑ Charman, Suw (2005-06-13). "Corante - Dark Blogs Case Study 01 - A European Pharmaceutical Group". Strange.corante.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  36. ↑ "Borlaug Global Rust Initiative". Globalrust.org. 1999-03-26. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  37. ↑ Elliott, Nate (2010-11-19). "Winners Of The 2010 Forrester Groundswell Awards (Consumer International)". Blogs.forrester.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  38. ↑ Tullis, Brian (2010-07-30). "Enterprise 2.0 and Observable Work: Recap and Speaker Notes". Nextthingsnext.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  39. ↑ "Collaborative Problem Solving at Kuka". Kmworld.com. 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  40. ↑ Henschen, Doug (2005-12-05). "Analysis: A "Green" Utility Chooses Blogging for Business, Intelligent Enterprise, Dec 2005". Intelligententerprise.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  41. ↑ "The Business Case for Enterprise Blogs and Wiki's, April 2006". Lighthouseseminars.com. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
  42. ↑ Angeles, Michael (2005-05-20), Michael Angeles' May 2005 presentation to the American Society for Information Science and Technology (New Jersey Chapter), Urlgreyhot.com, retrieved 2012-05-04
  43. ↑ Jackson, Joab (2003-07-01). "Tech Success: Weblogs Help Justice Take a Bite out of Crime". WashingtonTechnology.com.

External links