Collaborate on the Web: Internet Tools Let Teams Write, Edit and Calculate Together Online
2007; American Institute of Certified Public Accountants; Volume: 203; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0021-8448
Autores Tópico(s)Software Engineering and Design Patterns
ResumoHere's the problem: Your three-partner CPA firm based in Boston is on a tight deadline to prepare an audit report for a client. One partner is at the client's Philadelphia headquarters; another is traveling in Houston; and you're in Boston. The three of you must collaborate on the report; however, you're not enthusiastic about editing, reviewing and trading comments on this complex subject via e-mail. But since your firm is hardly high-tech, you don't see any options. Actually, there are. Thanks to several new Web-based office suites, the three of you have access to the technical tools you need to collaborate on the same document or spreadsheet, at the same time and from different locations. As if that's not enough, these collaboration tools come free of charge--although that may change in the future. The two most fully matured Web sites that can handle such collaboration are Google Docs & Spreadsheets (http:// docs.google.com) and Zoho (www.zoho. com). This article shows you how their Web-based office suites can add a whole new dimension to how, where and when you perform professional tasks. Other online office suites include AjaxOffice (http://ajaxoffice.sourceforge. net), ThinkFree (www.thinkfree.com) and GOffice (www.goffice.com). There also are stand-alone online spreadsheets such as EditGrid (www.editgrid.com) and NumSum (www.numsum.com), but none of their tools is as powerful and easy to use as Google's and Zoho's. Think of the two Web applications as slimmed-down versions of Microsoft Office's Word and Excel. However, unlike Microsoft Office, which is installed on a user's computer, these applications reside on the Web site and must be accessed via the Internet. To get started, you can either create a file at the site or you can upload a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet from your computer. Colleagues can then access it on the site (after you give them permission), download it to their computers or even copy it to another Web site. Exhibit 1 shows a typical Google Docs & Spreadsheets opening menu. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Exhibit 2 shows a typical document. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Exhibit 3 illustrates a typical Google spreadsheet, which was converted from an Excel worksheet. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Since files can be stored at these Web sites, a traveling CPA doesn't have to carry files in bulky storage media or worry about the synchronization of multiple copies of a document or spreadsheet. …
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