Creating a workspace for a project was not as easy as it was with SiteScape Forum or VCBS. Without the guiding influence of a default template or wizard, we had to add features for workspaces, such as document folders and discussion lists, on our own. Once we put together a workspace, we could save it as a template for future use.
HEC comes with two templates for using a workflow--one for reviewing a document or white paper and another for submitting an expense report.
Hummingbird Enterprise Collaboration 5.2. Hummingbird, (877) FLY-HUMM, (416) 496-2200. www.hummingbird.com
Stellent provides a mature and feature-rich document management engine. However, the product comes up short on workspace functionality and customization and isn't as easy to use as SiteScape's. It does offer the best tools for managing collaboration from a Web browser, though, and its support for multiple OSs and databases helps it integrate with nearly any enterprise.
Like with Hummingbird's product, Stellent's main interface is a portal page from which users search content, contributors add content and administrators manage the application. To enable Active Directory or NTLM external authentication, we navigated through a rich set of server-configuration tools that employ Java applets. In the Internet configuration, we checked a radio button to enable NTLM external authentication. Then another login button appeared on the home page labeled "Microsoft Login." In effect, we could use the local database or NTLM for authentication. It would be better, though, if the system arbitrated the login based on the user name so users don't have optional login paths.
