ABSTRACT
International companies need to consider different software solutions to satisfy all their knowledge-sharing requirements and the main objective of the evaluation phase is to guarantee a good integration level among the different collaborative tools, which might also be combined with e-mail, web conferencing and calendar systems. Proprietary software can force companies to use a complete suite of tools from the same supplier and sometimes these are not the best options available. Global organisations might consider the use of open solutions for better integration and a wider choice of complementary packages. Collaborative environments need to be available on global projects to facilitate the sharing of information about the project and the products. The project manager can create the project management plan with the participation of team members in all locations, and keep all its documents in a shared workspace. Global project offices can establish procedures to archive the knowledge base so that it can serve as a basis for future projects.
