iManage Inc. and Open Text Corp. are seeking to capitalize on the blurring lines between content management, knowledge management and collaboration with software releases that have a foot in all those areas.
iManage last week announced WorkSite MP 3.0, the latest version of its collaborative content management software. Chief among the new features is tighter integration between the content and document repository and Microsoft Corp.s Outlook e-mail client, making it easier for users to save e-mail messages to the repository.
The WorkTeam collaboration application within WorkSite MP 3.0 has been enhanced through an integration with WebEx Communications Inc.s online meeting service, adding real-time application sharing and rich media content and allowing users to schedule, enter or review online meetings from within WorkSite.
Version 3.0s workflow capabilities have been extended beyond simple document approvals to include more complex, content-based business process automation, said iManage officials, in Foster City, Calif.
This version also adds Knowledge Centers, for storing best practices for reuse, and collaborative work spaces, for making content available to a list of users with secure access.
“The Outlook integration was critical,” said Mike Altobello, technology engineer at Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., which is testing WorkSite MP 3.0. Altobello said this version brings WorkSite closer to what VHB, of Watertown, Mass., wanted when it first selected the product: an easy-to-use knowledge and document management system that supports collaboration and could be shared with customers.
Separately, Open Text, of Waterloo, Ontario, this week will roll out Version 2.0 of its Livelink MeetingZone collaboration application, which includes tighter integration with Livelink knowledge management applications. New ease-of-use features include templates for creating agendas that can be e-mailed to participants, a reconvening option for one-click meeting creation and task assignment.
On the knowledge management side, Open Text has enhanced its natural language query capabilities with business rules support in a new product called Naturalizer.