Update 29-08-2010: This review is based on version 1.0beta8 of OpenAtrium.

The system is still in beta and some of the issues were still not addressed until now. Even no feedback in the forums e.g. (SpacesUI) telling the users (testers) that this is a topic we will get in the focus – or not.

This time I have seen additional open questions when looking at the behavior of features for groups in an intranet. If you have an interest group and like to set up a meeting you would do that using the calendar. As not every date is interesting for all group members it would be nice to enter the attendees and let the dates pop up in their calendars.

The case tracker (To-do list) could handle that issue but you could only assign one group member to a task and there is no start/due date available to set up the timing.

Calendar: By the way the date/time entry is a problem for users outside the US. You could do some changes with date/time formats and the date pop up but you will have to do more changes to get a proper date picker.

Yes, I know. It’s still beta and I will not use it in a production environment.

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Update 18-04-2010: This test is based on version 1.0beta6 of OpenAtrium.

My last sentence in the former review was: I wouldn’t use it in a production environment. And this is still true for me. For the beta 3.2 I found a way with the controlled group for group spaces (see below). But with the beta 6 it seems to have disappeared or I haven’t been able to locate this setting. And I’m not alone: Discussion about Spaces UI @ OpenAtrium forum

It is a mentioned that it is a beta version and that is OK. At the same time it is not possible to start an implementation when features disappear during the beta release versions. I will wait for the final release.

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This test is based on version 1.0beta3.2 of OpenAtrium.

OpenAtrium is based on drupal. Drupal has a lot of modules available that could help you to set up a social networking or collaboration site. Unfortunately you really need a lot of components and it’s a lot of work to set up the modules and let them work together in the way needed. Then you have to do fine tuning with the theme to get a nice user interface. To do all that stuff you need to understand the concept of drupal and all the components and the way they work together as detailed information or by trial-and-error. This is a time consuming task.

The developers of OpenAtrium have recognized that and created a complete package that contains the modules necessary for a intranet collaboration system. The setup is easy and the userinterface has a clean design. It’s not a big thing for the users to understand what and how they could use this system. OpenAtrium contains a blog, calendar, group dashboard, case tracker, shoutbox and a repository for documents.

With this beta version I recognized:

• You will find new registered user in the list of blocked users. Here they are waiting to get a confirmation.
• Private groups are hidden. For that reason users are not able to register for a group. Public groups are visible, there is no approval for new members and articles are public. That is not the way I would like to have groups. But there is a way in the drupal configuration to get a moderated registration with a private group space: Go to structure/space presets/group space – Look for controlled group and activate that group. Afterwards you are able to select a private, a public or a controlled group. With the controlled group you could see the group but not the content, you could join the group by registering and if you get the approval you have access to the content of that group.
• If you register for a controlled group you were asked to type in additional information for the moderator to help him to check if you should get an approval to join that group. Unfortunately as administrator I was not able to find and see that information. Where is it?

I really like OpenAtrium. But right now I wouldn’t use it in a production environment.

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