By Nathan Dukes
SAP has announced the general release of their collaborative decision making tool under the name SAP StreamWork.
The tool is aimed at simplifying the decision making process by keeping the entire discussion in the one place.
StreamWork offers tools like SWOT analysis, pro/con analysis, meeting planning and agenda creation, along with the ability to freely offer ideas and make comments throughout the decision making process.
The tool also has the ability to pull relevant data from your ERP or business intelligence applications.
SAP says most businesses use a range of applications to make decisions, like e-mail, collaboration products, business systems and Web 2.0 applications.
‘As a result, work often becomes chaotic and hard to follow and can hinder clear decisions’, an SAP press release said.
The tool would be useful in organisation where a decision requires input from several departments, who could use the tool to communicate easily without saving email trails and keeping paper notes from phone calls.
The tool was opened to free public beta earlier this year under the name 12sprints. It differentiated it self from similar tool, Google Wave, with heavy focus on business needs, rather than a standard discussion and decision making framework.
Marge Breya, executive vice president and general manager of solutions at SAP, said the final release was built with the assistance of users.
“The products people love today are developed for and with the user,” said Marge Breya, executive vice president and general manager of solutions at SAP.
“At the heart of SAP StreamWork is this dedication to co-innovation, and the approach clearly works: we made this product generally available less than two months after the public beta was announced. Moving forward, our collaborative innovation model will help us to continue delivering rapid innovation and real business impact.”
The software features a subscription-based pricing model, allowing customers to scale based on their immediate business need.
SAP is offering a free edition with limited storage and features, and a professional edition with more storage and security features that customers can subscribe to starting from $9 USD per month per user.
