Share360 | Customers | Case Studies | U. Mississippi Medical Center -Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience

University of Mississippi Medical Center - The Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience

The Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience (CPN) is a multidisciplinary research coalition at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The primary mission of the CPN is to facilitate the transition of junior faculty researchers to independent neuroscientists with major research grant support. The CPN emphasizes research dedicated to the generation of knowledge about the relationship between basic neurobiology and clinical psychiatry.
http://cpn.umc.edu

Client Profile

Who was in charge of implementation? (Case Study Interviewee)

Name:	Donavon Lewis
Title:	LAN Administrator

How did CPN find out about Share360®?

We found Share360 through a combination of research articles including massive Google searches and other business articles concerning collaboration software.

Has CPN employed other groupware applications before?

Yes, we are a small department in a large hospital that uses Novell.

How has CPN been meeting information needs before implementing Share360?

Mostly via e-mail, some use of the Novell groupware and Fed-Ex.

2.	Implementation Issues & Reasons to Choose Share360

	1	*Were there any problems during the roll out?*
		The Share360 install was super easy installing on our Linux box. A novice's dream come true! We had to make some changes on our own network so our off campus users and the departmental users could see the server, but that was to no fault of Share360. We have some problems with users deleting other's schedules and not being available so they can be scheduled in for other's meetings or events. It is a permission problem that the Share360 team is working to solve now. The team is good about keeping in touch with us. Thanks guys.
	2	*Why did you decide to implement Share360?*
		Share360 is intuitive. Share360 answered many of our problems including: discerning whether or not someone was busy / in the office, scheduling, asset resource management, off campus collaboration needs, center wide announcements/reminders, file sharing with version control and many other issues. I know Novell groupware would do this, but many of the users in this center apparently did not like the Novell groupware GUI. We needed a Linux software solution so we went with Share360.

3.	System Setup Details

	1	*Which version of Share360 are you using?*
		Share360 ver2 for Linux [note: features do not vary between server operating systems]
	2	*Number of users using Share360?*
		Currently 50 users.
	3	*What kind of server machine and network configuration are used to run Share360?*
		Name of server machine Dell 2650 CPU speed 2.4 Ghz dual cpu Memory 1 Gig HD (Raid) (5) 36 Gig Network (type, speed) Dual Gigabit NICs
	4	*Do you have a full-time administrator for Share360?*
		While I am in charge of the system, I do not have to "maintain" Share360 very much. The great thing about Share360 is that I can handout administration access to others in the office further allowing me to concentrate on other things. As a LAN Administrator, this ability is VERY NICE and a time saver. Share360 really doesn't need maintenance other than backing up our information and that is automated already in our server farm.

4.	End User Response

	1	*What kind of feedback have you recieved from actual end users?*
		Initially the users were skittish about learning something new. Kind of like kids and ice-cream, once they tasted it, they realized it wasn't so bad after all.
	2	*Which application of Share360 is most used everyday? And how?*
		Scheduler. We have many computerized neuroimaging systems and the users must schedule a time to use the system(s). We post the calendar on the imaging room doors for others to view. We also have to report usage to Federal agencies so it acts as a log as well. Nice.
	3	*Do you offer any training for end users?*
		Yes we do. We had 2 classes explaining the basic concepts. The documentation for the software is great and easy for my users to understand.

5.	Overall Evaluation of Share360

	1	*How does (did) Share360 enhance your productivity?*
		It helped our center coordinator reach out to the registered users of the system, reduce LAN Admin calendar webpage updates, and allowed our users to collaborate better.
	2	*Total satisfaction?*
		While we are having some problems with the scheduling software access rights, I do have to say that the team is VERY quick to respond and nice. Your problems are their problems and they work hard for a quick resolution. Compared to other collaboration packages out there, this is the best looking, most intuitive Linux version I have seen.