By enabling messaging, information sharing, collaboration, calendaring and scheduling, groupware removes many communication barriers - streamlining the work environment. Users communicate to a broader audience in richer, and in many cases, more productive ways. Today groupware is loaded with Internet messaging standards. And e-mail is the essence of the software. Another way the software makes communication easier is with calendaring and scheduling.
Users electronically post their schedules for the rest of the group to view freely.
With this feature, users don't waste time setting appointments. They simply look for mutually open times and schedule away. Of course, this works only if users update their calendars and clearly mark all unavailable time. The final element of groupware is collaboration, which normally takes the form of data conferencing. This is a standard feature allowing users to simultaneously view and alter files in real time.