Use Cases

This page is still in draft. Once it stabilizes, it will probably be split in smaller chunks. When it is ready, it will be publicized. Please help improve. Perhaps it should be moved to http://profiles.tiki.org

?

This list needs to be split in what Tiki is used for and by whom.

Introduction
List of "Use Cases" for Tiki

Related links
Alias

Introduction

Tiki is a Wiki / Content Management System (CMS) / Groupware.

These are broad and vague terms.

Wikis can be used for so many things. A public encyclopedia is very different than a corporate wiki.
Groupware can be defined as "software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve their goals". This is very vague.
Content Management System (CMS) is especially a vague term: A "system to manage content". Just about anything can fit that definition! A computer and a filing a cabinet are a CMS

Tiki enthusiasts will tell you that Tiki is a jack-of-all-trades, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, all-in-one tool which lets you do just about "anything". It could power probably over 90% of the websites in the World (Let's face it, most sites are pretty simple!). But of course, you don't want to do "anything". You have a specific objective/community/project in mind. This page will define a bit more the different ways to use Tiki.

With Tiki, you can pick & choose which features are turned on. Chances are, your project will be a combination of a few 'Use Cases'. So you can use the combined features of all appropriate use cases.

Why cater to so many use cases? A bit like speaking many languages from the same root (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Catalan, etc.), once you know 3 or 4, the 5th and 6th are easier to learn because you already have many bases. Some words are the same, or similar enough that you can get by. So each Use Case is easier & easier.

Similar to the list of features, rating (A, B, C, D, E) are to compare Tiki as an overall solution for these use cases, compared to "industry standards" in the Open Source World. So "A" means that Tiki is, for this Use Case, just as good as any other Open Source project. "A" does not mean "Perfect" or that it has all the features. Some features may be weak but compensated by other strong features. The ratings are based on the latest stable version of Tiki. If you disagree with a rating, please change it and edit the Strengths/Weaknesses sections accordingly.

ToDo

These ratings needs to be split, like in features:
- Setup/admin UI: How easy / intuitive is to setup this feature?
- UI end user : Once setup, how easy / intuitive is it for the end-user? (was it worth it?)
- Stability: How many bugs left?
- Feature-set / power: How does this feature compare to other Open Source apps?
Move to a SWOT format

Please do add links to your Tiki-powered sites which fit a profile.

Each Use Case will eventually need an installation profile to make it easy for people to get going when they install Tiki.

Format:

!!! Use Case and Rating (A,B,C,D,E)
Description of Use case, which will eventually be a profile (who/what/etc)

-=Key features=-
Including links to the proper documentation page. This will make it easier to evaluate/understand.

-=Strengths=-
Why is Tiki good at this?

-=Weaknesses=-
Why is Tiki not so good?

-=Examples & related links=-
Some good examples of live sites (Tiki or otherwise)

List of "Use Cases" for Tiki

This is not a list of features. It's what you can do once you combine those features.

Online community / association / club / special interest group / NGO (A)

non profit or association of professionals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_software

Key features

User trackers (user profiles) for membership management, Wiki user pages, Forums, Wiki, RSS, Newsletters, Calendar of events

Strengths

Tiki eats its own DogFood

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

Non Governmental Organization (NGO) profile

Blog (one author) / Personal site / family site (A)

So you want your own site? Don't want your digital identity spread out in many places online? (pictures on Flickr, blog on Wordpress, etc)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Key features

Blog, Spam Protection, Comments, Wiki, Image Gallery

Strengths

Weaknesses

Too much work to configure (thus the need for a profile). Tiki is overkill for a simple blog. You'll have lots of room to grow. :-)

Not as many nice free themes as other systems such as WordPress

You may want to use the Articles feature instead of blogs

Examples & related links

www.cunningham-lee.com

www.amette.eu

A lot of people use WordPress for this.

Simple portal / news site (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_Management_System

Key features

Articles, Wiki, RSS, Menu

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

Advanced portal / news site (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_portal

Key features

Articles, Wiki, Categories, Menu

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

Corporate web site (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brochureware

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_content_management

Key features

Articles, Wiki, RSS, Menu

Strengths

Easy to theme

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

http://www.convention.qc.ca/tiki-switch_lang.php?language=en

http://tiki.org/TikiProfilesSmallBiz

Groupware Wiki / Corporate Wiki / Corporate Intranet / Team project (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_wiki

Key features

Wiki, Permissions, Search, LDAP authentication, File Gallery, Tracker

Strengths

Permissions and number of features. Very strong Wiki.

Weaknesses

Webmail
No integration/sync with Exchange
Workspaces would be nice to deal with very large wikis

Examples & related links

The Word Processor being the wiki, Tiki has everything else on this top-10 list. Webmail is poor though.

Public Wiki (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_engine

Key features

Wiki, Spam Protection, Tag

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

Group knowledge base / Knowledge Management (KM) / institutional memory (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_base

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management_software

Key features

Wiki, File gallery, trackers, faq, permission, watch, Search, Categories, tags

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

Customer extranet / Help Desk / Product or software documentation and support (A)

(Collaboratively edited manual)
Goal: print a book, or an offline html version
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_desk

Key features

register with approval, issue (closed) tracker, forum, wiki, live support, Structure, comments, Image gallery, WebHelp, PluginCode, forum, open bug tracker

Strengths

Weaknesses

Pdf support has been removed

Examples & related links

http://doc.tiki.org

Personal information manager (PIM) / Personal knowledge base / manage my life (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_information_manager

Key features

Wiki, File gallery, Calendar, trackers or contacts

Strengths

Wiki is very strong for this.

Weaknesses

No sync with PDA, weak webmail

Examples & related links

Wiki-based Project Management (PM) (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_2.0

Key features

Wiki, Trackers, Categories

Strengths

Very promising in the wiki-based project management field

Weaknesses

Not traditional project management
Missing Gantt charts

Examples & related links

www.projectmanagementwiki.org

project management

Glossary / Dictionary / Encyclopedia (B)

Key features

Wiki, Search

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

Writing a book (A)

One or several authors
Some editors & reviewers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_writing

Key features

wiki, structure, i18n (for translation), Search

Strengths

Excellent tracking of edits (wiki history)

Weaknesses

PDF

Examples & related links

Framework / Activity Workflow / Specialized web Application (B)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workflow_engine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_application_framework

Key features

Category Transitions can be used as a Workflow engine
User, Group & permission system
Smarty Template engine
Includes Zend Framework, Smarty and jQuery

Strengths

When you'll need a generic feature (forum, etc), it's just a click away.
Easy to customize Tiki
Trackers can be used to create all the basic forms.

Weaknesses

Weak API.
Some features could be too far away from what is needed.

Examples & related links

Document Workflow (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workflow

Key features

Wiki, categories, category permissions, Watch, category watch, category transition

Strengths

Tracking each edit

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

Bug or Issue tracker (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issue_tracking_system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_tracker

Key features

Trackers

Strengths

Weaknesses

Tricky to configure

Examples & related links

Issue Tracker
dev.tiki.org
http://freshmeat.net/browse/1017/

Collaborative research (A)

Key features

Wiki, blog, etc

Strengths

Strong wiki

Weaknesses

Missing a way to handle shared bibliography references

Examples & related links

Voice-enabled wiki and mobile applications (B)

Key features

Wiki, Mobile

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

http://mobile.tiki.org

Geo CMS (B)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geospatial_Content_Management_System

Key features

maps

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

http://maps.tiki.org

Database, forms & reports (A)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Form_%28web%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Create

,_read,_update_and_delete

Key features

tracker
Better integration of user trackers (forms about users & groups)
Multi-page forms

Strengths

Super powerful and nicely integrated with wiki

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Form_Processors/index.html

Blog (several authors) (C)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Key features

Blog, Spam Protection, Comments

Strengths

Can natively handle multiple blogs

Weaknesses

Not as many nice free themes as WordPress

Examples & related links

Event Management, Conference Management & planning (C)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_management_software

Key features

Trackers (for user registration), Wiki

Strengths

Wikis in Plain English / Planning a camping trip

"Email is not good at coordinating and organizing a group's input. This is the old way. The important information is scattered accross everyone's inbox. (...) There is a better way"

Weaknesses

Needs a better way to track submissions

Examples & related links

http://americana.org/

http://steq.reseau-environnement.com/

http://phpbeer.com

(project)
http://freshmeat.net/projects/ocs/

http://www.expectnation.com/

See Citadel Rock Online Communities's EventSoup

project

Calendar of events (C)

Key features

Calendar, hcalendar microformat

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/

Document Management System (DMS) (B)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_management_system

Key features

File galleries with check-in/checkout, Categories or tags
WebDAV

Strengths

Weaknesses

Does handle non-Web things (OCR, etc)

Examples & related links

http://www.alfresco.com/products/ecm/

SourceForge/Gforge type site (workspaces) (B)

Key features

Trackers, wiki, Workspace

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

http://dev.tiki.org

Translation Management System (TMS) (B)

Key features

Wiki, i18n

Strengths

Tiki interface is at least partially translation in 35+ languages
In active development at www.wiki-translation.com

Good back-end architecture & storage

Weaknesses

1.9.x was not so intuitive with respect to translation coordination. 2.x is much better
Still missing many front-end tools to help translators

Examples & related links

www.wiki-translation.com

http://support.mozilla.com

(36 locales!)

Traditional Project Management (PM) with Gantt charts, etc (D)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_software

Key features

Wiki, Trackers, Categories, Worskpaces

Strengths

Very promising in the wiki-based project management field

Weaknesses

Not traditional project management
Missing Gantt charts

Examples & related links

www.projectmanagementwiki.org

project management

E-learning / Learning Management System (LMS) / classroom / course management system (CMS) / Coaching communities (D)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system

Support coaching activities and education communities.

Key features

Quiz,

Strengths

Stronger than most wikis for LMS

Weaknesses

Grading, workspaces (class management), etc only available trough mods

Examples & related links

http://edu.tiki.org

www.moodle.org

http://coggno.com

Customer/Contact/Constituent relationship management (CRM) (D)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membership_software

Key features

User profiles
Newsletter

Strengths

Lots of interest: CRM

Weaknesses

Tiki could do some of this. It would need quite a bit of configuration. Too much work for a new admin. A profile would be very useful here

Examples & related links

Salesforce, civiCRM, sugarCRM, vTiger
http://dev.tiki.org/CRM

Bibliography (D)

Key features

Wiki

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

http://freshmeat.net/browse/1099/

Bibliography management system (references)

E-democracy (C)

Key features

polls, trackers

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

E-Democracy system tutorial

Social networking / Job board / Dating site / hospitality exchange / Car Pooling (D)

Key features

User profiles, Forums, Friendship Network, etc

Missing in Tiki:

"transactions" between users
Reputation / karma system

Strengths

N/A

Weaknesses

Tiki is missing a few things to be efficient for this use case. Tiki friends is very basic. It would be possible but clunky to get by with trackers and forums.

Examples & related links

www.phpbeer.com

www.facebook.com

Collaborative Art and Video Portal (C)

Provides an educational and innovative fun space for creative people to create poetry, stories, painting, and videos. You can also collaborate and edit each other's work.

Key features

Kaltura collaborative video editing

Strengths

Weaknesses

Still quite new

Examples & related links

www.theonlinequilt.com

E-commerce / Shopping cart (D)

Tiki has a basic Shopping Cart since Tiki5, with Payment with PayPal.

Key features

Strengths

N/A

Weaknesses

Still quite basic. Suitable if your main site needs other Tiki features and you also need basic ecommerce.

No tax handling

Examples & related links

PayPalSubscription
shopping cart -> in the works!
www.zencart.com

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) / Accounting (D)

Tiki has a basic Accounting feature since Tiki7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning

Key features

Spreadsheet
Payment
Tiki invoice (for small business accounting)
CK-ERP has a Tiki integration
Category Transitions engine to code custom processes

Strengths

Weaknesses

Examples & related links

http://ck-erp.net/

Alias

Use case

Contributors to this page: marclaporte

and robingreen

.
Page last modified on Sunday 15 January 2012 02:25:21 CET by marclaporte

Table of contents

Introduction

List of "Use Cases" for Tiki

Online community / association / club / special interest group / NGO (A)

Blog (one author) / Personal site / family site (A)

Simple portal / news site (A)

Advanced portal / news site (A)

Corporate web site (A)

Groupware Wiki / Corporate Wiki / Corporate Intranet / Team project (A)

Public Wiki (A)

Group knowledge base / Knowledge Management (KM) / institutional memory (A)

Customer extranet / Help Desk / Product or software documentation and support (A)

Personal information manager (PIM) / Personal knowledge base / manage my life (A)

Wiki-based Project Management (PM) (A)

Glossary / Dictionary / Encyclopedia (B)

Writing a book (A)

Framework / Activity Workflow / Specialized web Application (B)

Document Workflow (A)

Bug or Issue tracker (A)

Collaborative research (A)

Voice-enabled wiki and mobile applications (B)

Geo CMS (B)

Database, forms & reports (A)

Blog (several authors) (C)

Event Management, Conference Management & planning (C)

Calendar of events (C)

Document Management System (DMS) (B)

SourceForge/Gforge type site (workspaces) (B)

Translation Management System (TMS) (B)

Traditional Project Management (PM) with Gantt charts, etc (D)

E-learning / Learning Management System (LMS) / classroom / course management system (CMS) / Coaching communities (D)

Customer/Contact/Constituent relationship management (CRM) (D)

Bibliography (D)

E-democracy (C)

Social networking / Job board / Dating site / hospitality exchange / Car Pooling (D)

Collaborative Art and Video Portal (C)

E-commerce / Shopping cart (D)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) / Accounting (D)

Related links

Alias

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