The brilliance of Google's G:Drive
Google's G:Drive provides not only the hardware storage, but also the applications the user wants. Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, .pdf's, and standard forms and templates. Recall that Google Docs is the standard collaborative environment for this software development project. The method that Google uses here makes a lot of sense to me, but that is only the beginning.
When using Google Docs, the user is provided with one version of a document located in the "cloud" as the only copy that you need. You can access it from anywhere that you have an Internet connection. Collaborators contributions and content readers are easily added through a simple interface. There are also multiple opportunities to publish the content on the web. For example I use Google Docs in my @people-ideas-objects.com account to post to this blog.
Recall that each voucher is access enabled to the authorized personnel in each producer company represented in the JOC. Stored in the cloud, the people with authorized access have only one place to look for the right, or most current, version of the Voucher document. And that one version is not bound in the physical world, many people can view and edit it at the same time. One major difference is the act of closing a voucher to further changes is something that will be built within the standard general ledger interface.
This also applies to for A.F.E.'s, Agreements, Leases, Mail Ballots, Truck Tickets etc. Any and all documents that oil and gas producers' use to document their business transactions will be included as documents within the People, Ideas & Objects applications. This functionality is based on the Security & Access Control Module that ensures no one has access to documents they are not authorized to have access to.
There are three applications in the People, Ideas & Objects specification. One each for the People, the producer companies and the JOC's. I can see the interface for the Peoples application emulating many of the characteristics of the Google Docs interface. I will therefore be adding components of this post into the Accounting Voucher Draft Specification.
The last bit of brilliance from Google shows us the way in which their developers provide value to their users. Through innovative uses of fairly common digital storage medium, and other technologies, users are provided with interfaces that satisfy their needs.
This has been a hard learned lesson for me. To expect the user to better understand the technologies that are involved in this application is never going to happen. A point that I have tried to make here many times before. What Google has taught me is that users and developers need to work together, more then they ever have in the past. Why this is so innovative is that they have been purposely separated through a variety of management layers that will no longer exist in this software development project. And that is how the systems are developed appropriately. Innovative users and developers working together to solve the industries problems.
I wish to appeal to those that have an interest in making this software development project real. If you know of a producing company, or an oil and gas investor that is interested in sponsoring this project, please email the URL of the web log to them and join me here.
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