Twenty-Four Ways To Use Common Ground

Here are some of the ways that others are using Common Ground to improve their efficiency.  This is just meant to get the wheels turning for you.  If you have any questions, we encourage you to contact us (see “How to contact No Hands” in this help).

1.
E-mail users can enclose a Common Ground document in a message, and be certain the recipient will be able to view and print without worrying about their computer platform, applications or fonts.  
2.
Internet and other on-line service users can send Common Ground documents to another continent and have them arrive instantly with all graphics, fonts, formatting, and color intact.
3.
Marketing can distribute fully formatted materials to sales force, confident that the “corporate identity” will be preserved.
4.
Organizations can publish information organization wide (e.g., press releases, reports, manuals, phone lists, human resource manuals, etc...).
5.
Project managers can distribute status or performance reports with Gantt charts, spreadsheets, charts and graphs improving the effectiveness of their communication.
6. 
Marketers can make their presentations portable—print them to Common Ground, then carry the resulting Common Ground file on a floppy, confident that they can give the presentation on any Macintosh or PC without worry as to whether the application or fonts are present.
7.
Documentation groups can distribute drafts of manuals for review.
8.
Anyone can send a letter on their own distinctive letterhead.
9.
Legal departments can send contracts with boilerplate that can be copied and pasted into other documents for re-use.
10.
Finance can distribute management reports to the rest of the organization, without worry as to who is using which version of which spreadsheet on which platform.
11.
Publishers can now distribute their newsletters electronically and have them arrive faster with the layout, pictures and graphs preserved.
12.
Graphic artists can distribute comps  or final documents to clients that can be viewed, printed and faxed as an exact representation of original.
13.
Job seekers can send or post their resumes electronically.
14.
Organizations can send or post their sales and promotional materials electronically, opening a new distribution channel.
15.
Sales reps can fax a form created by MarComm in QuarkXpress or PageMaker, saving them from purchasing or pirating these applications.
16.
Technical support can post fully formatted files on an electronic bulletin board, with assurance that anyone can view and print them.
17.
Companies can archive their documents in Common Ground knowing that they can be searched, retrieved and used by anyone in the organization.
18.
Publishers can distribute information with copying and printing disabled to limit undesirable dissemination of valuable information.
19.
Telecommuters can exchange formatted documents with the office, knowing the look of their work will be preserved.
20.
Engineers can deliver CAD drawings electronically for review or final approval.
21.
CD-ROM publishers can distribute their documentation in Common Ground, saving money and improving their time to market.
22.
Human resources can post employee handbooks, new job listings and organizational charts for all employees to browse and print on demand.
23.
Customer service can take product collateral created on a Macintosh in FrameMaker, convert them to Common Ground, and embed them in a database where any customer service rep using a Windows PC could access them quickly when talking to a customer.
24.
You can share any formatted document with anyone else with complete confidence they will be able to view and print an identical copy to your original, without worrying about what computer platform, applications or fonts are at the other end.