BP4_Centra

For my 2nd Web 2.0 tool review I chose Saba's Centra, a real-time and archive collaborative engine for e-meetings, virtual classes and webinars. But Centra is just the tip of the iceberg. Saba also offers People Systems Solutions; four product suites that include learning, collaboration, performance and strategic people processes. Tools for nearly every department, managers and employees, from training and performance improvement, to research and development and human resources all working together as an enterprise-wide solution. Saba Live, another member of the Saba family, is a business networking piece that harnesses the power of collaboration with enterprise-wide social media-type profiles and widgets that are accessible in each of the aforementioned suites. Centra is the driving force that puts the power in these products yet it is simple, sweet and user-friendly, Are you starting to get a feel for the scope of this tool? Saba's product line is truly a Web 2.0 masterpiece of resource and human capital management. For the sake of this post I will limit the presentation to Centra’s features and benefits.

In short, Centra manages online communication. It supports channels such as YouTube, Vinio, Dyna and more, and any video format out there. Just bring it! Conferences are streaming or recorded and you can have conversations in a Twitter-like environment. It allows the user to create, manage and enroll in meetings, events and recordings as well as create and edit their profile. Content and Events can also be managed directly from the Home screen. Let's take a look at the engine that drives the Saba beast.

The Home page is clean and direct. It provides access to all the components of this product. There were a few features that were not accessible in the demo but there's still plenty to see. 


Keep reading by clicking the Read More link on the left side below the screen shot.

First in the menu lineup are the user-centric links. This is where the user creates and edits their profile, looks at their scheduled events, enrolls in and attends events/meetings, accesses tools and downloads, and creates meetings.


Let's have a look at each of this first set of menu options. I will introduce them in the sequence they would typically be accessed (imho.) First is "My Profile," the place to create and edit the user's information. In this example the user has entered their assigned Dial-in and Callback phone numbers for teleconferencing as well as access and host codes, and Conference Call Instructions. This information transfers to meetings that are created by the user.

When the user wants to check their schedule they'll go to the "My Schedule" link where they will find tabs containing the upcoming, ongoing and past events they have scheduled.

Enrolling in events or programs is as easy as clicking "Enrollment" in the menu options then filling in the form.

Attending an event or program couldn't be simpler. Just click "Attend" in the Home menu, enter the Meeting ID and decide if you want to launch on the desktop or use a browser.

To create a meeting just click the option in the the menu and start filling in the form. The top of the form is the Schedule detail where you give the meeting a name, day, time and duration, assign a cost center and enter a description. If the meeting is 'on the fly' just click the "Start Now" button and you're ready. 

Next, enter how many seats you want to make available up to 25, and don't forget to include one for yourself! Click the "Seat Availability" button to see how many seats are still open.

The next section of the form is for setting the audio options. Here's where you chose VOIP, Telephone, or VOIP and Telephone then enter the access numbers, codes , passwords, etc.

Last on this page is to create the text for the invitation that will be mailed to the email addresses you enter.

 

Now let's move to the "Event Manager" menu options; Manage Users, Manage Events, Manage Programs, Manage Cost Centers, Manage Images and Manage Surveys.

Managing users can be a daunting task, but not in Centra! Take a look...

"What about keeping track of events?" you ask.

Now take a look at how you manage programs....

 

Pretty simple, eh?

Another important task is creating and managing surveys.

and images...

And that's not all! There's still the Content Manager menu where subjects and catalogs are managed and recording are published. The demo could go on forever. You're probably holding your eyes open with toothpicks about now so I won't keep going. I think by now you've got the point. Centra is simple to use for both content provider and recipient. I have attended several free Training Magazine Online events through Saba. It was easy to set up on my laptop and the presenter seemed to work effortlessly through the material. I would like the opportunity to try on the Learning Suite just to see how sweet it is.