About workgroup management

When working in a collaborative environment, users must share files. The process of passing files from one collaborator to another involves working with a workgroup. Controlling the hand-off--so that only one person can edit a file at any given time--is called workgroup management.

A WebDAV server provides workgroup management via the Web. When a file is managed by a WebDAV server, multiple users can download copies of the file, but only one user at a time can check out the file. The user who checks out the file can share his or her work with other users by updating the file on the server; however, other users can't make changes to the managed file until it is checked in. This check out/check in system allows multiple users to access the same file but prevents users from overwriting each other's work.