A Case for OpenOffice.org in Construction Management Curricula

ASC Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference
University of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, Ohio
April 6 - 9, 2005


A Case for OpenOffice.org in Construction Management Curricula

John J. Hannon
The University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, MS

Students in construction management programs increasingly complete coursework outside of the classroom and outside of the institution’s computer laboratories. The work is typically produced on personal computers with software that the students may or may not be licensed to use. Software application requirements include word processors, spreadsheets, and presentation tools. A common situation occurs when student deliverables are submitted in file formats from different applications and differing versions of the same applications. This often makes it difficult for the students to produce course deliverables compatible with the instructor’s software. What is needed is an easily accessible set of applications which can exchange data in standardized (multiple) file formats and is usable with various software platforms. The applications need to be affordable, easy to obtain, simple to use, require minimal training, and have sufficient documentation. In the author’s construction classes, the office productivity suite OpenOffice.org has met these requirements successfully.

Key Words: file format, software platform, office productivity suite, EULA, XML


Introduction

The construction industry desires and hires graduates who have strong verbal and written communication skills. Accordingly, construction programs’ course syllabi are laden with coursework deliverables that emphasize these attributes. This coursework typically consists of homework exercises and projects which require the production of reports and presentations. In addition, the coursework requires considerable amounts of time outside of student-teacher contact hours to produce the deliverables. Most institutions maintain laboratories which provide the students with both the hardware and software needed to complete their assignments. These laboratories are cost and resource intensive to provide and maintain, especially in the current environment of budgetary shortfalls. Not all of these computer laboratories are available 24 hours per day.

Concurrent to this environment is the fact that the profile and demographic of the typical construction student is changing. An increasing number of institutions are delivering courses via the web and more long-distance commuters and/or parents who may work full time, are attending these institutions. The idea of accessibility to the computer laboratory, and the expectation of students using it exclusively to do work, is unrealistic. A majority of students today own and use personal computers and out of preference or necessity complete their assignments at home. This situation requires that course deliverables conform to the software format the instructor can use to assess the student’s work.

The most typical software tools used for student reports and presentations are contained in various ‘office productivity suites’. This refers to software that bundles several applications together and which has a common graphical user interface (GUI) and navigational paradigm for ease of usability across programs. The software bundles typically include word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database applications. There are numerous suites available in the market, including the most popular Microsoft Office.

Microsoft Office is licensed for use in several ways. The product can be purchased new or as an upgrade to previous versions for a single user. Licensing is available for non-commercial uses in academia. Organizations can obtain volume licenses directly from Microsoft (charged per user) or purchase individual licenses from retail stores. Current Microsoft Office licensing restricts use of the software to the computer in which it is installed and registered. Approximately every two years Microsoft releases a newer version of its office suite. The major Microsoft Office Suite releases are as follows (Wikipedia, 2004):

	Office 3.0 (CD-ROM version: Word 2.0c, Excel 4.0a, PowerPoint 3.0, Mail) - released 1992
	Office 4.0 (Word 6.0, Excel 4.0, PowerPoint 3.0),1993
	Office for NT 4.2 (Word 6.0 [32-bit, i386 and Alpha], Excel 5.0 [32-bit, i386 and Alpha], PowerPoint 4.0 [16-bit], "Microsoft Office Manager") - released 1994
	Office 4.3 (The last 16-bit version; Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0 and in the pro version: Access 2.0),1994
	Office 95 (Word 95, etc.)
	Office 97 (Word 97, etc.) - released January 1997
	Office 2000 (Word 2000, etc.) - released June 1999
	Office XP (Word 2002, etc.) - released June 2001
	Office 2003 (Word 2003, etc.) - released October 21, 2003

With each new version, the company makes slight adjustments to their proprietary file formats which store the data created in its applications. This can cause file-reading incompatibilities between versions of the applications. Most versions are backward-compatible in their ability to read files. Typically older versions cannot read the newer version file formats. Students who create their work at home typically utilize software which either comes bundled with their computer or is purchased shortly after the hardware is bought. Instructors typically utilize software provided by their institution. The chances of software version alignment between the instructor and a class of 30 or more students, is low. The typical solution is for the students to purchase or upgrade to the same software as the instructor. The author has found that a successful alternative to this common problem in the classroom is OpenOffice.org (OO.org).


OpenOffice.org Described

OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org ) is a robust office suite available for download from the World Wide Web. Its rather strange name implies that it is not only a product developed from the open source model, but that it is also a project which is ongoing in nature (Syllabus, 2004). It is ‘free’ in the sense of cost and End User License Agreement (EULA) restrictions; students can obtain and legally use the applications from an internet download. The suite contains all the applications required for producing reports and presentations; word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, drawing program, and formula editor; it reads and saves data in Microsoft Office file formats, and it generates PDF files without requiring Adobe Acrobat Distiller.

The office suite was first developed by a German company in the mid 1980’s as a self- contained application called StarOffice. At that time all of the various applications were contained and executed within the suite’s ‘shell’ which also included associated file editor and email client (the individual applications could not be executed as stand-alone, but only from within the shell). In 1999, Sun Microsystems purchased the German company and acquired the office suite which was then released in 2000 as StarOffice 5.2. Sun also released the software under dual licenses, one being the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) which allows developers access to the program’s source code. This accelerated development of the office suite via the open source development model. Currently, the office suite continues to be enhanced by programmers worldwide under a non-profit organization called OpenOffice.org . The organization is governed by an elected council and consists of different steering committees and project groups. Sun Microsystems leverages the ongoing development of OpenOffice as the basis of their StarOffice product. StarOffice includes features and additions added by Sun which are either proprietary or not compatible with the LGPL, such as a database, additional fonts, file filters, etc. Both OpenOffice and StarOffice have split the individual applications from the shell so that all applications can be executed separately.

OpenOffice has gained broad acceptance globally, especially in Europe and Asia. Several transitions or transition plans to the office suite from Microsoft Office, by private and public organizations, have been widely publicized. Some of the most notable making the transition are the United States Department of Defense (StarOffice), the City of Munich, Germany, and the City of Austin, Texas. Each is in the process or has successfully migrated from Microsoft Office applications.

Components

Writer

The sophisticated word processing component of OO.org is named Writer. This application includes, spell check, thesaurus, auto correct, auto format, outline numbering, footnotes, bibliography database, mail merge, and most other features of Microsoft Word. In addition, the user can insert variable values in 'fields', such as dates, page numbers, and objects for automatic updating in the documents created. Updating the variables is accomplished by the use of a Function Key (F9). Similarly to Microsoft Office 2003's Task Pane, Writer utilizes a 'Navigator' and 'Stylist' which either can be applied as free-floating or docked toolbars. Writer's Navigator displays all types of objects contained in a document such as titles, sheets, tables text frames, graphics, objects, sections, hyperlinks, references, indexes, or notes (OpenOffice.org Help, 2004). The Stylist toolbar allows the user easy access to formatting of characters, paragraphs, frames, pages, and numbering. Another feature in common with Microsoft Word is versioning control which enables commenting, acceptance and rejection of changes, password document protection, and comparison or merging of documents. Figure 1 displays a screenshot of these Writer characteristics.

Figure 1: Docked Stylist and Undocked Navigator in Writer


Calc

OpenOffice.org's spreadsheet component is titled ‘Calc’. Calc is a full featured spreadsheet which has most of the functionality as that of Microsoft Excel. Equivalent features are named differently in each application. For instance, Pivot Tables in Excel are called 'interactive tables' created by the DataPilot in OO.org. Usage of the spreadsheet is strikingly familiar to that of Excel. The author and some of his students have easily transitioned between the two applications. The main obstacles in this regard are locating the menus which contain the similar features, learning the application's vocabulary, and recognition of new icons of toolbar buttons. Excel has superior features once a table is created, such as some charting functionality, but the author has been able to emulate most functionality with additional application commands (Lodato, 2004). In creating workbooks for an estimating course, the author actually prefers some the Calc features over those of Excel. These include the feature common to all OO.org applications; the ability to open and view external data sources in the application windows. By engaging a Function Key (F4), the application opens a frame displaying access to external databases of almost any type (including address books and other spreadsheets, including Excel). This function enables any of the database fields in the frame to be dragged or copied into the spreadsheet. Microsoft Office applications also embed a similar feature accessible from a series of drop-down menus. Figure 2 displays the Data Source Explorer feature.

Figure 2: Calc spreadsheet with Data Source Explorer window.


Impress

Impress is the slide presentation application similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. It includes drawing, outline, slide, notes, handout, and preview modes or views. The author utilizes this application for delivering course content and paper presentations. Of particular advantage to instructors is the ability to easily format slide presentations for the web. Impress can export slides instantly in HTML or Macromedia Flash formats. The created export files are immediately ready for upload to websites.

Draw

OpenOffice.org contains a component application for communicating with graphics and diagrams. Of particular advantage is its ability to create electronically the characters required for complex mathematical formulas and their presentation. This piece of software can be appreciated by those who have attempted to display formulas utilizing only keyboard characters and the shortcomings of text markup in most applications such as word processors and PowerPoint. The formula, once written, can be saved as an object for insertion into OO.org or Microsoft Office applications.

Formula

Formula is an equation creation program and editor which provides the ability to display complex mathematical equations in all of OO.org’s applications. The editor can be invoked as a stand-alone program or opened within specific application sessions for inserting equations as objects within any office document.

HTML Editor

The Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) editor included as a part of the office suite is tool for creating web pages and documents. This is a full-featured editor which allows the user to view the content in display or source code modes. The application does not include features which upload and maintain files to remote websites such as found in Macromedia’s Dreamweaver.

Features

The overall features inherent in the OpenOffice.org productivity suite are more impressive than features specific to the individual applications and make the strongest case for its utilization in the classroom and by students.

Navigation

OpenOffice applications are relatively easy to operate for users who are most familiar with operating Microsoft Office applications. In order to properly utilize a software application, the user must be able to intuitively navigate its GUI. The author’s experience has been that GUI navigation between the two office suites is so similar that most students have no problem when transitioning from one to the other. This has also proven to be true in case-study reports of business and municipal organizations which have transitioned their workforce from MS Office to OO.org. One tendency of open-source software applications, often produced by volunteer programmers, is to sacrifice usability issues for technical features. Since programmers tend to be rather savvy in their software technical skills and often create software for their own use, they prefer either consciously or unconsciously to spend their time on adding features rather than making the interface simple for ‘average users’. This may have at one time been the case regarding StarOffice, but the programmers now realize that the suite’s adoption rate depends upon ‘ease of use’ and with each new ‘build’, improvements in usability are addressed.

File Filters

File filters refer to an application’s ability to read and store data in file formats other than its own. OpenOffice has the ability to open and save files in the following formats:

	Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP
	StarOffice
	Plain text
	HTML


This allows students to utilize the office suite even if the instructor requires deliverables to be submitted in Microsoft Office formats (.xls, .doc, .ppt). Conversely, if students cannot afford to license Microsoft products for home use, they can easily open those files with OpenOffice. In addition, all of the OO.org applications export to the PDF read-only file format. This allows them to exchange readable files with anyone who possesses the free Adobe Acrobat Reader on their computer. OpenOffice Impress allows its presentation files to export to Macromedia Flash format.

XML File Format

Arguably one of OO.org’s most impressive features is its native XML data structure. XML is an acronym for Extensible Markup Language. This open and universal structure allows interpretation of documents with any editor supporting the markup language. The enabling benefit here is that the user’s data is encapsulated in a format which is universally protected for as long as software applications interpret the language (a very long time as XML is in its infancy). User data, possibly built-up over years, is not locked into any one proprietary or application-specific format, lending itself to a very long lifespan and usability by numerous other software applications.

XML structured data allows software applications which share a common schema to exchange that data. By exporting and importing between software applications, XML enables data to be created once and reused ad infinitum. The restrictive requirement is that each software application in the exchange process must be capable of sharing a common data model (Sattineni, 2004). The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is currently attempting to standardize OO.org’s XML file handling. The standard is to be named the OASIS Open Document Format. In addition, the European Union’s Interchange of Data between Administrations department (IDA) is recommending that the OASIS format become an International Standards Organization (ISO) global standard (Becker, 2004).

When application files are saved in OO.org’s native file extensions, the files are actually compressed in Java Archive format (JAR). By utilizing compression software, such as PKzip, the files can be de-compressed (unzipped) to expose the markup language in separate XML files. For example, if you rename an OO.org file with a .zip extension, then right mouse-click it in windows, choose ‘extract all’, and the Windows Extraction Wizard will reveal its contents. The extracted contents consist of 6 XML files containing both the data itself and different information describing the data. All the files can be read with simple text editors such as Notepad.

This approach to file structure and format ensures that data will be accessible by future versions of OpenOffice that are built around it. The JAR files have extensions which are native to each of the suite’s applications as shown in Table 1. Figure 3 displays the contents of an extracted JAR file.

Table 1 XML File Format Names
Application	File Extension
OpenOffice.org Writer	*.sxw
OpenOffice.org Writer Templates	*.stw
OpenOffice.org Calc	*.sxc
OpenOffice.org Calc Templates	*.stc
OpenOffice.org Impress	*.sxi
OpenOffice.org Impress Templates	*.sti
OpenOffice.org Draw	*.sxd
OpenOffice.org Draw Templates	*.std
OpenOffice.org Math	*.sxm
Master Documents	*.sxg

Figure 3 XML File Content Subdirectories


Database Connectivity

Similar to Microsoft Query in Excel, OpenOffice.org provides easy access to external databases. The ‘Data Sources’ option allows the user to open, create, extract data, query, and edit databases directly from OO.org applications. The Data Source Explorer is executed from the toolbar menu or a function key (F4) and connects with other spreadsheets (including Excel) and databases with LDAP, ODBC, and JDBC protocols (this encompasses most databases as well as address books).

Advantages

Affordability

Cost is no longer a barrier to students purchasing state-of-the-art office productivity applications for their personal computers.

Availability

The author and a team of students recently participated in a construction management marathon competition. The five students on the team utilized their personal computers during the competition. Each student had a different office productivity application set on his machine. The university licensing agreement with Microsoft prevented installation of university-purchased licenses of Microsoft Office on the machines for use in the competition. Instead, the team standardized its applications by installing the current version of OpenOffice.org on each member’s computer.

Since the core download is approximately 46 MB for the Windows platform (approximately 80 MB for the Apple OS X platform), it is advantageous to have access to a broadband internet connection. For those not wanting to endure the download on a dial-up internet connection, CDs are available for purchase from a list of distributors also located on the website. The software is not encumbered by a restrictive EULA and the installation files are free to distribute to others. No registration is required. The author legally burns the installation files onto CD-ROM and distributes to students as needed.

Versatility

OpenOffice.org is extremely versatile. The office suite is available for download in 44 languages and five operating systems, with more slated according to the project’s development roadmap. The applications store files in most universally accepted standard file formats as well as Microsoft’s proprietary file formats. The project also offers the StarOffice Software Development Kit (SDK) which allows extended custom development of the applications in Java, C++, StarBasic, and Python programming languages.

File Footprint

The office suite stores files in compressed and XML formats. This causes the file sizes of stored application files to be significantly smaller (usually by about 2/3rds, not including embedded objects) than its Microsoft counterparts. For example, the author’s presentation last year to the ASC Proceedings has the following approximate file size when saved in the applications shown in Table 2. This is advantageous to users (students) with limited storage capacity.

Table 2 Presentation File Size Saved in Two Applications
Application	File Size (kb)
Microsoft PowerPoint	106
OpenOffice.org Impress	31


Future Development

Perhaps the greatest advantage of OpenOffice is its continuous development and improvement. The OpenOffice.org project has recently published guidelines for the next version (2.0) of the application suite as well as releasing the newest (open source) code and binaries for testing by the public. The newer version will add a java-based database engine and application, improved Microsoft Office interpretation and filtering, and strict XML compliant output in addition to other improvements. The XML file format structure remains unchanged while the application file extensions (as shown in Table 1) have been renamed (Cassia, 2004).

Disadvantages

Interoperability

Some construction industry applications link directly to Microsoft Office applications. For example, Hard Dollar Corporation’s estimating program links fields in Excel spreadsheets directly to fields in the application. Utilization of OpenOffice.org Calc in this situation would not be functional. Although applications which export data to Excel format can be opened with Calc, direct linking such as Hard Dollar’s would require adding special programming functionality on the part of the application software vendor.

Interpretation of Complex Documents

Although OpenOffice.org’s ability to read Microsoft’s documents is greatly useful, it has difficulty interpreting Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents with complex formatting. In the author’s experience, these situations are generally easy to overcome by reformatting the areas in question. Nevertheless, it is a shortcoming for users (students) who author documents in OO.org and submit deliverables in Microsoft file formats.

Visual Basic Macros

Visual Basic programming will not transfer with documents rendered in OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice has its own programming language for macros called StarBasic.


Conclusion

The OpenOffice.org suite lends itself well to use by students and in the classroom. The software is free and unburdened by restrictive license agreements. The instructor can, with a clear conscience, require homework and project deliverables to be submitted in OpenOffice file formats. This is possible because the applications are easily acquired by students and useable upon the Windows, Apple, and Linux operating systems. Should the instructor require deliverables to be submitted in Microsoft formats, the students can still utilize OpenOffice.org. When appropriate the instructor can require deliverables in PDF file format and the students can comply without needing to purchase Adobe Acrobat licenses. As construction industry application vendors begin to answer the need for interoperability across construction business functions with a unifying XML schema, OO.org will be a legitimate choice inside or outside of the construction classroom (Sattineni 2004).

References

Becker, David (September 2004). Sun pushes OpenOffice [WWW document] URL http://news.com.com/Sun+pushes+OpenOffice+standard/2100-1013_3-5390977.html

Cassia, Fernando (December, 2004). OpenOffice 2.0 preview released preview pre-review king of OSS suites adds access-clone. [WWW document] URL http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20293

Lodato, Raymond (November 2004). Slashdot Review: A Complete Guide to Pivot Tables : A Visual Approach by Paul Cornell. [WWW document]. URL http://books.slashdot.org/books/04/11/19/2012256.shtml?tid=192&tid=185&tid=201&tid=6&tid=218

OpenOffice.org application onscreen Help.

Sattineni, Anoop (2004) The Use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) in Creating Interoperable Construction Software Applications, ASC Proceedings of the 40^th Annual Conference, Provo, Utah.

Syllabus (November 2002). Featured product: Openoffice.org: An open alternative to off-the-shelf [WWW document]. URL http://www.campus-technology.com/article.asp?id=6912

Wikipedia (2004) Microsoft Office [WWW document]. Retrieved November 11, 2004 from URL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office#Common_programs_included