OSPG was established on 13 December, 1993. It is an open group, which is composed of users, system developers and vendors, and aims at solving problems from the points of view of users.

The groupware SIG (Special Interest Group) was established on 18 December 1995 with the theme of "Providing solutions for business reengineering". It is directly under the OSPG board of directors.

The main theme of the groupware SIG is how Japanese companies can survive in the 90's and change their businesses to adapt to the 21st century. The groupware SIG aims to obtain the latest technology for groupware and workflow systems, which is specified as important information technology for supporting business reengineering. The SIG also aims to study usage and solutions in advanced groupware and workflow systems in order to expand the use of groupware and workflow systems in Japan.

At present, 55 persons (including users, system developers and vendors) from 33 companies belong to the SIG.

Main theme

• Providing groupware solutions
• Introducing new user sites and visiting users
• Introducing products from domestic and foreign companies
• Providing forums for study
• Cooperating with other organizations
• Publishing books, writing papers, and holding seminars
• Plannning and participating in the OSPG World Fair

Activities

• 1 (18th December 1995)
  
  1. Planning annual activities of the groupware SIG
  2. Lecture(1): "Trends and Problems in Groupware" by Assistant Professor Okada at Keio University
  3. Lecture(2): "Data Security in Groupware" by Mr. Kawano, certified public accountant
• 2 (4th March 1996)
  
  1. Lecture: "Japanese Business and Groupware" by Mr. Maekawa, Tohmatsu Consulting Co., Ltd.
  2. Forum: On a theme determined by the groupware SIG
• 3 (17th May 1996)
  
  1. Presentation(1): "Groupmax" by Mr.Kirikoshi, Hitachi, Ltd.
  2. Presentation(2): "Notes and WWW" by Mr. Kuwaki, NTT Corp.

Hitachi has been a member of the OSPG groupware SIG since the SIG was established, and is in charge of the executive office of the SIG. Hitachi has also joined other OSPG SIGs and strongly supports OSPG activities.

SIG organization

Leader	Mr. Maekawa, Tohmatsu Consulting Co., Ltd.
Executive office	Mr. Ikeda, Hitachi, Ltd.
Consultant	Professor Okada, Keio University
Advisors	Mr. Higuchi, Lotus Development Corp. Mr. Murata, Hitachi Ltd.
Members	Fuji Zerox Co., Ltd., IBM Japan, Ltd., Itochu Corp., Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc., Mitsubishi Office Machinery Co., Ltd., Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co., Ltd., Nihon Unisys, Ltd., Nissan Computer Co., Osaka Gas Co., Ltd., Ricoh Co., Ltd., Secom Co., Ltd., Sharp Corp., Sumitomo Corp., Sybase, Inc. Teijin Systems Ltd., Toshiba Corp., Yamaichi Information Systems Co., Ltd., etc

OSPG has published a book "Nihongata BPR no susume (Recommendation for Japanese-style Business Process Reengineering)".