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Ideagen Collaboration Portal vs. Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Ideagen Collaboration Portal

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/AIdeagen Collaboration Portal , formerly Huddle is Ideagen’s tool supporting teams' work by enabling them to store, share and work on content.

    $10

    per user/per month

    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor

    Score9 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    The Lightning Conductor is a content aggregation tool for Microsoft SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams. Users can build rich, modern content reports based upon SharePoint lists, SharePoint Search, Microsoft Graph or Microsoft 365 Groups. Content can be aggregated from lists and libraries, and other applications such as Planner, To Do, OneDrive, and Teams.

    $2,200

    per year per installation

    Pricing
    Ideagen Collaboration PortalLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Editions & Modules
    Huddle
    $10
    per user/per month
    Huddle Plus
    Contact sales team
    Huddle Premier
    Contact sales team
    Lightning Conductor WSP
    From 1950
    per year One WFE
    Lightning Conductor Enterprise Edition
    POA
    per year Four or more WFE
    Lightning Conductor Online
    From 2200
    per year per installation
    Lightning Conductor Plus (Includes Data Viewer)
    From 2500
    per year per installation
    Lightning Conductor Online Enterprise Edition (>10,000 users)
    POA
    per year per installation
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Ideagen Collaboration PortalLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Prices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. $2.20 per user/year on top of base price. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released. (online version)
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    Ideagen Collaboration PortalLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Project Management
    Comparison of Project Management features of Ideagen Collaboration Portal and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    7.2
    6 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    8.6
    2 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Task Management9.16 Ratings8.82 Ratings
    Gantt Charts9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Scheduling4.53 Ratings00 Ratings
    Workflow Automation4.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile Access6.46 Ratings00 Ratings
    Search6.56 Ratings8.42 Ratings
    Visual planning tools10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Communication
    Comparison of Communication features of Ideagen Collaboration Portal and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    8.8
    5 Ratings
    10% above category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Chat10.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Notifications4.54 Ratings00 Ratings
    Discussions9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Surveys9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Internal knowledgebase10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with GoToMeeting9.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Outlook9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    File Sharing & Management
    Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Ideagen Collaboration Portal and Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Feature
    Ideagen Collaboration Portal
    7.6
    6 Ratings
    5% below category average
    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    -
    Ratings
    Versioning9.16 Ratings00 Ratings
    Video files7.35 Ratings00 Ratings
    Audio files6.45 Ratings00 Ratings
    Document collaboration6.56 Ratings00 Ratings
    Access control6.56 Ratings00 Ratings
    Advanced security features10.05 Ratings00 Ratings
    Integrates with Google Drive8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device sync7.34 Ratings00 Ratings
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    User Ratings
    Ideagen Collaboration PortalLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (6 ratings)
    9.0
    (4 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Ideagen Collaboration PortalLightning Tools Lightning Conductor
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Ideagen
    If you are sharing private information like contracts for designs and designs that aren't meant to be shared only with one client, the platform is very secure
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    Having experience of SharePoint On Premise and also SharePoint Online, there isn't an out of the box app/webpart that enables you to 'roll up content' from a variety of source's (in my case SP Lists, but there are many other data sources it works with) across site collections with an easy to use and intuitive interface which is what Lightning tools excels at.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Ideagen
    • Huddle allows users to use the native document file types. For example, Word files are still in a Word, not a "Huddle" file version.
    • Huddle workspaces are invitation-only. If someone should not be in the workspace, they will not be invited and provided access to the documents. Or, they can be removed from the workspace if needed.
    • Communication about documents is located with the documents in a discussion thread under the document preview. Thus, email inbox clutter can be limited.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Aggregate documents across SharePoint site & libraries
    • Filtering for owner/person responsible & due dates
    • Ease of end-user filtering on columns
    • Color-coding & other formatting
    Read full review
    Cons
    Ideagen
    • The desktop app is occasionally unreliable and it is never easy to get to the bottom of it with the tech support people...
    • Tasks are virtually useless as they have no context. We want tasks to be against documents so we can make our workflow more formal but they are not, so we don't use them. A reimplementation of to do and calendar facilities with files/documents as the context would make a huge difference to us.
    • The Huddle Office plugins are a great idea, but they cause us far too many Word and Excel crashes so we have to turn them off.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Mobile Friendly
    • Calendar/Gantt views
    • Complex/Custom Logic
    Read full review
    Usability
    Ideagen
    Huddle is very easy to use whether you are a new user or you have used it for years, it is an incredibly intuitive system that is so simple to teach to new users, the lock feature prevents important documents from being edited accidentally, while the edit features allow for true collaborative working
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Ideagen
    No answers on this topic
    Lightning Tools
    The Lightning Tools support team responds quickly, and team members are very friendly and helpful.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Ideagen
    We liked how simple it was to use. And the feature set it offered was more in line with our needs than the alternatives we looked at
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    I haven't found another product to compare this one to. Only in SharePoint Online which has a similar App 'Highlight Webpart' ... it's far too complicated to set up and requires learning yet another language and exporting and importing via PowerShell to get any real results that would be useful.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Ideagen
    • This has made it a lot easier for remote workers to access important documents without needing to use the VPN at home (which does not always work).
    • It clearly shows who updated the last document and when so it is clear who you need to ask if you have questions or something.
    • We have used it in client settings, so this saves money as we do not need to request a separate client laptop or VPN token.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Lightning Tools
    • Policies easier to portray
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Ideagen Collaboration Portal Screenshots

    Screenshot of Document collaborationScreenshot of Document approval trackingScreenshot of Mobile apps that support remote productivityScreenshot of Android & iOS apps to stay connected while on the moveScreenshot of Huddle Overview

    Lightning Tools Lightning Conductor Screenshots

    Screenshot of MODERN SHAREPOINT LIST ROLLUP
The Lightning Conductor is a SharePoint Content Aggregator that can be configured quickly by business users. The Lightning Conductor can be used to aggregate content from SharePoint Lists such as Tasks, Document Libraries, Contact Lists, and Custom Lists making it easy to view content in one place even if it is distributed across many sites and site collections. Key data can be highlighted using conditional formatting and data-bars as shown. Content from Search and Microsoft Graph can also be aggregated with the Lightning Conductor.Screenshot of CONTENT AGGREGATION WITHIN MICROSOFT TEAMS
The Lightning Conductor Web Part can be used within Microsoft SharePoint or Microsoft Teams. Even if content is stored within SharePoint sites, it is useful to have aggregated Documents, Tasks, Announcements, Calendars or Custom Lists from multiple sites displayed in a single handy view in Microsoft Teams. The Lightning Conductor can be added as a Teams Tab in any Microsoft Teams Channel.Screenshot of BUILDING REPORTS ON MICROSOFT GRAPH
The Lightning Conductor can be used (without code) to aggregate content from Microsoft Graph as well as Search and SharePoint Lists. This example displays Microsoft Planner Plans and Microsoft Planner Tasks where users can Add new Tasks, Assign Users to Planner Tasks, Delete Tasks, and Complete Tasks. The same can be performed on Microsoft To Do items and displayed within Modern SharePoint pages or Microsoft Teams Tabs. The Lighting Conductor can also contain multiple views of content, making it ideal to display all of your tasks from SharePoint Task lists, Microsoft To Do and Microsoft Planner in a single web part or Teams Tab.

*Microsoft Graph Reports are only available for SharePoint Online and not SharePoint 2019.Screenshot of BUILDING REPORTS ON MICROSOFT 365 GROUPS
Powered by Microsoft Graph, the Microsoft 365 Group Rollup Provider enables users to aggregate content by browsing and selecting Microsoft 365 Groups. Within Microsoft 365 Groups, you’ll be able to select entities such as Drive Items, Owners, Members, Planner Plans, Planner Tasks, Events, Posts,  Sites, Lists, and Calendars.

*Microsoft Graph Reports are only available for SharePoint Online and not SharePoint 2019.Screenshot of AGGREGATING USING SEARCH
When performance is critical, search can be used for rollups. The Lightning Conductor offers three data source configurations to get to content. Object Model (Real Time Aggregation from SharePoint Lists), Microsoft Graph (Aggregation from Graph Entities such as Planner, OneDrive, Outlook), and Search. The Search Data Source enables the aggregation of content from large SharePoint lists and libraries when performance is critical. Thousands of documents can be displayed in under a second using Search.Screenshot of HIGHLIGHTING KEY BUSINESS DATA WITHIN VIEWS
End users and Site Owners can highlight the data that is important to them, the data that they need to prioritize. Using conditional formatting, data bars, and icons, conditions can be configured to highlight the data that is most important. Icons and Data Bars can be any color or size desired. Examples include highlighting High Priority tasks, Showing data bars for the completion progress of Tasks, or indicating which tasks are assigned to any particular user.