Model-based construction of collaborative systems

The principal asset of an enterprise is its workforce, and a key factor dis tinguishing the successful enterprising of the forthcoming millennium is th e empowerment of its staff in pursuit of corporate goals. While the more ro utine tasks will become totally automated, There will also be an increased use of IT to amplify the abilities of knowledge workers as individuals and members of collaborative teams. These teams are likely to be much more vola tile than at present, being convened for specific purposes and disbanding o nce the purpose is achieved. Individuals may simultaneously belong to sever al teams, and may play different roles in each of these. This view of the f uture poses challenging requirements of the supporting software infrastruct ure. Many support applications for virtual teams share similar fundamental requirements for core services, such as information management, co-ordinati on and collaborative working. This paper proposes an approach to constructi on of collaborative systems in which a model is used to describe user inter action with core services within an application context. This model then dr ives a run-time enactment service which provides integrated and customisati on of core services for team members, and enhances the ability of the softw are to evolve over time as requirements change. An experimental model-based collaborative system was built according to this approach, and applied to a virtual team scenario based on a BT business process for provision of quo tations for network services. Evaluation trials were encouraging and demons trated both the feasibility and the usability of the approach, particularly design of collaborative systems with end users.