Facilitation methods for collaborative modeling tools

This paper presents results of an ongoing research effort to support effect ive user involvement during modeling and analysis meetings. Productivity an d user participation of traditional group meetings have been limitations im posed by chauffeured facilitation and single-user tools. These tools have b een designed for analysts rather than for direct use by non-analyst users. Recently, electronic meeting systems (EMS) modeling tools that allow users to work in parallel to contribute directly during meetings have been develo ped. Such tools allow more domain experts to participate directly and produ ctively during model development meetings than is possible using the tradit ional approach. Although previous research has demonstrated that EMS modeli ng tools may be used to develop some model content, little research had bee n done on collaborative facilitation methods that employ these tools. This paper presents a comparison of modeling approaches for use with EMS modelin g tools and proposes an approach that overcomes significant problems inhere nt in other approaches. It leverages the productivity enhancement afforded by direct group access and still results in production of complete, integra ted, high quality models. This approach allows models to be developed two t o four times faster than with traditional modeling support and yet avoids m odel ambiguities and inconsistencies.