Supporting Concurrent Design in SCOPE

Abstract

Concurrent design can be viewed as processes of collaboration, coordination and co-decision making within and between cross-functional teams. Based on this view we argue that an appropriate integration of information sharing and activity synchronization ap proaches is necessary and beneficial for a concurrent design support environment. This paper investigates support for defining a set of co ordinated and concurrent collaborative activities that constitute a design process in the form of a process model, and for executing, monitor ing and dynamically modifying process models at runtime. Information sharing and activity synchronization are two key approaches that have to be integrated into a concurrent design support environment. Based on the concept of "session-based collaborative processes," we developed a modeling methodology and tools that enable team members to model concurrent design processes, and we built the SCOPE prototypical cooperation environment to support modification, monitoring, and execution of session-based collaborative processes. Specifically, we focus on support for individual cross-functional teams, that allows them to work in different styles in different situations. They can perform activities synchronously or asynchronously; in the same place or in different places; individually or jointly; and routinely or spontaneously. Equally, we emphasize support for cooperation between cross-functional teams. Because complicated interdependencies between activities, which are carried out by different teams, exist, facilities are provided so that people working in different teams can share artifacts synchronously or asynchronously. Furthermore, the shared artifacts can be used to synchronize not only sequential but also con current activities carried out by parallel teams.

Our approach can support synchronous and asynchronous cooperation among people not only within a team but also in different teams. Furthermore, SCOPE provides a high level of adaptability and flexibility for team members to model design models and concurrent design processes. Hypertext technology is used due to its inherent flexibility for information structuring as a basis for information processing and process support.