Collaboration

The Collaboration business pattern, which is also known as the User to User or U2U pattern, enables interaction and collaboration between users. This pattern can be observed in solutions that support small or extended teams who need to work together in order to achieve a joint goal.

• e-mail
• Bulletin boards
• Newsgroups
• Instant messaging
• Team rooms
• Online meetings
• Ad hoc workflow

If you're not yet sure that your business problem can be solved by the functionality enabled through a Collaboration pattern solution design, the Collaboration general guidelines page provides additional information on choosing this Business pattern. Business and IT drivers, the e-business context appropriate for this solution type, and additional solution details are discussed here.

If you've determined that the Collaboration business pattern can provide an appropriate solution design for your business need, the next step is to select an Application pattern. The Collaboration business pattern can be implemented using any one of four different Application patterns, providing solution flexibility so that the determined Business pattern can address the specific needs of the business process being automated.

• Patterns for e-business naming conventions

• New Collaboration business pattern

  The Collaboration business pattern has been added to the Patterns for e-business Web site as part of a set of updates corresponding to the release of Patterns for e-business: A Strategy for Reuse, a book by the Patterns architects that documents both established and emerging e-business infrastructures.

• Feasibility:
  This material will help you determine the high-level shape of a Self-Service system, and ensure your approach looks similar to other successful sites. Re-use of prior approaches can be an effective way to begin most major projects. Obviously, modifications will be needed for any unique requirements of a given site. This pattern provides a drill-down from high-level architecture to lower-level designs and guidance.

• Risk:
  Basing new projects on prior designs and ideas helps to lower the risk of failure. Creating or inventing designs for each project tends to result in a lower success rate. Frequently, projects begun "from scratch" simply do not work and have major exposures in such areas as security, performance, availability, undefined requirements, and cost over-run.

• Cost-benefit:
  By starting with reasonably complete architectures you save considerable development time and obtain assurance that the end solution will have a much higher chance of success. Actual savings will vary, but project teams have realized a 10% to 50% reduction of work effort in their design and architecture phases alone.