Collaborative Computing

Collaborative computing technology is used to facilitate communication, share information, and obtain in put and feedback in a timely manner. Properly used, these technologies aid collaboration, and, therefore, speed-up the development process and insure a better product as a result of participation of experts from multiple disciplines.

There are a variety of tools and technologies to facilitate communication and collaboration. Collaboration can happen synchronously where all participants view information and/or meet at the same time or asynchronously where participants view information and provide feedback at different points in time. These tools and technologies include:

• Email exchange of drawings, models and project information (asynchronous)
• Group scheduling and messaging (asynchronous)
• Secure and non-secure instant messaging and chat rooms (synchronous)
• Teleconferencing and videoconferencing (synchronous)
• Web-hosted meetings and presentations (synchronous)
• Project hosting tools to create one pool of all released project documentation with email alerts for updates (asynchronous)
• Collaborative project management and project statusing (asyncronous)
• Drawing viewing sites (intranet and web-based) with view and mark-up capabilities (asynchronous)
• CAD collaboration sessions (synchronous)
• Workflow and groupware software (asynchronous)
• Product data management, product information management, collaborative product commerce (generally asynchronous)

The selection and use of these tools will be based on technology availability and cost; geographic dispersion and related time zone differences; need for access by partners, suppliers and customers; product complexity and degree of technical issues; and other factors