CoAct provides a set of exchange operations which allow to exchange results consistently. When exchanging information between workspaces a smooth integration of results achieved by each participant is essential. Therefore, powerful integration mechanisms having a notion of the semantics of work are one of the major achievements of the TransCoop Project. These mechanisms introduce a new paradigm called history merging. Their applicability is not limited to cooperative transaction management but includes other problems in data management, too.
Examples are version merging, replication control, and disconnected operations in mobile systems.
Outcome Besides the conceptual development of the cooperative transaction model CoAct and a corresponding specification language CoCoA, both mechanisms have been implemented to practically prove and demonstrate the concepts. The specification environment consists of a comprehensive toolset. It includes a graphical editor to generate specifications, a static analysis tool, a dynamic analysis tool and a compiler to the run-time environment. The specific know how GMD obtained from TransCoop is currently exploited for consulting purposes in the area of workflow with a large German industry trust, and in the Poliwork project which develops software supporting cooperative work on documents for the German administration. Further exploitation is planned in a follow up project addressing computer support for interorganisational business processes.