The approach adopted was to integrate components from a number of existing systems and to develop new collaborative tools based on the study of a large-scale technical application that encompasses many collaboration problems. Single components tools were developed that can be integrated with existing tools and that are able to interoperate with each other. An increasing number of people are involved in projects that are distributed within or even between organisations, so that people often collaborate with others in different physical locations.
Project management is a difficult task in the best of circumstances.
It becomes even more complicated if a geographically distributed group of people is involved. A task-monitoring system was developed which enables people to keep track of the status and results of ongoing collaborative activities. It provides support for asynchronous group work. It notifies those involved of deadlines and expected actions, alerts users in case of emerging difficulties, and enables them to delegate tasks to others. Synchronous document preparation by a distributed group of people is important in many collaborative projects.