The fact that the subject may have been analyzed by previous workshops and already exists in the library as a case model is of no consequence - a new perspective may well result. Mentors provide process guidance, aiming the group toward the eventual descriptive requirements for consistent knowledge representation. Here is the crux of the workshop. The problem being attacked may well have been worked on by prior workshop groups who failed to gain an implementation recommendation. The workshop group is broken into small teams when possible in order to have multiple perspectives vie for group appreciation.
Mentors schedule periodic group reviews and provide process guidance.
They remain employed at a reduced time-commitment in their normal job function during this period. This activity culminates when the group, with mentor guidance, agrees upon a comprehensive design approach and is ready to package the result as a metaphor model. It is both a descriptive discipline and an effective insight conveyance tool. These models are built by the students as a group while mentors provide process guidance. When a workshop group is large it is broken into sub-groups for collective work.