SACE-CSCW: A Synchronous Asynchronous Common Environment for Computer Supported Cooperative Work to Aid Concurrent Engineering Processes

This paper presents a Computer Supported Cooperative Work tool to help different models of meetings concerning the decision making process. Besides supporting the two obvious domains of cooperation: space (same or different) and time (synchronous or asynchronous) it also allows to work with other dimensions such as group/subgroup, user roles, public or closed type of meeting, anonymous or nominated method of meeting and three modes of cooperation: full view, partial view and single view. The framework includes the brainstorming, organization/consolidation, voting and action sessions of a typical decision making meeting and a feature for email. A multimedia approach is being considered in the near future.