Workgroup middleware for distributed projects

Abstract

We have developed a middleware framework for workgroup environments that can support distributed software development and a variety of other application domains requiring document management and change management for distributed projects. The framework enables hypermedia-based integration of arbitrary legacy and new information resources available via a range of protocols, not necessarily known in advance to us as the general framework developers nor even to the environment instance designers. The repositories in which such information resides may be dispersed across the Internet and/or an organizational intranet. The framework also permits a range of client models for user and tool interaction, and applies an extensible suite of collaboration services, including but not limited to multi-participant workflow and coordination, to their information retrievals and updates. That is, the framework is interposed between clients, services and repositories -thus "middleware". We explain how our framework makes it easy to realize a comprehensive collection of workgroup and workflow features we culled from a requirements survey conducted by NASA. KEYWORDS:Distributed software development support, distributed document management, monitoring and managing distributed development processes, distributed change management, workflow management and coordination support in distributed projects, Internet-based software process coordination Backend Heterogeneous Information Repositories Frontend Heterogeneous User/Tool Clients

Engineering plug‐in software components to support collaborative work

“…The use of specialized component frameworks for building groupware applications has been shown to offer benefits. Examples of such frameworks include Clock [3], our original JViews [19], COAST [7], Xanth [33] and using CORBA and OODBMSs [34]. Most of these approaches provide a component-based architecture with groupware functionality built into components in the architecture.…”

Constructing component-based software engineering environments: issues and experiences

“…Examples include TeamWAVE [35], wOrlds [5], Oz [40], and Xanth [22]. The architectures of these environments usually focus on supporting control integration with other tools, and to a lesser extent presentation, data and process integration.…”

Working Group Report On Coordinating Distributed Software Development Projects

“…Dossick [9] presented a middleware framework for artifact storage in groupware environments. The system references external objects that can be accessed via appropriate protocols written for the framework; additional protocols can be integrated easily.…”