ColD SPA: a tool for collaborative process model development

Awareness of the need for business analysis has grown faster than the evolution of tools to support collaborative development of business analysis models. Involvement of key personnel is important for model accuracy and buy-in, which is not trivial, especially if they are distributed geographically. Traditionally, models have been developed by individuals or small groups because of the complexity of collaborative modeling. University of Arizona researchers have created specialized electronic meeting systems tools and methods to support several types of collaborative business models. The paper discusses the creation of the Collaborative Distributed Scenario and Process Analyzer (ColD SPA) tool, developed to support collaborative business scenario and process modeling. The ColD SPA prototype serves as "proof-of-concept" that a Web based tool can support collaborative modeling in face-to-face and distributed settings. Flexibility integrated into SPA enables it to support a wide range of problem analysis tasks and has resulted in a type of "build-your-own" collaborative tool.