THE INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENT FOR SUPPORTING COLLABORATIVE ANALYSIS

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kawabata, Ryo | Ishikawa, Yuki | Masuda, Kenji | Itoh, Kiyoshi

Affiliations: Laboratory of Information and Systems Engineering, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract: In systems analysis, the target system is analyzed by collaboration between two or more analysts. Systems development is performed by analyzing the target system from various viewpoints. From each viewpoint, corresponding chart representation which is suitable for the viewpoint is described. The chart representation is not described from scratch, but it is described by using knowledge included in the other chart representations that are already described. There are two types of collaborations in describing chart representations. The one type is that plural analysts describe the one chart representation collaboratively. The other type is that each analyst describes different kinds of chart representations. In this paper, the authors propose the system called CiCCS (Collaborative inter-Chart Conversion System) for supporting to describe chart representations by collaboration between two or more analysts. CiCCS has analysis processes which include a set of chart representations, the usage of them and the order of them. The navigator guides system analysts with the analysis processes which include a set of chart representations and the usage of them according to the purpose of analysis. Analysts can describe chart representations in accordance with the analysis process or analyst's own order. CiCCS has a converter which extracts a skeleton of a chart representation from the other chart representations.

Keywords: CiCCS, collaborative analysis, chart, knowledge, converter

Journal: Journal of Integrated Design & Process Science, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 11-26, 2008