Review of Collaborative Tools for Planning and Engineering

The objectives of this work were 1 to survey the marketplace for available tools that may provide collaborative environments to support Synthetic Environment based exercises and experiments, and evaluate the most relevant candidates and 2 to develop an evaluation method for assessing collaborative planning and engineering tools. A literature review was conducted, followed by Subject Matter Experts SMEs interviews. A total of 215 collaborative tools were uncovered. In order to develop an evaluation method for these tools, it was realized that users of collaborative planning and engineering tools would have specific uses for the tools or goals for the tools known prior to tool selection. Further, specific requirements would be desired of the tools. This led to the creation of the Evaluation Matrix which was used to evaluate select collaborative tools. Research and development opportunities can also be identified through the evaluation matrix. Finally, a number of changes are proposed for the evaluation matrix. The authors feel that this project has provided an important first step toward the technological support of distributed planning and engineering teams.