Designing collaboration on a microsoft WSS platform: A relevant Web-Parts choice

In this paper, we describe the implementation in a large European bank of a solution based on Web 2.0 Microsoft WSS architecture. During four months, a dynamic Web site has supported cooperative work of a small IT team project. Participants were trained in this new technology and the project manager facilitated exchanges between people. The design of the Web site was made by the project manager according to the wishes of the rest of the group. In fact, the Web site was composed of Web-parts which were chosen by team project members. The objective of this paper is to see if the chosen Web-parts were relevant to support collaborative work. Interviews and qualitative studies reveal a high level of satisfaction in using the system but also a particular feeling of inefficient support in daily tasks. We analyzed pre-experiment results and proposed some changes in a way to design CSCW solutions which we would try to validate in future experimentations.