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Overview of Collaborative Application Design Patterns
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It is quite common for people to assume that each application that they
design and build is unique. In a classic software development world of
custom coding this is particularly common. However, in the modular
application world of a CorasWorks workplace, where you are building
applications on the SharePoint collaboration platform, there is actually
a great deal of commonality of application architecture. In fact,
you are able to see and define common design patterns. They have a
common two-dimensional structure - their layout, and they have a common form and type of connection
and flow of information.
CorasWorks began with a
solid understanding of the core design patterns of applications on a
collaborative platform. We then built modular, end-user
configurable components that support these patterns. These are the
core capabilities of the CorasWorks Workplace Suite. Over the
years, our catalog of collaborative application design patterns has grown
and our understanding of application requirements has matured, leading
to more robust capabilities in our products.
At this time, CorasWorks
supports and trains on ten core collaborative application design patterns.
These are not the only design patterns, but, they are the most common. We train individuals on these patterns in our standard "Builder
Training" classes. The solutions in our Workplace Suite Solution Set are all
based upon particular design patterns or a combination of them. As
an example, examine the structure and functionality of the Internal
Project Team solution and compare it to the Marketing Campaigns and
Engagement Management solutions. All of these are now categorized under
our Project Based category of the showroom.
You will find a great deal of commonality. In fact, this Tiered
design pattern is the number one pattern for multi-site project
collaboration solutions and can be applied to thousands of situations.
Each of the other patterns has similar reusability.
With modular software, templates, blueprints, and so on, once a design
pattern is known and understood, it becomes very easy for non-technical
and non-development people to reuse the components and solutions to
create different solutions that use the same design. It allows people to
become "Workplace Application Architects" without having to immerse
themselves in the underlying technology. It also provides a
common language for people to use to discuss design. In effect, a common
understanding and language of these design patterns allows people to
very quickly access a need, discuss it, and translate it into effective
applications - all by reusing modular components, without requiring
custom coding. The result is a dramatically reduced cost to
design, develop, and support solutions. And, by empowering
non-technical "Power Users" to become application architects, a broader
base of people within your organization are able to contribute to the
process of designing and building out your workplace, leveraging their
business knowledge.
In
the rest of this article we will discuss the current ten collaborative
application design patterns that CorasWorks publicly supports, trains
on, and builds towards. There is a description of each design
pattern along with a graphic schematic. Note that the design
patterns are two-dimensional and that they are all represented by a 2d
diagram. These are
structural patterns that one would overlay on top of their workplace.
Some consist of single site designs such as the Workspace and Applet
patterns. Others are multi-site, distributed patterns such as Tiered, Secure
Separation, and Matrix. As you become familiar with these
patterns, you will see that you can combine these patterns to create
very powerful applications that are distributed across your CorasWorks
Workplace running on SharePoint. The full list consists of the following:
-
Workspace
-
Applet
-
Tiered
-
Matrix
-
Personal Productivity
-
Secure Separation
-
Master
-
Knowledge Management
-
Centralized
-
Distributed
Workspace Pattern
Everything in Windows SharePoint Services or the
SharePoint Site section of SharePoint Portal Server is a site. When a
site is used for collaboration work, we call it a “workspace.” It is
the most common type of solution using SharePoint out of the box for
collaboration. In the workspace model, each SharePoint site stands on
its own. A site may be used for a project, a document, a meeting, etc.
The key purpose of this site is to hold information
or tools for a given purpose. It is often part of a fuller solution.
For example, the project site of our
Internal Project Teams solution is
a workspace. In the diagram below notice that workspaces are generally
part of another pattern and it’s use is context sensitive. For instance,
one person’s Workspace may be part of another person’s Matrix Design
Pattern.
An example of a solution with a workspace design
pattern is the
Customer Engagement workspace of our Engagement Management solution.
A more complex design of a workspace can be seen in the
Project Management workspace.
Applet Pattern
The applet design pattern is focused on a business
process. It is used in situations where you want to process
information, such as a help desk, customer service, or a sales
pipeline. These are the classic types of database applications. The
design is intended to allow for efficiently moving transactions through
a flow from start to finish. All of this occurs within a single
SharePoint site.
An example of a solution with an applet design
pattern is the
Help Desk.
Tiered Pattern
Tiered solutions are the next most common pattern
after the workspace. Typically, this pattern is used to bring together
information from like sites. In general, it is used initially for most
project-oriented workplaces.
Two-tiered solutions are where most tiered
solutions start. However, you can create any number of tiers using a
combination of dashboards. For instance, in a large organization you
could have:
-
A top-level site with views of department information
-
Department dashboards with views of business functions
-
Business function dashboards with views of specific
projects
-
Project dashboards with views of sub-workspaces for
documents and meetings
An example of a solution with a tiered design
pattern is the
Internal Project Teams solution.
Matrix Pattern
The tiered pattern works well when your structure
is clear and consistent. When people first design their workplace, they
will typically lay it out with a site structure that is tiered to match
the organization structure.
Yet, in the real world, a great deal of work is
done cross-functionally. This is the horizontal view of information vs.
the vertical approach. The result is a matrix design where you have a
dashboard on the side that serves a specific user role or function that
is separate from the tier.
The diagram below illustrates the Matrix pattern,
specifically highlighting how the information flows vertically and
horizontally.
An example of a solution with a matrix design
pattern is the
Executive Dashboard.
Personal Productivity Pattern
The personal productivity design pattern
demonstrates the use of a matrix design, but is oriented toward
providing views into the workplace from dashboards that are unique to
the user. The difference is that the dashboard or view is completely
different for each user. Unlike a classic database application where
all users see relatively the same information, this design takes the
workplace to a two-level environment:
The key to personal productivity is for the
individual to have the information and tools at their fingertips,
organized in a way that is most useful for them. Through a
collaborative workplace powered by CorasWorks, you can optimize the
productivity of the individual without sacrificing the team, group, and
organizational productivity, which requires structure and control. In
the diagram below, notice the concept of filtering out items that are
not relevant to the user in context. In other words, all information is
filter out except “my” items.
One example that we use is the
IT Director
Dashboard.
Secure Separation Pattern
The purpose of the secure separation design pattern
is to secure information by separating it in individual sites and
lists. Ideally, people want to secure specific information, such as a
classified documents. To do this, they typically look for “item level
security.” While this is logical and the only means in typical large
database systems, such as document management systems, it is both a)
challenging to implement and b) challenging to maintain.
Using the secure separation design pattern, you
have an extraordinarily elegant way to secure information in a way that
is very obvious to users and very easy to maintain. The result is that
this pattern actually delivers much higher levels of security.
The basic design is to put information into
separate sites or lists based upon how secure you want the information.
Thus, for instance, you could have a site for Top Secret, one for
Classified, and one for Unclassified. Each could have its own document
library.
Then, by overlaying a standard two-tier design or
matrix, you can have a dashboard that presents the information from all
of these secure separate sites to make it look like one site. However,
since CorasWorks respects security, the user will only see and have
access to items from the sites to which they have access.
For users, it is clear what they have to do: store
the information in the correct site or list. The following diagram
outlines this concept of using a Roll-up collecting information from
different sites or lists/libraries. However, it only shows the items
that the user has permission to see.
An example is the
Partner Extranet Solution.
Master Pattern
The Master pattern is quite different than the
Secure Separation Pattern. With Roll-ups, the common thought is that
information is distributed throughout the workplace in sites and what
you want to do is aggregate data. This is because a collaboration
platform typically distributes information, so the issue appears to be
the need for aggregation. This is often the case. However, CorasWorks
Roll-ups really just enable you to connect data, so you can have
roll-downs, roll-acrosses, roll-arounds, etc.
The master design pattern is used in situations
where you do the opposite – you centralize the information in a single
site and then create views of this information anywhere in the workplace
using roll-ups or Cross-Connects. In a master solution, the information
is centralized and the views are distributed. This pattern starts to
resemble the classic database architecture of the last 20 years. This
is particularly true with the new Cross-Connect capability that displays
and enforces relational references. In fact, in many situations, it is
the right answer for reasons of information integrity and security.
The diagram below illustrates this storage of
information in a “master” list and using that information throughout the
workplace. In this scenario, there is a centrally located single list or
library from a single site, with all of its data being viewed within the
other sites. Only the single list needs to be maintained, as the other
sites are pointed to roll-down the information.
An example of a solution with a master design
pattern is
MBO Management.
Knowledge Management Pattern
This is a very basic design pattern for managing
information. It can be used in any situation where you create an
information resource that consists of multiple information stores, such
as document libraries, and you need to provide dynamic ways to access
and see slices of the information. Key aspects of this design are that
the information is probably in more than one document library or list,
probably in separate sites or portal sub-areas (particularly if you want
site level security), and it requires a number of ways to access the
information and see slices of information.
The diagram below depicts aggregation of multiple
lists and the destinations filter the lists to only see what they need
to see. It is considered a “taxonomy-based” pattern, with the emphasis
on the end users seeing only what they need to see due to the filtering.
The example of a solution with a knowledge
management design pattern is an
R&D Library.
Centralized Pattern
The Centralized design pattern is a powerful
combination of many aspects of other design patterns. It is used to
build a more powerful “database-oriented” application that centralizes
data within a single site or a limited number of sites. The primary
purpose is to make the application more scalable and manageable.
Usually, it is used in a project-oriented environment with transactions,
such as processing mortgage loans.
The best use for this type of design is a situation
with many things, with relatively little data, with less collaborative
work. For instance, you could create a site for each customer. But in
these sites, you don’t really do collaborative work, it primarily just
stores key information. Instead of having many sites, possibly
thousands, you can centralize the information in a single site.
The diagram below illustrates the ways in which the
item (product, document, project) maintains its unique identity and
characteristics throughout its life cycle. It may take multiple
processes in order for the item to move along.
The
Product Development solution is the example
used to show the centralized design pattern.
Distributed Process Pattern
The distributed process design pattern is oriented
towards the processing of information. The key element of the design is
that the information stays in one place and there are views that are
distributed to the people involved in a process. This sounds very
similar to the master design pattern, but the difference is the
function. In the master design pattern, the focus is on information.
In a distributed process type of solution, you want individuals to
participate in a process. This may sound like an applet, but here the
process is distributed across departments as opposed to being
centralized in a single site.
The diagram below shows how multiple sites are
required for the process to be completed.
The example solution that supports a distributed
process design pattern is
Policy Approval. |