Coordinating Work with Groupware: The Challenge of Integrating Protocol and Artefact

One important goal of employing groupware is to make possible complex collaboration between geographically distributed groups. This requires a dual transformation of both technology and work practice. The challenge is to reduce the complexity of the coordination work by successfully integrating the protocol stipulating the collaboration and the artefact, in form of the groupware application, mediating the collaboration. This paper analyses a generic groupware application that was deployed in a large financial organisation in order to support working groups distributed throughout four countries. Using the CSCW framework of coordination mechanisms, we have elicited six general factors influencing the integration of the groupware application in two situations.