Analyzing the Communicability of Configuration Decision Space Over Time in Collaborative Systems through a Case Study

Abstract

Some configuration settings have immediate impact on system state; others have impact over time. In collaborative systems, the timeline of impacts can be even more complex, because changes may impact not only the user who made them but also other users. In this paper, we analyze the challenges involved in specifying configuration in collaborative systems that have impact over time. To do so, we have chosen Google Inactive Account Manager (IAM) as a case study, since it offers a limited set of decisions, but that addresses different aspects that are relevant to future impact configuration. In order to generate a thorough and systematic analysis of the communicability of Google IAM’s decision space we used the Semiotic Inspection Method (SIM) and the Configurable Interaction Anticipation Challenges (CIAC), as well as the Modeling Language for Interactive Collaborative Conversations (MoLICC). Our results describe and explain some of the main issues associated to the complexity of decisions that users may take in during a configuration task.