When AmberPoint contacted Cooper, they knew they needed something stickier than traditional design consulting. They wanted to incorporate a design methodology into their development process and knew that this would require extensive training. However, they also needed immediate design work on their entry-level product. Cooper and AmberPoint crafted an engagement that simultaneously attacked both problems. While developing design concepts for the entry-level release, Cooper designers mentored AmberPoint designers.

During the research phase, the team observed that IT operations personnel were saddled with multiple systems to monitor. Their interface must make it very easy to scan for interruptions and failures of Web services and to view these events in context of larger trends.

IT Operations staff use the Performance Chart to monitor the performance of Web services. The chart's three timeframes—60 hours, last hour, and last 5 minutes-allow them to answer three recurring questions. 60 hours: Did anything happen over the weekend? Are any long-term patterns developing? Last hour: Are any short-term patterns developing? Last 5 minutes: What is happening right now?

Collaboration began during the scoping of the project. AmberPoint's designers and Cooper's consultants prioritized design needs, determined the appropriate pace of the design work, and selected points at which to air the design to the rest of the organization. Throughout the project, AmberPoint designers spent four days a week with a Cooper design team, quickly assuming more responsibilities and participating in all aspects of the design process. Collaboration was beneficial both to the design and to the AmberPoint organization.

• Insight into the domain. As detailed decisions were made during the design stage, Cooper designers could refer to the knowledge of their AmberPoint partners when considering arcane elements of the Web services domain.
• Organizational awareness. Certain design decisions have ramifications in the development process, and AmberPoint partners helped Cooper effectively identify and approach these decisions.
• Detailed deliverable target. The AmberPoint designers had intimate knowledge of the needs of the development organization, ensuring that the deliverable set contained the appropriate design detail, including a prototype of the interface.

• Intimate knowledge of the design. Successful implementation of a design begins with an understanding of its benefits. AmberPoint got a head start on this by working with Cooper throughout the process from research to design, gaining insight into the rationale behind every element of the functionality.
• Template for future development initiatives. The value of an effective design will become most evident in its ability to meet future challenges. By taking part in the whole process, AmberPoint was able to observe and understand the way Cooper turns research into design, thereby gaining insight into Cooper's goal-directed methodology.

Interaction design changes development organizations. By teaming up with experts who have been there before, AmberPoint was able to introduce the process of interaction design while creating a product blueprint at the same time. The product is now available for download at: www.amberpoint.com. It will also be shipped as a component in the forthcoming release of Microsoft's Visual Studio.