Collaboration tool

Abstract

A method for enabling collaboration between individuals to design, construct and maintain a building. The method comprises providing a network based computer system including at least one server and multiple clients. The multiple clients allow respective individuals to interact with the server. The server includes a machine-readable storage, which is encoded with software for execution by a CPU for allowing individuals at the respective clients to create, execute and manage projects associated with at least one of a design phase, construction phase and maintenance phase of the building. Each project comprises one or more events that are related to time. The method also comprises storing in the machine-readable storage events as they occur during execution of each project to create a building project database spanning at least the design phase and the construction phase and optionally the maintenance phase of the building.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having recorded and stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system cause the computer system to:
 (A) provide an online marketplace to merchants of digital project templates that may be individually purchased to manage projects;   (B) receive at the marketplace a request from a remote client computing device to present to the remote client computing device a list of project templates for sale in the marketplace;   (C) receive from the remote client computing device a selection of a project template in the list of project templates available for purchase;   (D) receive confirmation of payment for the selected project template; and   (E) enable use of the selected project template at the remote client computing device to manage a project.   
     
     
         3 . A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as defined in  claim 2 , wherein each digital project template including template data, describing:
 (A) a succession of individual events that collectively define the project, the succession of individual events including:
 (i) a plurality of task events describing respective activities to be performed; and 
 (ii) a plurality of document events describing respective documents associated with the project; 
   (B) a plurality of roles for assignment to respective individuals for managing execution of respective events of the succession of events; and   (C) privileges associated with respective ones of the roles, the privileges defining levels of access to respective ones of the events.