An API development framework uses a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) protocol to provide access to a collaborative client from a remote user that does not have access to the collaborative software. A WSAP server acts as a bridge between the native collaborative environment and any non-native environment or application that can process SOAP commands and allows the two entities to communicate regardless of firewalls and other security software. The non-native environment can be either local (on the same machine as the collaborative client program) or physically remote (on a different machine). In addition to the server, the illustrative framework includes client side support that is comprised of a SOAP proxy component and remote interfaces to collaborative system objects and platform tools.