A briefcase reconciler should attempt to carry out reconciliation without user intervention. The more automated the reconciliation, the better the user's perception of the process.
In some cases, user intervention may be valuable. For example, a document system may require a user to review changes before accepting the merged version of a document or may require comments from the user explaining the changes that have been made. In these cases, the initiator, not the briefcase reconciler, is responsible for querying the user and carrying out the user's instructions.
In other cases, user intervention may be necessary. For example, when two versions have been edited in incompatible ways. In such cases, either the initiator or briefcase reconciler must query the user for instructions on how to resolve the conflict. In general, no initiator can rely on completing a reconciliation without expecting some user interaction. Reconcilers, on the other hand, have the option of interacting with the user to resolve conflicts or requiring the initiator to do so.