Using Intelligent Agent Technology to Enable Autonomous Workflow Management for Collaborative Design

• Main Authors: Ching-Jen Huang, 黃敬仁
• Other Authors: Amy J. C. Trappey
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/73849789014166453396

博士 === 國立清華大學 === 工業工程與工程管理學系 === 94 === Under the support of network capacity, collaborative design system has become the sharp tool for quick response to the time-to-market for enterprise in distributed environment. The technique of implementing the collaborative design system can be divided into two parts: data process and presentation of the collaborative design system which includes Product Data Management (PDM), product configuration management and product presentation technique, and management and control of the collaborative design system in constructing workflow management system within it in order to fulfill the requirements of management and time control. In this research, we focus on developing the loose-coupled collaborative workflow management system with the intelligent agent technology in the distributed environment. There are three stages in our research. The first stage is to develop a general process definition mechanism modeling technology based upon the WfMC workflow reference model. Defining the workflow elements as message, task, and process, with which combined into various workflow templates flexibly. Further we define the workflow monitoring mechanism in controlling workflow status. In our second stage, we develop the support activity for the first stage in studying the applicable technology and managerial support of the collaborative system with the point of view of contact center. For the third stage, we have the distributed collaborative design environment as our design goal by extending the general process definition mechanism modeling technology developed from the first stage. With the mechanism of information communication constructed by agent technology, the process elements, built with RDF, can be applied to other workflow platforms. The contribution of our research is to develop a dynamic and autonomous workflow constructing technology and process control mechanism. The intelligent agent technology is applied to build the information communication mechanism with distributed environment. Futher, the RDF/XML process elements are adopted to solve the communication compatibility problems among heterogeneous platforms in order to enhance the effectiveness of workflows.