Developing an agent-based workflow management system for collaborative product design

作者：Huang Ching Jen^*; Trappey Amy J C; Yao Yin Ho

来源：Industrial Management & Data Systems, 2006, 106(5-6): 680-699.

DOI：10.1108/0236570610666449

• work flow
• intelligent agents
• product design
• product design systems

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to develop a prototype of agent-based intelligent workflow system for product design collaboration in a distributed network environment.
Design/methodology/approach - This research separates the collaborative workflow enactment mechanisms from the collaborative workflow building tools for flexible workflow management. Applying the XML/RDF (resource description framework) ontology schema, workflow logic is described in a standard representation. Lastly, a case study in collaborative system-on-chip (SoC) design is depicted to demonstrate the agent-based workflow system for the design collaboration on the web.
Findings - Agent technology can overcome the difficulty of interoperability in cross-platform, distributed environment with standard RDF data schema. Control and update of workflow functions become flexible and versatile by simply modifying agent reasoning and behaviors.
Research limitations/implications - When business partners want to collaborate, how to integrate agents in different workflows becomes a critical issues.
Practical implications - Agent technology can facilitate design cooperation and teamwork communication in a collaborative, transparent product development environment.
Originality/value - This research establishes generalized flow logic RDF models and an agent-based intelligent workflow management system, called AWfMS, based on the RDF schema of workflow definition. AWfMS minimizes barriers in the distributed design process and hence increases design cooperations among partners.

• 出版日期2006