An Architecture for an Intelligent Assistant System for use in Software Project Planning

Rory V O’Connor

Submitted for Examination for Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Computing

City University

London

April 2000

• PREFACE PDF Postscript

• CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION PDF Postscript
  • 1.1 BACKGROUND
  • 1.2 SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
  • 1.3 SOFTWARE PROJECT PLANNING
  • 1.4 DIFFICULTIES FACING SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGERS
  • 1.5 INTELLIGENT ASSISTANCE FOR SOFTWARE PROJECT PLANNING
  • 1.6 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
  • 1.7 THE P3 PROJECT
  • 1.8 LAYOUT OF THESIS

• CHAPTER 2 SOFTWARE PROJECT PLANNING PDF Postscript
  • 2.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 2.2 SOFTWARE PROJECT PLANNING
  • 2.3 SOFTWARE PROJECT SUPPORT SYSTEMS
  • 2.4 SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS
    • 2.4.1 COMMERCIAL EXAMPLES
  • 2.5 TOOL USERS
    • 2.5.1 PROJECT MANAGER A
    • 2.5.2 PROJECT MANAGER B
    • 2.5.3 PROJECT MANAGER C
    • 2.5.4 PROJECT MANAGER D
    • 2.5.5 PROJECT MANAGER E
    • 2.5.6 PROJECT MANAGER F
    • 2.5.7 SURVEY RESULTS
  • 2.6 SUMMARY

• CHAPTER 3 APPROACHES TO INTELLIGENT ASSISTANCE PDF Postscript
  • 3.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 3.2 INTELLIGENT ASSISTANCE APPROACHES
    • 3.2.1 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
    • 3.2.2 EXPERT SYSTEMS
    • 3.2.3 EXPERT CRITIQUING SYSTEMS
    • 3.2.4 INTELLIGENT TUTORING SYSTEMS
    • 3.2.5 BLACKBOARD SYSTEMS
    • 3.2.6 INTELLIGENT AGENTS
    • 3.2.7 REVIEW OF APPROACHES
  • 3.3 PROPOSAL FOR A NEW INTELLIGENT ASSISTANT
  • 3.4 SUMMARY

• CHAPTER 4 ARCHITECTURAL PERSPECTIVES PDF Postscript
  • 4.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 4.2 SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURES
  • 4.3 INTELLIGENT SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES
    • 4.3.1 ADEPT
    • 4.3.2 ARCHON
    • 4.3.3 RISKMAN2
    • 4.3.4 REVIEW OF ARCHITECTURES
  • 4.4 DESIRABLE ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
  • 4.5 ARCHITECTURAL TRENDS
    • 4.5.1 CORBA
    • 4.5.2 THE JAVA LANGUAGE
    • 4.5.3 JAVA AS AN AGENT LANGUAGE
    • 4.5.4 JAVA AS A CORBA OBJECT LANGUAGE
  • 4.6 SUMMARY

• CHAPTER 5 KNOWLEDGE BASE ISSUES PDF Postscript
  • 5.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 5.2 KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING
  • 5.3 KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION SYSTEMS
  • 5.4 AGENT REPRESENTATION LANGUAGES
    • 5.4.1 KQML
    • 5.4.2 TELESCRIPT / ODYSSEY
    • 5.4.3 JESS / CLIPS
    • 5.4.4 LANGUAGE CHOICE
  • 5.5 KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION
  • 5.6 SUMMARY

• CHAPTER 6 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE PDF Postscript
  • 6.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 6.2 ARCHITECTURAL ISSUES
  • 6.3 ARCHITECTURE COMPONENTS
    • 6.3.1 COMPONENT INTERFACES
    • 6.3.2 USER INTERFACE
    • 6.3.3 SYSTEM KERNEL
    • 6.3.4 DATA MANAGER
    • 6.3.5 AGENT CONTROLLER
    • 6.3.6 BLACKBOARD
    • 6.3.7 AGENT LIBRARY
  • 6.4 REVIEW OF ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
  • 6.5 SUMMARY

• CHAPTER 7 PROTOTYPE IMPLEMENTATION PDF Postscript
  • 7.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 7.2 DESIGN
    • 7.2.1 DESIGN APPROACH
    • 7.2.2 CLIENT-SERVER COMPONENTS
    • 7.2.3 COMPONENT INTERFACES
    • 7.2.4 USER INTERFACE
    • 7.2.5 SYSTEM KERNEL
    • 7.2.6 AGENT CONTROLLER
    • 7.2.7 AGENT LIBRARY
  • 7.3 IMPLEMENTATION
    • 7.3.1 DEVELOPMENT TOOLS
    • 7.3.2 IDL INTERFACES
    • 7.3.3 CLIENT-SERVER COMPONENTS
    • 7.3.4 IMPLEMENTING SYSTEM COMPONENTS
    • 7.3.5 KNOWLEDGE BASE IMPLEMENTATION
    • 7.3.6 KNOWLEDGE BASE EVOLUTION
  • 7.4 SYSTEM USAGE
    • 7.4.1 EXAMPLE USER SESSION
    • 7.4.2 EXAMPLE COMPONENT INTERACTION
  • 7.5 PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT OBSERVATIONS
  • 7.6 SUMMARY

• CHAPTER 8 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN PDF Postscript
  • 8.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 8.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
  • 8.2.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES IN COMPUTING
  • 8.3 CHOOSING A RESEARCH APPROACH
  • 8.4 SUMMARY

• CHAPTER 9 PROTOTYPE DEPLOYMENT PDF Postscript
  • 9.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 9.2 TRIAL USAGE PROCESS
    • 9.2.1 TRIAL 1
    • 9.2.2 TRIAL 2
    • 9.2.3 TRIAL 3
    • 9.2.4 TRIAL 4
    • 9.2.5 TRIAL 5
    • 9.2.6 TRIAL 6
  • 9.3 TRIAL USAGE FINDINGS
  • 9.4 SUMMARY

• CHAPTER 10 CONCLUSIONS PDF Postscript
  • 10.1 RESEARCH GOALS
  • 10.2 RESEARCH OUTCOMES
  • 10.3 FURTHER RESEARCH
    • 10.3.1 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
    • 10.3.2 KNOWLEDGE BASE
    • 10.3.3 PROTOTYPE SYSTEM
  • 10.4 CONCLUDING REMARKS

• APPENDIX A SUMMARY OF P3 PROJECT PDF Postscript

• APPENDIX B SURVEY OF TOOL USERS PDF Postscript

• APPENDIX C CASE STUDY PDF Postscript

• REFERENCES PDF Postscript

© Rory V O'Connor 2000