Extended enterprise architecture with the FADEE.

Business-to-Business integration (B2Bi) is considered to be not merely an IT-issue, but also a business problem. This paper draws attention to the challenges companies within an Extended Enterprise are confronted with when integrating their systems. We primarily pay attention to coordination problems that may arise. To overcome these problems we propose the use of Enterprise Architecture descriptions. We discuss the powers of using Enterprise Architecture descriptions in integration exercises. It will become clear that doing Enterprise Architecture is no longer an option; it is mandatory. Furthermore, we present the FADEE, the Framework for the Architectural Description of the Extended Enterprise. This framework gives an overview of how companies can apply the Zachman framework to do Enterprise Architecture in the realm of the Extended Enterprise.Architecture; Business-to-Business integration; Companies; Coordination; Enterprise architecture; Extended enterprise; Extended enterprise architecture framework; FADEE; Framework; Integration; Problems; Research; Systems;

Supporting engineering design using knowledge based systems technology with a case study in electricity distribution network design

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis explores the architectural requirements of engineering design support systems based on knowledge based systems technology. The exploration is based on an understanding of the nature of designing as a professional activity and on the extent to which designers' competence can be modelled. Attention is focused on certain salient aspects of designers' competent behaviour. The theoretical study leads to the specification of requirements to be satisfied by a knowledge based system which will support designers in their professional setting and to the proposal of some knowledge based system components which will meet the requirements identified. The theoretical aspect of the thesis is complemented by a case study based on a designer of high voltage electricity distribution networks. The case study illustrates the theoretical component of the thesis and the methodological basis for the work. The practical realizability of the components of the knowledge based systems architecture proposed are demonstrated using the results of the analysis of the knowledge elicited in the case study without prejudicing the general applicability of the ideas. An object-oriented knowledge engineering software development environment is used to demonstrate how some components of the design situation represented can be implemented.Financial support provided by Brunel University

Special Libraries, December 1964

Volume 55, Issue 10https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1964/1009/thumbnail.jp

Special Libraries, December 1964

Volume 55, Issue 10https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1964/1009/thumbnail.jp

Modelling: the language of designing

Design: Occasional Papers uses DESIGN as its encompassing category. In this usage, Design is to be construed as a broad field of human endeavour and enterprise, analogous in its generality and complexity to Science and the Humanities. Still at the level of generality, but now related to professional-vocational activities, Design is also to be construed as a field that includes a diverse range of distinguishable areas of professional activity (which would include architecture, communication and graphic design, industrial design, information design, interior design, aspects of engineering desig, textiles/fashion, environmental design). At this level, Design must accommodate pluralistic conceptions: there is no single Design culture. But ‘design’ is also used as a verb. Again at the high level of generality, designing may be characterised as an intentional activity: to do with bringing about change. More specifically – and as with Design when used as a tag for a field – what ‘designing’ is intended to mean relates also to the specific area in which it is used, and by whom. The field has many specialist communities, many different languages of discourse and, within and around those, different persuasions and differing voices. Design: Occasional Papers is therefore concerned with the relations between the generic and the particular. The essential reason for publishing the Series is to provide a means whereby the differing conversational communities that are related to design may become, at the least, more accessible to each other and thereby enable the reader to take part in the running argument by which knowledge and understanding develop

Using neural networks in software repositories

The first topic is an exploration of the use of neural network techniques to improve the effectiveness of retrieval in software repositories. The second topic relates to a series of experiments conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using adaptive neural networks as a means of deriving (or more specifically, learning) measures on software. Taken together, these two efforts illuminate a very promising mechanism supporting software infrastructures - one based upon a flexible and responsive technology

DIPSTK-a Process Control Language

Process control languages are generally complex and machine-oriented. Their use requires a high degree of skill, not only in process control knowledge, but also in the programming. On one extreme, control programs are written in assembler language. This is a time-consuming process and the high investment is tailored to a specific application. The resulting programs are difficult to communicate between the programmer and the user. On the other extreme, recent attempts have used high-level languages, i.e., FORTRAN, but these still require assembly-level supplements. In general, only the programmers know what the program does. Thus, a void exists between the programmer and the user. This paper presents a segment of the user-oriented, high-level language, DIPSTK, which has the following design features: can control both digital and analog signals, is easy to learn and communicate, provides the necessary user-operating support, integrates a graphical data display, and is easily modified for additional control structures. The remainder of this language was developed by a co-investigator. This contribution included the fundamental syntax digital data handling

Cognitive dimensions usability assessment of textual and visual VHDL environments

Visual programming languages promise to make programming easier with simpler graphical methods, broadening access to computing by lessening the need for would-be users to become proficient with textual programming languages, with their somewhat arcane grammars and methods removed from the problem space of the user. However, after more than forty years of research in the field, visual methods remain in the margins of use and programming remains the bailiwick of people devoted to the endeavor. VPL designers need to understand the mechanisms of usability that pertain to complex systems like programming language environments. Effective research tools for studying usability, and sufficiently constrained, mature subjects for investigation are scarce. This study applies a usability research tool, with its origins in applied psychology, to a programming language surrogate from the hardware description language class of notations. The substitution is reasonable because of the great similarity between hardware description languages and programming languages. Considering VHDL (the VHSIC Hardware Description Language) is especially worthwhile for several reasons, but primarily because significant numbers of digital designers regularly employ both textual and visual VHDL environments to meet the same real-world design challenges. A comparative analysis of Cognitive Dimensions assessments of textual and visual VHDL environments should further understanding of the usability issues specifically related to visual methods – in many cases, the same visual methods used in visual programming languages. Furthermore, with this real-world ‘field lab’ better understood, it should be possible to design experiments to pursue the formalization of the CDs framework as a theory

The implementation and use of Ada on distributed systems with high reliability requirements

The use and implementation of Ada in distributed environments in which reliability is the primary concern is investigated. Emphasis is placed on the possibility that a distributed system may be programmed entirely in ADA so that the individual tasks of the system are unconcerned with which processors they are executing on, and that failures may occur in the software or underlying hardware. The primary activities are: (1) Continued development and testing of our fault-tolerant Ada testbed; (2) consideration of desirable language changes to allow Ada to provide useful semantics for failure; (3) analysis of the inadequacies of existing software fault tolerance strategies