Applying Method Engineering Techniques to the Construction of Agile Methodologies. Agile approaches to software development provide flexibility within the method but provide no assistance for improving the selected method. This second kind of flexibility is important to permit organizations to improve with time. To accomplish such improvement, a method engineering approach is proposed for agile method construction using the OPEN Process Framework, which consists of a metamodel and a collection ....Applying Method Engineering Techniques to the Construction of Agile Methodologies. Agile approaches to software development provide flexibility within the method but provide no assistance for improving the selected method. This second kind of flexibility is important to permit organizations to improve with time. To accomplish such improvement, a method engineering approach is proposed for agile method construction using the OPEN Process Framework, which consists of a metamodel and a collection of method components, stored in a repository. In collaboration with Eagle Datamation International, we will devise methods of constructing an agile method tailored to their business needs and then evaluate it in practice, monitoring as the method evolves and improves.Read moreRead less
Formalising and automating the elicitation and reconciliation of requirements from multiple stakeholders. It is well recognised that requirements specifications are often error-prone and that it is much cheaper to detect and fix these errors early in the software development life cycle than later. A major problem with requirements determination is that each and every stakeholder has his/her own representation of the enterprise reality. This project seeks to take these views and use set-theore ....Formalising and automating the elicitation and reconciliation of requirements from multiple stakeholders. It is well recognised that requirements specifications are often error-prone and that it is much cheaper to detect and fix these errors early in the software development life cycle than later. A major problem with requirements determination is that each and every stakeholder has his/her own representation of the enterprise reality. This project seeks to take these views and use set-theoretical techniques from Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) to automatically generate and compare the underlying conceptual models. A process model based on FCA has been proposed which we will extend and empirically evaluate in this project. The result will be a more rigorous and yet pragmatic approach to requirements engineering which offers the greatest economic leverage.Read moreRead less
Metamodel-based Methodology for Developing Agent-Oriented Systems. In the context of building high quality software, agent technology offers substantial promise. However, its widespread deployment by industry is hampered by the lack of commercially acceptable development methodologies. Here, we expand a metamodel-based process framework (the OPEN Process Framework) to support agent-oriented (AO) software development that will eventually both form a de facto standard for AO methodologies and be ....Metamodel-based Methodology for Developing Agent-Oriented Systems. In the context of building high quality software, agent technology offers substantial promise. However, its widespread deployment by industry is hampered by the lack of commercially acceptable development methodologies. Here, we expand a metamodel-based process framework (the OPEN Process Framework) to support agent-oriented (AO) software development that will eventually both form a de facto standard for AO methodologies and be acceptable for commercial software application development. To create this extension, significant research in AO software engineering is required. Our basis will be the OPF plus elements from existing AO methodologies, notably Tropos and Gaia, whose authors will collaborate actively.Read moreRead less
Components for Active Knowledge Portals. Businesses require people to collaborate and share knowledge in their work processes especially when they are in different locations. Such collaboration emerges by dynamically creating parallel and disconnected collaborative tasks that must be coordinated to meet organizational goals. This project will define the semantics of such emerging processes in the context of software digital workspaces that support them. It will then identify ways of constructing ....Components for Active Knowledge Portals. Businesses require people to collaborate and share knowledge in their work processes especially when they are in different locations. Such collaboration emerges by dynamically creating parallel and disconnected collaborative tasks that must be coordinated to meet organizational goals. This project will define the semantics of such emerging processes in the context of software digital workspaces that support them. It will then identify ways of constructing and using workspaces by creating active knowledge portals to support emerging processes. These portals will include software agents that are sensitive to the business context and help coordinate tasks within the emerging process.Read moreRead less
Integrating Quality Control into Crowd-sourcing Services. This project aims to contribute to the scientific foundations of quality control in crowd-sourcing services. Crowd-sourcing services harness the wisdom of large communities to solve problems. Open projects (eg Linux, Wikipedia) have successfully used crowd sourcing. Increasingly, organisations and governments are using crowd-sourcing to improve products and services. However, there are significant risks due to lack of robust quality contr ....Integrating Quality Control into Crowd-sourcing Services. This project aims to contribute to the scientific foundations of quality control in crowd-sourcing services. Crowd-sourcing services harness the wisdom of large communities to solve problems. Open projects (eg Linux, Wikipedia) have successfully used crowd sourcing. Increasingly, organisations and governments are using crowd-sourcing to improve products and services. However, there are significant risks due to lack of robust quality control methods. The project aims to contribute to the first methodology and techniques for systematic provisioning of robust crowd-sourcing quality control mechanisms. It is expected that project outcomes would contribute to lifting productivity and economic growth through quality-aware crowd sourcing service technologies.Read moreRead less
A Framework for Supporting Consistent and Reliable Collaborative Business Transactions. Business integration and enterprise computing is at the heart of ICT objectives and initiatives global wide. The project aims to be of unique value to Australian industry and provide a means to achieve excellence in the field of research that promises to shape the future of e-business technology. The research conducted within this project will position Australia as one of the leaders in the business transacti ....A Framework for Supporting Consistent and Reliable Collaborative Business Transactions. Business integration and enterprise computing is at the heart of ICT objectives and initiatives global wide. The project aims to be of unique value to Australian industry and provide a means to achieve excellence in the field of research that promises to shape the future of e-business technology. The research conducted within this project will position Australia as one of the leaders in the business transaction area. The project outcomes in the form of specifications and formal models will provide generic solutions that are applicable to many Australian and international companies involved in distributed computing and e-business technologies. Read moreRead less
A Formal Framework for Developing and Managing Adaptable Service Oriented Business Collaboration. Business collaboration and integration is at the heart of ICT objectives and initiatives global wide. The project aims to be of unique value to Australian industry and provide a means to achieve excellence in the field of research that promises to shape the future of e-business technology. The research conducted within this project will position Australia as one of the leaders in the business collab ....A Formal Framework for Developing and Managing Adaptable Service Oriented Business Collaboration. Business collaboration and integration is at the heart of ICT objectives and initiatives global wide. The project aims to be of unique value to Australian industry and provide a means to achieve excellence in the field of research that promises to shape the future of e-business technology. The research conducted within this project will position Australia as one of the leaders in the business collaboration area. The project outcomes in the form of framework, formal models and specifications will provide generic solutions that are applicable to many Australian and international companies involved in business process development and management in particular and e-business technologies in general.Read moreRead less
Semantic Compliance in Complex Enterprise Information Systems. Large organisations have invested heavily to reduce the number of dependent information systems they support. Larger integrated systems should provide increased information reach and better coordination of activities. However there are major problems in practice - integration requires common meaning and context. Information-sharing within cooperating organisations is improved by enforcing compliance of databases with a master model. ....Semantic Compliance in Complex Enterprise Information Systems. Large organisations have invested heavily to reduce the number of dependent information systems they support. Larger integrated systems should provide increased information reach and better coordination of activities. However there are major problems in practice - integration requires common meaning and context. Information-sharing within cooperating organisations is improved by enforcing compliance of databases with a master model. Our research refines, extends and tests an approach for semantic compliance checking based on mathematical category theory. It investigates structures that help detect irregular data. The research uses models from NSW Health. Outcomes include improved processes and software for checking compliance and data anomalies.Read moreRead less