Piercarlo Giolito

The M*-OBJECT methodology for information system design in CIM environments

M*-OBJECT is a methodology for information system analysis, design and implementation developed for CIM environments. It is based on an object-oriented approach and it covers in-depth analysis of static and dynamic aspects of CIM information systems. M*-OBJECT is made of three major phases: organization analysis, conceptual design, and implementation design. The conceptual design phase is supported by the Process and Data Net (PDN) model which integrates an object-oriented data model and a process model. The major features of the specification approach are: (1) static, dynamic, and behavioral properties of information are fully covered, (2) complex data structures and data manipulations can be specified, and (3) specifications are executable for rapid prototyping. >

Organization and information system design of manufacturing environments: the new M∗ approach

Abstract Development of CIM systems requires models for enterprise and information system modelling and analysis, and tools and methods for database design. M ∗ methodology addresses these issues. In the paper, the new integrated high-level model of M ∗ , based on high-level Petri-nets, for modelling engineering and manufacturing information systems is introduced. It allows description of an organization at two different levels (organization and conceptual) and, most importantly, description of, in an integrated way, both the organization behaviour and the manipulation actions on the database which support the information system activies. Moreover, the conceptual specification is executable.

M∗-object: An object-oriented database design methodology for CIM information systems

Abstract M∗ is an information system design and analysis methodology developed for CIM environments. It is based on the PDN (Process and Data Net) model. In this paper, an object-oriented extension of M∗ for the design of information systems in CIM applications is presented. The architecture of the M∗ methodology and its organisation model are first presented. Then, the Process and Data Net model used for conceptual design of the CIM system database is discussed. This model is based on an object-oriented (OO) data model and a predicate/transition (PrT) Petri net model. It is used to describe the properties and behaviour of the objects of the CIM information system. A flexible manufacturing cell (FMC) example is given.

Process and data nets: the conceptual model of the M*-OBJECT methodology

The paper describes a specification model, called the Process and Data Net (PDN) model, used as the modeling tool for the M*-OBJECT information system design methodology. The model integrates the representation of static, dynamic, and behavioral aspects of a database application. PDN consists of two components: an object-oriented data model that describes static and behavioral aspects of objects of the system under analysis, and a process model that specifies a way organization activities must be coordinated. The major features of the proposed approach are: 1) the system representation captures all relevant properties from the end-user viewpoint without unnecessary details concerning implementation, 2) complex data structures and data manipulations can be specified, and 3) specifications are executable for rapid prototyping.

The M*-OBJECT Organisation Model for Enterprise Modelling of Integrated Engineering Environments

Concurrent engineering and integrated manufacturing environments rely on the management of concurrent business processes sup ported by integrated information systems These business processes and the underlying information systems must be engineered in a systematic way to guarantee compliance with business requirements and overall system consistency and efficiency

Rule management for heterogeneous knowledge-based systems

The work described in this paper concerns the management of rules coming from a variety of knowledge sources and shared by several expert systems. In the ESPRIT Project ESTEAM-316 an architecture has been defined for integrating cooperating agents. A significant help to the designer of an expert system, made by several cooperating agents, is given by a set of predefined agents for Data and Knowledge Base Management (for short KAgents). One kind of K-Agent, to which the present paper is devoted, is the Rule Ba~e Management System (RBMS) which handles all accesses to a Rule Base (RB) stored on secondary memory. The RBMS has a layered structure, in which three main levels can be identified (external, logical and physical). The ezternal level is the one concerned with the way in which the rule base is viewed by the agents. The logical level provides a high level interface built on top of an access method system, the physical level. Since each RB is described by the same schema the RBMS does not have the generality of a DBMS, but it is a specific application system suited to manage large rule bases.