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A CASE STUDY IN THE INTEGRATED USE OF SOFTWARE PACKAGE S
Report p re s ented by L J ROBERT SON
In fu l filment of the the s i s requi reme nts for the degre e o f ;
Mas te r o f Techno logy (Computing Techno l ogy ) . 1 9 8 9
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DEC I S ION SUPPORT SYS TEM FOR ENERGY COST MANAGEMENT , US ING AN EXPERT S Y S TEM SHELL . A CASE STUDY I N THE INTEGRATED USE OF SOFTWARE PACKAGE S
Repo rt pre s e nted by L J ROBERT SON
I n fu l fi lment o f the the s i s requ i reme nts for the degree o f ;
Mas ter o f T echnology (Computi ng Techno l o gy ) . 1 9 8 9 1
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TABLE OF CONTENT S 1 AB S TRACT
2 INTRODUCT I ON
3 STANDARD PC S OF TWARE PACKAGES AS TOOLS FOR " REAL "
PROBLEMS .
User spe ci ficat i o n s fo r u s e ful appl i cat i on s . Computer funct i on s ; bu i lding blocks for us e ful app l i cat ions .
S o ftware t o o l package s ; set s o f computer funct i on s .
2
App l i cat i on s requ i r ing integrated use o f more than one s o ftware t o o l package ; s e l ect ion o f packages and strategy .
4 ENERGY CO ST MANAGEMENT ; AN APP L I CAT I ON FOR INTEGRAT I ON OF STANDARD S OFTWARE TOOL FUNCT I ONS
I nt roduct i o n to Ene rgy Co st Management (ECM) . ECM us ing an Lotus Symphony .
Ene rgy Co st Management us ing mu ltip l e s o ftware p ackages .
5 DATABASE MANAGEMENT SUP PORT FOR ECM . DBMS support requ i rement s . D at a ent ry module .
" I nt e l l i gent dat abas e " funct i on s . 6 DECI S I ON SUPP ORT SYS TEM DEVELOPMENT .
D e finit ion o f overal l aims . D eve l opment methods .
H i gh leve l ECM dec i s ion t o o l .
MD cont r o l by load pattern a d j u s tment . MD cont r o l by operat i on re s chedu l ing .
P rot otype deve lopment probl ems and �olut i ons . T e s t ing and evaluat ion o f final ve rsion .
7 CONCLUS I ONS .
The value o f integrated use o f P C S o ftware p ackages .
Eva luat i on o f the de c i s ion suppo rt and dat aba s e s upport syst ems for ECM .
8 REFERENCE S AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S . APPEND I X A
APPEND IX B APPEND IX C APPEND IX D APPEND IX E APPEND IX F APPEND IX G APPEND IX H APPEND IX I AP PEND IX J
CURRENT ECM SPREAD SHEET OUTPUTS
DATA USED IN DEC I S I ON SUPPORT S Y S TEM DECI S I ON SUP PORT SYSTEM OPERAT I ON KNOWLEDGE BASE RULE S & SOURCE CODE VP EXPERT T I P S , TRICKS AND TRAP S
DATA D I CT IONARY ( P ROPOSED D BMS ) DATA ENTRY MODULE SOURCE CODE SPECIF ICAT I ON FOR FURTHER WORK
RESULTS OF KNOWLEDGE ACQU I S I T I ON EXERC I S E ; SUPERSEDED KNOWLEDGE BASE S
1 ABSTRACT
1 . 1 Key phrases :
Ene rgy cost management;
Expe rt system;
Dec i s ion suppo rt system;
Integrated use of so ftware products .
1 . 2 Abs tract
The theory o f minimi z ing total energy us age i s we l l known ( i f not wel l documented ) , and the techni ques are wide l y practi ced . Because o f the way in whi ch
ene rgy i s s o l d , the total co s t incurred may be a ffected even more s trongly by the time -di s tribution o f the
ene rgy u s age , than by the total quantity used . A ma j or sub ject o f ECM i s the MANAGEMENT o f thi s time
di stributi on o f energy us age , with the ob j ective o f min imi z ing o f total energy costs to the user .
A s o f tware package (named ECMES , Energy Cost
Management E xpert System) has been deve loped us ing the Lotus Symphony integrated spreadsheet s o ftware package . The ECMES app l i cation cons ists ( currentl y ) o f thr e e modules o f fe ring analyses o f s eve ral a spects o f e l e ctrical energy c o s t management ( p lus three
corresponding modu l e s for gas costs , which are not considered further ) . The Symphony ECM app l i cati on modules have been deve loped over the l a s t few year s ,
l argely on a spare time bas i s , by P ro f e s s o r W Monte i th o f Massey Unive r s i ty's P roduction Techno l ogy
Department .
The anal y s i s o f Energy Cost Management on a P C i s one which r e qu i res functions s upp l i ed b y several
s tandard s o ftware packages , particularly spreadsheet, graphics , database and e xpert s y s tem . The rel ative l y recent avai l ab i l ity o f mode rate l y priced and u s e r
friendly e xpert system development packages has b rought an additio n a l set of powerful too l s within the reach o f the app l i c ati on deve l ope r . A D e c i s i on Support System
( u s ing an Expert System she l l ) has been deve loped,
whi ch is we l l integrated with the spreadsheet data , and with a datab as e , to e xp and the functi ons of the
o riginal spreadsheet ECM analy s i s tool .
Theore tical work on the data requi rements and the production ru l e s has opened up p o s s ib i l i ti e s for future work .
