Inevitably, organisations using a moderator will not have explicit knowledge of the full range of possible issues, and this may lead to decision conflicts at the time of the initial implementation of a moderator. Hence, a newly-implemented moderator cannot be fully populated with knowledge: Indeed we can argue that as the moderator knowledge base is derived from experience, it can never be complete. Manufacturing organisations are con- stantly changing, as new products are developed addressing new markets and technologies, and so we can also expect that the range of collaborators (and their domains of expertise) will change over time, requiring the moderator knowledge base to constantly evolve. It is therefore essential that any moderator is built around a very flexible knowledge structure, which can be constantly updated by its users, both directly and through the application of knowledge discovery tools.
This chapter will discuss how moderators can support the global organisation and project team to achieve their goals while reducing remoteness arising from distributing the team, and promoting exchange of information between team members at different physical locations.
Moderators support individuals to perform their individual roles from positions of strength and understanding, with raised awareness of the needs of other contributors. Moderators also support individuals’ preferred methods of working while still understanding the needs of both individuals and the total team.
The technological approaches to implementing effective moderators are also examined. A flexible knowledge structure is necessary to allow moderator knowledge to evolve, and the moderator must be able to support the collaboration of independent enterprises, sharing knowledge where this is of mutual advantage, while maintaining security and confidential- ity of knowledge and information as needed. A number of potential moderator application areas in manufacturing industry will be identified, although application areas from outside the manufacturing domain can also benefit from moderator technologies.
Background
ject-oriented database. It was also assumed that designers would have knowledge of the manufacturing capabilities of their manufacturing facilities and that this would be accessible as information from a second object-oriented database, known as the manufacturing model (Molina & Bell, 1999).
To raise awareness between members of the design team, the engineering moderator needed knowledge about the individuals within the team, for example, who they were, what elements of the design they were interested in and could contribute to. It also needed to understand the twin model environment that the team was working in, and have knowledge of how to moderate within this environment. The engineering moderator therefore needed to store knowledge in an adaptable format that could potentially work with different databases and applications. The three key areas of moderator knowledge are shown in Figure 4.
A flexible knowledge representation structure was therefore needed to support the imple- mentation of these three knowledge types. The structure that was designed and developed was called the knowledge representation model (KRM) (Harding, 1996). Each element of knowledge, from the simplest expression to the complex expert modules (shown in Figure 4), was designed as an object, which could interact with other knowledge objects. Storing the knowledge as persistent objects within an object-oriented database system enabled the Moderator to operate with a high level of flexibility in different computing environments.
By making use of inheritance structures and polymorphism, it was possible for the similarity of behaviour of certain classes of objects to be exploited even when the implementation of particular sub-classes of these objects was significantly different.
The key types of knowledge required by a moderator include the knowledge acquisition module (Figure 5), which provides the moderator with all the knowledge it requires to create, update, and remove knowledge during the course of its operation. Part of the functionality of the knowledge acquisition module is to create new design expert modules when a new Figure 4. Engineering moderator knowledge areas
Engineering Moderator
Knowledge Acquston Module
Desgn Moderaton Module
Desgn Expert Modules
Expert n Specfcaton
Expert n ‘X’
Expert n Functonal Desgn
Expert n Manufacture has 1
has 1
has 2 or more
subclass subclass
subclass subclass
team member joins the design team. The content of any expert module can also be modified at any time as the project progresses. Figure 6 shows the basic content of each different type of design expert module.
The design moderation module operates continuously throughout the design project as each change to the design needs to be examined to assess if any potential problems may be occur- ring. The types of knowledge required in this moderation process are shown in Figure 7.
The MOSES design environment, which required the contributors to share a single object- oriented project database, restricted the applicability of the engineering moderator, but did enable its feasibility to be demonstrated. Figure 8 shows how the moderator concepts were achieved; the knowledge representation structures and other key models (e.g., product model) were purpose-built using C++ and commercial object-oriented database systems (OODBS).
Figure 5. Knowledge acquisition module functionality
Figure 6. Content of each design expert module
Knowledge Acquston Module
Addton of Expert Knowledge
Modfcaton of Expert Knowledge
Deleton of Expert Knowledge
Includes:- Knowledge of how to determne f expert should be made aware of current stuaton.
Knowledge of mechansms to notfy expert.
Knowledge of other actons that should be taken.
Etc.
Includes:- Name or dentfer Contact detals Desgn Items of partcular nterest
Desgn Expert Module
Expert’s Profle Knowledge
Knowledge about Expert’s Knowledge
Etc.
Figure 7. Content of the design moderation module
Desgn Moderaton Module
Problem dentfcaton Knowledge
Problem Evaluaton Knowledge
Expert Notfcaton Knowledge
Engineering Moderator Technology
C++ Oriented DBObject MSEP-RTI HLA KRM MISSION Data
Model
Moderator Communicator
Objects
Knowledge
Management Communication Technology
Eng ModEDM
Product Model
Figure 8. Technology used by engineering moderator
Knowledge management was achieved through the functionality of these databases with the addition of specially-designed KRM objects which were stored within an additional OODBS.
The communication technology used in the engineering moderator was limited to message passing between objects in the databases and the engineering moderator applications.