Research activity in 2001
The research activity of the Data Base and Information
Systems group followed three main research directions: the analysis of
methodologies and models for the design of integrated information systems
- the development of multimedia data bases - methods and tools to
manipulate data in Web environments.
In the first area, starting from a deep analysis of the
functional organisation of the enterprise in terms of a hierarchically
structured set of organisation networks which describe the flow of objects
(information or materials) manipulated in the enterprise, and its
functional behaviour, i.e., the flow of control), we developed new
versions of the M* methodology, i.e. the M*OBJECT and the M*COMPLEX
methodologies.
These methodologies (and the related models) have been
applied to integrated manufacturing environments which are based on the
management of concurrent business processes. These business processes must
be engineered in a systematic way to guarantee compliance with business
requirements and overall system consistency and efficiency. In fact,
engineering is a systematic approach to the design of products and their
manufacturing processes to address the QCD (Quality, Cost, Delay)
challenge faced by most industrial companies and thus improve customer
satisfaction.
The first result in this field was M*, an information
system design methodology developed for CIM environments which covers the
analysis of a manufacturing organization (Organization Analysis), the
modelling of its information system (Conceptual Design), and the design of
the related database environments which will support the automated
operations of the organization (Implementation Design). The model used for
conceptual design was based on the integration of the Entity-Relationship
model with PrT nets to model static and dynamic properties.
M* has been the subject of extensive experimentations by
several consulting companies, which suggested improvements of the original
design. The new version of the methodology, called M*-OBJECT, incorporates
the object-oriented paradigm into the analysis phase.
In 1998 and 1999, the Organization Analysis phase has
been deeply restructured in order to cope with complex environments, and a
tool - M*PROCESS - for modeling and analysis of business processes has
been developed. It is based upon the following set of prerequisites:
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the environment should be highly interactive, with an icon-driven
graphic editor to specify both functional and process nets. Consistency
rules must guarantee a coordinated development of different types of
specifications.
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process specifications should be executable by a discrete event
simulation software. Simulation can be used to investigate different
system functionalities in order to bring into focus areas where implicit
misunderstandings exist between users and designers.
The new methodology, called M*-COMPLEX, is a structured
framework which provides a step-by-step strategy ensuring consistent and
correct results. It analyses functional, behavioural, information and
organisation aspects of the object organization, and it strongly enforces
an event-driven process-based approach at all levels (the organizational
level, the conceptual level, and the implementation level are considered)
as opposed to traditional function-based approaches for analysing and
designing computer-supported integrated engineering environments.
M*-COMPLEX adopts a new executable organization model which is supported
by M*-PROCESS.
In the area of the development of multimedia data bases,
a model for knowledge management and discovery for multimedia information
bases has been introduced. A prototype authoring system for HTML CDROMs,
loosely based on HDM and objected oriented databases has been developed. A
prototype, on which work is still in progress, was successfully used for
the production of three commercial titles. Moreover, a semantic data model
for complex databases, the fact model, has been developed and will be used
as a design tool for complex hypermedia database applications. Other
research interests are directed towards data clustering strategies and
buffering strategies for non uniform access distributions.
In the area of the development of methods and tools to
manipulate data in Web environments, the activity concerns the analysis of
distance learning systems where data we deal with are pupils tests and
interactive exercises. As a first step in our work we have considered how
Internet and the new communication technologies impact on the
architectures of Computer Aided systems, so called Author systems.
This analysis resulted in an Author System based on a
Teacher-server distributing to Pupil-clients exercises, in which
installing and software upgrading problems, typical of environments with
limited or null technical knowledge, are quite reduced. System upgrade to
improve pedagogical methodologies and their implementation is particularly
necessary in Computer Aided learning.