搜索
NET-BASEDTASKMANAGEMENTSYSTEMHectorGarcia-Molina,JeffreyD.Ullman,JenniferWisdomABSTRACTInnet-basedcollaborativedesignenvironment,designresourcesbecomemoreandmorevariedandcomplex.Besidescommoninformationmanagementsystems,designresourcescanbeorganizedinconnectionwithdesignactivities.Asetofactivitiesandresourceslinkedbylogicrelationscanformatask.Ataskhasatleastoneobjectiveandcanbebrokendownintosmallerones.Soadesignprojectcanbeseparatedintomanysubtasksformingahierarchicalstructure.TaskManagementSystem(TMS)isdesignedtobreakdownthesetasksandassigncertainresourcestoitstasknodes．Asaresultofdesignresourcesandactivitiescouldbemanagedviathissystem.KEYWORDS：CollaborativeDesign,TaskManagementSystem(TMS),TaskDecomposition,InformationManagementSystem1IntroductionAlongwiththerapidupgradeofrequestforadvanceddesignmethods,moreandmoredesigntoolappearedtosupportnewdesignmethodsandforms.Designinawebenvironmentwithmulti-partnersbeinginvolvedrequiresamorepowerfulandefficientmanagementsystem.Designpartnerscanbelocatedeverywhereoverthenetwiththeirownorganizations.Theycouldbemutuallyindependentexpertsorteamsoftensofemployees.Thisarticlediscussesataskmanagementsystem(TMS)whichmanagesdesignactivitiesandresourcesbybreakingdowndesignobjectivesandre-organizingdesignresourcesinconnectionwiththeactivities.Comparingwithcommoninformationmanagementsystems(IMS)likeproductdatamanagementsystemanddocumentmanagementsystem,TMScanmanagethewholedesignprocess.Ithastwotierswhichmakeitmuchmoref1exibleinstructure.The1owertierconsistsoftraditionalcommonIMSSandtheupperonefulfillslogicactivitymanagementthroughcontrollingatree-likestructure,allocatingdesignresourcesandmakingdecisionsabouthowtocarryoutadesignproject.Itsfunctioningparadigmvariesindifferentprojectsdependingontheproject’sscaleandpurpose.Asaresultofthisstructure,TMScanseparateitsdatamodelfromitslogiccouldbringaboutstructureoptimizationandefficiencyimprovement,especiallyinalargescaleproject.2TaskManagementinNet-BasedCollaborativeDesignEnvironmentEvolutionoftheDesignEnvironmentDuringanet-basedcollaborativedesignprocess,designerstransformtheirworkingenvironmentfromasinglePCdesktoptoLAN,andevenextendtoWAN.Eachdesignpartnercanbeasingleexpertoracombinationofmanyteamsofseveralsubjects,eveniftheyarefarawayfromeachothergeographically.Inthenet-basedcollaborativedesignenvironment,peoplefromeveryterminalofthenetcanexchangetheirinformationinteractivelywitheachotherandsenddatatoauthorizedrolesviatheirdesigntools.TheCoDesignSpaceissuchanenvironmentwhichprovidesasetofthesetoolstohelpdesignpartnerscommunicateandobtaindesigninformation.CodesignSpaceaimsatimprovingtheefficiencyofcollaborativework,makingenterprisesincreaseitssensitivitytomarketsandoptimizetheconfigurationofresource.ManagementofResourcesandActivitiesinNet-BasedCollaborativeEnvironmentTheexpansionofdesignenvironmentalsocausedanewproblemofhowtoorganizetheresourcesanddesignactivitiesinthatenvironment.Asthenumberofdesignpartnersincreases,resourcesalsoincreaseindirectproportion.Butrelationsbetweenresourcesincreaseinsquareratio.Toorganizetheseresourcesandtheirrelationsneedsanintegratedmanagementsystemwhichcanrecognizethemandprovidetodesignersincaseoftheyareneeded.Onesolutionistousespecialinformationmanagementsystem(IMS).AnIMScanprovidedatabase,filesystemsandin/outinterfacestomanageagivenresource.ForexamplethereareseveralIMStoolsinCoDesignSpacesuchasProductDataManagementSystem,DocumentManagementSystemandsoon.Thesesystemscanprovideitsspecialinformationwhichdesignuserswant.ButthestructureofdesignactivitiesismuchmorecomplicatedthantheseIMScouldmanage,becauseevenasimpledesignprojectmayinvolvedifferentdesignresourcessuchasdocuments,draftsandequipments.Notonlyproductdataordocuments,designactivitiesalsoneedthesupportoforganizationsindesignprocesses.Thisarticleputsforwardanewdesignsystemwhichattemptstointegratedifferentresourcesintotherelateddesignactivities.Thatistaskmanagementsystem(TMS).3TaskBreakdownModelBasisofTaskBreakdownWhenpeoplesetouttoaccomplishaproject,theyusuallyseparateitintoasequenceoftasksandfinishthemonebyone.Eachdesignprojectcanberegardedasanaggregateofactivities,rolesanddata.Herewedefineataskasasetofactivitiesandresourcesandalsohavingatleastoneobjective.Becauselargetaskscanbeseparatedintosmallones,ifweseparateaprojecttargetintoseverallower—levelobjectives,wedefinethattheprojectisbrokendownintosubtasksandeachobjectivemapstoasubtask.Obviouslyifeachsubtaskisaccomplished,theprojectissurelyfinished.SoTMSintegratesdesignactivitiesandresourcesthroughplanningthesetasks.Net-basedcollaborativedesignmostlyaimsatproductsdevelopment.Projectmanagers(PM)assignsubtaskstodesignersordesignteamswhomaylocateinothercities.ThedesignersandteamsexecutetheirowntasksundertheconstraintswhicharedefinedbythePMandnegotiatedwitheachotherviathecollaborativedesignenvironment.Sothedesignersandteamsareindependentcollaborativepartnersandhaveincompactcouplingrelationships.Theyaredriventogetheronlybytheftdesigntasks.AfterthePMhavefinisheddecomposingtheproject,eachdesignerorteamleader