A knowledge-based Assistant for real-time
Planning and Execution of PSS Engineering
Change Processes
Michael Abramovici, Youssef Aidi
IT in Mechanical Engineering (ITM)
Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
7th CIRP IPSS Conference
Saint-Étienne, May, 22th, 2015
Outline
Current Situation and Requirements
The Knowledge-based Engineering Change (EC) Assistant
EC Modeling Assistant
EC Information Assistant
EC Ontology
EC Change Engine
Conclusion and Future Work
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Engineering Changes (EC)
Engineering Change Process
The Process of Requesting, Determining Attainability, Planning, Implementing, and
Evaluating of Changes to a System
Triggers
Types
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Technological
Environmental
Economic
Political
Social
…
Improvement
Corrective
Iteration
Adaptive to
new
Requirements
 …
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
Change Objects
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Whole product
Component
Software
Service
…
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Current Engineering Change Processing Approach
Planning
Execution
EC Process
Manager
 Fix planned EC Processes for all Changes
 Poor Responsiveness to Unforeseeable Events
 Delays and exceeded Costs
 Changes occur at Provider Side during the Creation Phase
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Product-Service-Systems requires a new Engineering
Change Processing approach
Services
Creation
Operation
Suppliers
Provider
Customer
Paradigms of PSS
 Selling “value in use” Instead
Simple Products
 Shared Value Creation during the
Lifecycle of PSS (Provider,
Customer, Supplier)
 Adaptability of PSS to Changing
Boundary Conditions
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
Requirements to EC Processing
 Prompt Reaction to Unpredictable
Changes
 Consideration of Process
Knowledge
 Real-time Definition and Execution
of Process Activities
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Outline
Current Situation and Requirements
The Knowledge-based Engineering Change (EC) Assistant
EC Modeling Assistant
EC Information Assistant
EC Ontology
EC Change Engine
Conclusion and Future Work
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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How can EC Process Managers be Supported by real-time
Planning and Exection of EC Processes?
Adaptive Change Process
A knowledge-based Assistant for
Real-time Planning and Execution of
PSS Engineering Change Processes
 Goal-oriented Process
Modeling
 Adequat Defintion of Activities
 Permanent Process Evaluation
 Optimal Assignment to human
Ressources
 Information Aquisition
What must be achieved?
How it could be achieved?
Which human Resources are
required?
Is the Process running
smoothly?
Change Process
Manager
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Adaptability is given by the Distinction between WHAT must
be achieved and HOW it is to be achieved
WHAT to achieve?
Goal
 Company Specific Abstract
EC Process Model
 Hierarchy of Goals
 Milestones within the EC
Process
Subgoal
HOW to achieve
 Consideration of the EC
Context
Activity pool
 Selection of Appropriate
Activites
 Asignment to Available
Ressources
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Agile and intelligent Approach to tackle Changing Boundary
Conditions
EC Process
Manager
EC Process
Engine
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Outline
Current Situation and Requirements
The Knowledge-based Engineering Change (EC) Assistant
EC Modeling Assistant
EC Information Assistant
EC Ontology
EC Change Engine
Conclusion and Future Work
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Goal-oriented Requirement Language (GRL)
Description of the Hierarchy of Goals, which are achieved by
Execution of an EC Process
 Modeling and Reasoning of Goal Structures
 Higher Level of Modeling
 Integration of Goals, Activities and Roles.
Relationships
 Contribution
 Decomposition (AND, OR,
XOR, NOR)
 Dependency
 Belief
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Goal-oriented Change Process Model
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Outline
Current Situation and Requirements
The Knowledge-based Engineering Change (EC) Assistant
EC Modeling Assistant
EC Information Assistant
EC Ontology
EC Change Engine
Conclusion and Future Work
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Information Assistant for a better EC Process
Understanding (1/4)
Actor View
Goal View
Activity View
Document View
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Information Assistant for a better EC Process
Understanding (2/4)
Actor View
Goal View
Activity View
Document View
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Information Assistant for a better EC Process
Understanding (3/4)
Actor view
Goal view
Activity view
Document view
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Information Assistant for a better EC Process
Understanding (4/4)
Actor View
Goal View
Activity View
Document View
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Outline
Current Situation and Requirements
The Knowledge-based Engineering Change (EC) Assistant
EC Modeling Assistant
EC Information Assistant
EC Ontology
EC Change Engine
Conclusion and Future Work
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Ontology for EC Process related Knowledge Description
Formal Representation of Knowledge as a Hierarchy of Concepts
within a Domain
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Description of the Elements and the Context of a Change Process
Knowledge Modeling through Complex Relationships and Rules
Integration of Instance Information
Reasoning Mechanisms Allowing the Generation of Knowledge
Components
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Classes (concepts)
Attributes
Relations
Rules
Axioms
Events
Classes of the EC Process Ontology
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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The Engineering Change Process Ontology
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Example for EC Process Knowledge Description using an
Ontology
Goal
Contribute to
Activity
Is generated
during
Document
Is executed by
Actor
Role
Has role
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Example for EC Process Knowledge Description using an
Ontology
Problem Report released
Problem Report released
Is involved
by
Contribute to
Describe
Problem
Is generated
during
Contribute to
Describe
Problem
Problem
Report
Is executed by
Is generated
during
Problem
Report
Is executed by
Is generated
by
Machine
Operator
Has role
Change
Initiator
Machine
Operator
Reasoned Evidences
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Outline
Current Situation and Requirements
The Knowledge-based Engineering Change (EC) Assistant
EC Modeling Assistant
EC Information Assistant
EC Ontology
EC Change Engine
Conclusion and Future Work
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Execution of EC Process Activities
Goal
Activity
Engineering
Change
Engine
Webservice
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
Webservice
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Outline
Current Situation and Requirements
The Knowledge-based Engineering Change (EC) Assistant
EC Modeling Assistant
EC Information Assistant
EC Ontology
EC Change Engine
Conclusion and Future Work
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Conclusion and Future Work
Conclusion
The proposed EC Process Assistant provides:
 Goal-oriented Process Modeling Environment
 Ontology for EC Process Knowledge Representation
 Permanent Evaluation of EC Processes
 Navigation-based EC Process Information Provision
 Standard BPEL Workflows for Real-time Execution of Process Activities
Challenges
 Modeling of Company Specific
Ontology
 Validation in the Industry
 IT Infrastructures
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
future work
 Integrated IT Solution
 Coupling of the Change Ontology to
Product Ontologies
 Impact and Propagation Evaluation
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Prototype
Views
PSS
Structure
Process
Goals
Available
Actors
Process Goal
Contribution
Decomposition
Appropriate
Roles
Process
Activity
Appropriate
Activities
Assigned
Actor
Appropriate
Documents
Reports about
Plausibility of
Actions
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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Contact
Dipl.-Ing. Youssef Aidi
Ruhr-University Bochum
Chair of IT in Mechanical Engineering (ITM)
Universitätsstraße 150
D-44801 Bochum
Tel: +49 234 32 26370
Fax: +49 234 32 14443
Mail: [email protected]
"It is not the strongest of the species that
survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is most adaptable to change"
www.itm.rub.de
Charles Darwin
1809-1889
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ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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EC process
manager
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Information
Assistant
Modeling
Assistant
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PSS Changed
PSS to Change
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Known Engineering Change Management Approaches
PLM
ERP
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Engineering Change Management Needs more Flexibility
PSS Changed
PSS to Change
Triggers



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
Adaptive Change Process
Technological
Environmental
 Prompt Reaction to Unpredictable Changes
Economic
 Consideration of Process Knowledge
Political
Social
…
 Real-time Definition and Execution of Process
Activities
ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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ITM © Dipl.-Ing. Y. Aidi – 7th CIRP IPSS, May, 22th, Saint-Étienne
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