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Abstract

It is the proposition of this research that there are a number of weaknesses in the current approaches being taken in the provision of software project planning tools and that there is significant scope to improve on existing systems by the development of an intelligent assistant system which will provide decision support for the software project planner in the creation of plans for a software development project.

This research has devised a framework and architecture based on a fusion of a number of techniques within a multi-agent framework which aims to improve the quality of the decision making process of software project planners. This framework incorporates the information gathering and analysis techniques of a Decision Support System with the ability of an Expert System to propose possible solutions using expert knowledge and best practices and the power of Blackboard to exchange information between components. This novel approach enables the inter-working of a variety of well understood techniques within a single underlying framework - that of the agent-orientated paradigm.

To assist with validating the proposed architecture, a prototype application was developed and a series of user trials conducted. The conclusion of these trials was that the prototype system demonstrated that the notion of an intelligent assistant system for software project planning was a viable concept, worthy of further investigation. Further, it demonstrated that the proposed architecture provided a viable framework for supporting the software project planners decision making process and has the potential to be of use in a commercial setting.

Publication Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Departments:	School of Science & Technology > Computer Science School of Science & Technology > School of Science & Technology Doctoral Theses Doctoral Theses

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