An Agent-Oriented Software Engineering Methodology with Application of Information Gathering Systems for LCC

Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is a very important issue for organizations, which determines the success of their businesses. However, information gathering from a highly distributed heterogeneous environment with a huge number of information sources is an obstacle to the use of the existing LCC models. To overcome this obstacle, we took an agent-based information gathering system as a solution. In order to develop an agent-based system in a systematic way, we established a methodology of agent-oriented system engineering. Therefore, the system development follows a step by step process from the stage of system requirement to implementation. This paper presents this methodology and illustrates the processes of system analysis , design, and implementation by apply ing this methodology to information gathering for the CASA (Cost Analysis Strategy Assessment) model. The experimental results show that the agent technology is useful and beneficial for LCC information gathering.

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