LINKAGE META-MODELLING TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN PROCESS IMPROVEMENT TOOLS

ABSTRACT Product development systems may be described ascomplex networks of interactions between heteroge-neous ‘elements’ such as designers, activities, andcomponents. Approaches to support design processimprovement which take this view are based on thedevelopment and analysis of linkage models – i.e.,representations of the elements and the relationshipsbetween them. This paper proposes that the develop-ment of such approaches can be facilitatedby linkagemeta-modelling, which we argue can substantiallyreduce the time and expertise required to implementnew approaches in software. A linkage meta-modelis defined as a formal, computable description ofthe elements allowed in a modelling framework, theconstraints upon relationships between them and theviews used to manipulate models. The linkage meta-modelling approach was implemented in a matrix-oriented software platform and illustrated by appli-cation to develop an implementation of the Contactand Channel modelling framework. KEYWORDS Linkage meta-model, ontology specification lan-guage, complex design systems, P3 Signposting

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