SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies – NMP SmartNets – The Transformation from Collaborative Knowledge Exploration Networks into Cross Sectoral and Service Oriented Integrated Value Systems D8.1 SmartNet Transformation Manager and application guidelines Due date: 2013-06-30 Date of actual submission: 2013-09-09 Lead beneficiary: InfoAsset Authors: Heiko Matheis, Manuel Hirsch, Nastaran Matthes, Armin Lau Status/version: 2 Deliverable nature: Prototype (description) Confidentiality Level: Public
Transcript
SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials and new Production Technologies – NMP
SmartNets – The Transformation from Collaborative Knowledge Exploration Networks into Cross Sectoral and Service Oriented
Integrated Value Systems
D8.1
SmartNet Transformation Manager and application guidelines
Due date: 2013-06-30
Date of actual submission: 2013-09-09
Lead beneficiary: InfoAsset
Authors: Heiko Matheis, Manuel Hirsch, Nastaran Matthes, Armin Lau
8.1 Building knowledge structures in Tricia ....................................................... 22
8.2 Template definition in Tricia ......................................................................... 23
8.3 Access to the SmartNet Transformation Manager ....................................... 24
9 Link to other SmartNets Results ........................................................................ 25
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3 Executive Summary
D8.1 SmartNet Transformation Manager and application guidelines
Overview of objectives, activities and results described in this report
This deliverable presents the prototype of the SmartNet Transformation Manager to the public. It presents the toolset, resulting from Task 8.1, which is able to support the industrial networks in coping with the challenges of their transformation along the collaborative development process. Furthermore, the report presents application guidelines which will support SMEs in applying the toolset in their industrial practice. Special attention will be put to the interaction of the SmartNet Transformation Manager with the other three prototypes – SmartNet Navigator (D4.1), SmartNet Method Consultant (D4.2) and SmartNet Configurator (D6.1).
Assessment of results against the criteria of the work plan
The prototype of the SmartNet Transformation Manager, as described in this deliverable is fully in line with the objectives pointed out in the work plan. In the current state, the prototype will be released to all three industrial partnerships for practical evaluation.
Evaluation of results
The prototype of the SmartNet Transformation Manager covers all targeted aspects. However, the practical evaluation of the Configurator will take place in an upcoming task of the SmartNets project. Results of the practical evaluation will be available as public deliverable as well.
Communication of results
The prototype of the SmartNet Transformation Manager has been made available to the project consortium and is also available to interested parties as an extension to the Tricia platform. As feedback and improvements can be expected from the practical use of the tool, a more refined version will be developed and made available in the further course of the project.
Research results leading to the SmartNet Transformation Manager as it is at the moment will be presented to the public in scientific journals and conferences. Furthermore, the use of the SmartNet Transformation Manager will be part of the demonstrators which will be built up in the near future (WP10).
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4 Scope and Requirements of WP7
The SmartNet Transformation Manager is a toolset consisting of several tools to support the transformation of Smart Networks from idea creation towards production. In the course of the development of products or services, the amount of related information and knowledge grows significantly and become more and more structured. Also organisation of work changes from event triggered activities along small ah-hoc workflows to highly efficient and effective but strict processes. This tool set should guarantee the efficient use of the resources knowledge, personnel, and IT throughout the required adaptations within the product life cycle. Figure 1 shows the expected adaptations in the three dimensions Organisation, Knowledge and ICT in the course of the development of new products and services.
Figure 1: SmartNet Transformation
The SmartNet Transformation Manager as presented in this report will focus on this transformation along the collaborative development and production process. For that, the performance questions identified in the SmartNet Transformation Methodology will be used as guideline. Furthermore, it will follow the methodology by implementing the Methods for the transformation from one to the following stage (see D7.4). While the SmartNet Guide (see D2.1) supports the network actors in adapting their internal structure to become ‘smart’, the SmartNet Transformation Manager will assist the operative planning, execution and control of the transformation.
Organisational Transformation
As stated above, the organisational perspective of the transformation along the innovation process of partnerships evolves over time from an activity oriented initiative towards a robust production and deployment network for respective products and services. Furthermore the networks actors have to change their organisational structure from rather steep hierarchies to flat hierarchies combined with the ability to setup cross-functional teams.
Development Production
Knowledge
Organisation
ICT
Activity-oriented Process-oriented
Implicit, unstructured Explicit, structured
Ad-hoc IT-Services Application System
Smart Nets Transformation
Creation ofideas
Conceptua-lisation
Prototyping SamplingProduction
andMarketing
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The requirements for transformation in the field of organisation were described as performance questions as follows:
Project Management [O100]
o What do I have to do, and when shall I do it? [O110]
o How can I do what, and when? [O120]
Which innovation-related activities are possible (right now)? [O121]
Which activities were recently performed? [O122]
o How can it be done? (Focus on realization procedure) [O130]
What materials/input do I need for an activity? [O131]
What materials/output can be expected from an activity? [O132]
o What is the status of the innovation project? [O140]
Supporting Decision Processes (see processes focus in D1.1) [O200]
o How can it be done? (Focus on realization objective) [O310]
Which method should be applied? [O311]
o What shall I do when and with whom? [O320]
Openness and Networking Culture (see Networking focus in D1.1) [O400]
o Who can do it? [O410]
Which partners/experts do have strong business relations? [O411]
Who should collaborate with whom? [O412]
Knowledge Transformation
During each development and manufacturing phase of a product, knowledge and competences from various actors in the network are combined to elaborate new knowledge about the targeted innovation and to carry out knowledge-intensive tasks. Consequently, knowledge has to get more and more explicitly stored as shared information in the network’s ‘knowledge base’. Thus, the main challenge is to provide methods and tools, to offer support for SMEs for coping with these requirements. As stated in Figure 1 the expected changes in the knowledge representation range from fairly unstructured to highly structured. Supporting the anticipation and integration of these respective structures into the day-by-day work within the networks for development of products and services as well as for project management is the focus of the SmartNet Transformation Manager in the knowledge perspective. The relevant performance questions for the knowledge perspective are:
Process analysis [K100]
o Which process steps are needed to produce a certain (newly invented) product? [K110]
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Internal communication in partner institution [K200]
o Who might contribute to a specific task, method, discussion, activity? (internally) [K220]
o Which competences do we have? [K230]
o Which knowledge is relevant for the further development? [K240]
Product innovations vs. complementary Services (see Assets focus in D1.1) [K400]
o How to describe Products and Services? [K410]
Which attributes to add? [K411]
Which values to choose? [K412]
Which relations do they have to other products/services? [K413]
Transformation [K800]
o What are indications for finalized development activities? [K810]
o How to transform development networks into production networks? [K820]
Which organisational changes are necessary? [K821]
Which ICT related changes are necessary? [K822]
Which knowledge-related changes are necessary? [K823]
ICT Transformation The ICT tools applied in Smart Networks should provide adequate means for supporting the transformation of organisational as well as knowledge structures from development to manufacturing. In case of transformation of knowledge structures the systems must on the one hand be flexible enough to adapt to the specific needs of structuring and on the other hand provide interfaces to fit into a set of tools.
This report is structured as follows: First we introduce the basic (chapter 5) and advanced features (chapter 6) of the SmartNet Transformation Manager. Then, we will introduce application guidelines on how to use the software in practice (see chapter 8).
All screenshots are taken from the real SmartNets collaboration environment, i.e. from our three industrial partnerships. As this is a public deliverable and the information on some of the developments within our networks is sensitive, the screenshots are related mainly to the general project than to the specific developments.
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5 Basic functionalities of the SmartNet Transformation Manager
This chapter presents some of the basic features the SmartNet Transformation Manager provides to all networks in order to support the transformation in the networks. The features are basically the implementation of tools as well as methods and processes that significantly support the information flow, the organisational adaptations and handling/documentation of growing knowledge. The following chapters describe the tools for all three perspectives separately.
5.1 Organisational transformation
A holistic support of enterprises and networks in the course of the development and production process to achieve a conscious and efficient development not only of the product/service itself, but also of the collaboration infrastructure puts high demands on the tools in case of suitability and usability. The central functionality for the SmartNet Transformation Manager to start with was the integration of the SmartNet Navigator, the SmartNet Method Consultant and parts of the SmartNet Configurator to provide the core tools of the Smart Networking concept in just one system with only one access point.
Figure 2: Integration of SmartNet Navigator, SmartNet Method Consultant and SmartNet Configurator
Figure 2 shows the realisations of this integrated cockpit that aggregates the necessary information to promote development and production. The background of the figure represents the current status of the project and is a result of the analysis of the SmartNet Navigator. For each Activity Type within this map the collaboration
SmartNet MethodConsultant
SmartNetConfigurator
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platform contains several information on Methods that could potentially been applied and Actors Types that should be involved to solve the issues tackled. The interrelations between this information are evaluated by the SmartNet Method Consultant and the SmartNet Configurator. Bringing this information together in only one view results from the requirements analysis for the method for transformation and thus for the SmartNet Transformation Manager. These are the three key questions for the organisational transformation:
What do I have to do, and when shall I do it? (SmartNet Navigator)
How can it be done? (SmartNet Method Consultant)
Who can do it? / Who should be involved? (SmatNet Configurator)
Starting from the key questions the method for transformation identified and answers several more detailed performance questions to each of the three key questions. For the SmartNet Transformation Manager this means on the one hand to answer the questions as exemplarily shown in Figure 2 and on the other hand to provide templates and guidelines for special management methods to assist the transformation.
From the methods suggested to support organisational transformation in the SmartNet Transformation Methodology, all six suggested methods have been implemented:
Network Modelling (with the SmartNet Modeller)
Team Set-Up
Partner Profiling
Process explication
Status Analysis (in conjunction with the SmartNet Navigator)
SmartNet Method Consultant and SmartNet Configurator
Figure 3: Method description of “Partner Profiling”
An example of such a method is “Partner Profiling”, whose short introduction and guideline is displayed in Figure 3. This method focuses in a first step on the identification and description of available competences and resources in the network. In a second step a gap analysis for missing competences and resources sets up a profile for a fictive required partner which should be involved for certain activities. As a template for application the collaboration platform provides a table to collect the necessary information on the specific roles of the partners, their names, expertise in collaborative projects, special skills necessary to reach the goal, the aimed
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performance of the product/service and the work to get there and their intention on how they intent to collaborate. An example of a partly filled template is displayed in Table 1.
Table 1: Template for the application of “Partner Profiling”
ID Role Name Profession Collaboration Expertise
Skills (to be complementary, e.g. Method, Technology, Communication, Materials, ...)
Performance Goals (to be agreed on)
Shared Working Approaches, Collaboration intention
01 Team Leader
Mr. X Leading Expereince
02 …
Another example for a method to support the organisational transformation as well as the identification and description of relationships, dependencies, responsibilities and competences is the “Process explication in workflows and business process models”. Within the SmartNets project, the application of this method started very early to set up common understanding within the networks on the one hand and to document the evolution of the networks on the other hand. A set of descriptive documents, a user guideline for the tool and a modelling guideline was developed in WP1 and implemented into the collaboration platform to reach all partners and to empower them to apply the methods several times during the project to keep the models up to date. Figure 4 gives an example on the descriptive documents at the platform and Figure 5 shows an example for an ecosystem model described with the SmartNet Modeller.
Figure 4: Purpose & Scope of the method “Process explication in workflows and business process models”
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Figure 5: Example of an ecosystem model from the ‘Medical device’ network
Detailed descriptions of the processes and the related information and knowledge domains as well as the responsible partners build a high quality base for the transformation in the knowledge dimension.
5.2 Knowledge transformation
For the transformation of networks in the perspective of knowledge the basic functionality must be to support the knowledge workers in extending their knowledge and competence to push the development of new products and services on the one hand and to support them also in explicating their experiences and knowledge gained on the other hand. Especially the second part is crucial for setting up a robust production process based on a traceable development which is required for certain industry sectors. Therefore the SmartNet Transformations Manager implements methods to analyse the targeted knowledge structure and potential knowledge gaps within the network to identify activities that should be emphasized as well as further competencies that need to be included.
The SmartNet Transformation Methodology proposes five methods for assisting in the knowledge transformation. All five methods have been implemented on the project’s collaboration platform Tricia in a mix of executable software, templates and guidelines:
Knowledge creation spiral
Knowledge gap analysis
Target structure analysis
Systematic structure evolution
Intermediate structural gap reasoning
Physiological limitations
Medical Device Development
Machinery development
Fabric development
Yarn production
Legislation on Medical Devices
Manufacturing
Material characteristics
Yarn processing
Weaving machinery DITFYarn
Fabric
Mageba
ZImmermann
IoP
ITVP
Medical Device Type BMedical Device Type A
ELLA-CS
Partner 1
Partner 2
Partner 4
Partner 5Partner 5
Partner 3
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Figure 6: Introduction to “Target structure analysis”
For example, identifying the targeted knowledge structure facilitates an integrated knowledge and information flow from the development phases to the production phase. The consideration of the final structure during the single modules of the innovation reference process guarantees the integrity of the developed product or service from information and knowledge perspective even for new products or services. Figure 6 displays the method description and the instructions for the application of the “target structure analysis”. The structure of the instructions can be directly found in prepared template, which is presented in Table 2 together with an example.
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Table 2: “Target Structure Analysis” Template with example
ID Product/ Service
Similar Product/ Service
Competition Internal/ External Competitor
Knowledge Structure applied
Parts of knowledge structure that should be captured
01 Bio-resorbable Stent
Metallic Stent
External MTU Product
ID
Label
Description
Provider
Customer
Needs
Price
Height
Weight
...
…
As a result of the application of the “target structure analysis” the identified knowledge structures were implemented on the collaboration platform to support the networks in their further development and production processes. The exemplarily presented structure (Figure 7) describes the intermediate product “Inner Shell” of the innovative helmet network in different states of the process.
Figure 7: Knowledge structure for the description of an “Inner Shell”; (1) initial state; (2) state after first elaborations and tests
(1) (2)
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Providing these structures for several types of products or services guides the user through the development with focus on the required information for the decision making during the development in general and in particular for their production or deployment. “Target structure analysis” serves also as an important input for “systematic structure evolution” and “intermediate structural gap reasoning”.
5.3 ICT transformation
Within the SmartNets project, the main objective is to analyse, to elaborate and to support the transformation process of networks in the course of a product or service development process. Based on the Smart Networking concept this transformation will be evaluated in the three perspectives organisation, knowledge and ICT. In this triple the main role of ICT is to facilitate the transformation in the both other perspectives. Therefore the applied ICT tools have to be flexible enough to support various needs in the different states of the development and production project and they must be able to exchange information over standardized interfaces. Thus the complete ICT infrastructure has to support the exchange and evaluation of unstructured as well as structured information. In addition, also the methods for a conscious ICT transformation should be accessible through the collaboration platform.
The SmartNet Transformation Managers basic functionalities for supporting the ICT transformation were adaptations and extensions of the project collaboration platform Tricia. The first important functionality that was improved during the project is the ability of Tricia to support unstructured “wiki-pages” that can be easily enriched by structured information. The knowledge structures could be adapted on the basis of methods such as “target structure analysis” (see 5.2). As described above, these structures can then be reused for further pages of the same type. Figure 8 shows an example of the on-the-fly adaptation of knowledge structure (1) where permitted users are able to add further attributes to a given knowledge structure (so-called type) or develop one from scratch. The second example in Figure 8 shows the edit section for these types where further adaptations can be made or some changes can be cancelled. This section allows in addition defining constraints such as attribute type, cardinality of values and default values for new pages of that type.
Figure 8: Easily adaptable ICT tool; (1) on-the-fly adaptation of knowledge structures; (2) edit section for type definition
(1) (2)
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Both of the above described ways of defining knowledge structures follow the overall approach of preparing appropriate tools and systematics to cope with emerging structures for the transition from development to production. Figure 9 shows exemplarily the ability of the collaboration platform Tricia to combine descriptive text with defined structures and the potential relation to the phases of the development and production process.
Figure 9: Handling emerging structures in ICT tools
When approaching the production phase, all processes have to be defined and the final knowledge structure fixed. In order to communicate the development achievements with established production machinery and ICT infrastructure such as ERP or PDM systems appropriate infrastructures have to be guaranteed; especially in a network were the partners use various systems and system configurations.
For the SmartNet Transformation Manager this means to provide interfaces facilitating the information exchange to succeeding systems. The following data can be accessed in distinguished formats
Knowledge structures and data models o UML class diagram o XML data scheme o MS Excel data sheet o Tricia Workspace Template o SQL (through defined .xsd file)
Platform contents o MS Excel data sheet o PDF o Tricia Workspace Import/Export (XML + documents)
The access points to structured data and knowledge structures from the collaboration platform’s user interface are displayed in Figure 10. In addition to that, all structures and contents can be called upon through REST Web Services
Descriptive text
Emerging structures
Structures for production
Creation ofideas
Conceptua-lisation
Prototyping SamplingProduction
andMarketing
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Figure 10: Interfaces of the SmartNet Transformation Manager; (1) export and import of knowledge structures; (2) export of structured data
As already indicated, also the implementation of methods from the SmartNet Transformation Methodology belongs to the basic functionalities regarding ICT transformation. All five methods suggested from the methodology have been realized as templates and guidelines on the collaboration platform:
ICT system & target analysis
Feature analysis and matching
ABC analysis for IT means
Interface definition and enabling
Mix and merge
(1)
(2)
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6 Advanced functionalities of the SmartNet Transformation Manager
Besides the basic functionalities described in chapter 5, the SmartNet Transformation Manger comprises also dedicated features that further increase usability and practical value. These are the tailored suggestion of the most promising next step of the development project, the implementation of further methods to identify gaps in knowledge structures and further improvements of the collaboration platform Tricia.
6.1 Organisational transformation
From an organisational perspective a very important functionality that the SmartNet Transformation Manager must comprise is a pro-active guidance through the innovation reference process introduced as part of the SmartNet Collaboration Model1. This means the suggestion of the most promising next steps based on the current status of the project. For the elaboration of the next steps the developed rule set (see Figure 11) analyses the content of the collaboration platform to rank the potential next activities. The rule set itself considers only the open activities (calculation made by SmartNet Navigator) and weighs the activities by means of process module, process phase and relevance and importance for successional activities.
Figure 11: TxL-rule for ranking of potential next steps
The rules for calculating the weight based on the modules follow the intention to continue with the development in circles of planning, execution and control. For the suggestion this means to promote activities most which contribute to the finalisation of a certain module before going on with the next module, e.g. first finalise all activities in the module of execution before starting with control activities. The same behaviour is intended for calculating the weight based on the development phase. The last open activities in a phase earn additional points to climb in the ranking. Both rule sets try to push the networks in their development through the complete reference process starting with the idea creation, going on with concept development, prototyping, sampling and finally production and marketing. Nevertheless this is still a suggestion and the networks are free to follow their own plan. Besides the rules which intent to lead the networks through the process, there is on more rule set which should guarantee that the most important activities have been considered even if the network does not strictly follow the reference process. This calculation counts the
1 See SmartNets deliverable D1.3
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successors of the activities to identify the importance of each activity for the whole process.
The results of the described calculation of potential next steps were integrated into the visualisation of the SmartNet Navigator. Thus the user realises the suggestion directly by the “thumb” icon and the points that were displayed for the suggested next steps. Figure 12 gives an example on the implementation of this functionality and shows that the most promising next step for this specific network is “Evaluation of IPR situation”. The intention of showing more than one potential next step is to give the users the freedom to decide which activity suites best to their situation based on their feeling and experience. It also promotes parallel work wherever possible.
Figure 12: Suggestion of potential next steps.
Considering all the above mentioned features, the SmartNet Transformation Manager completes the set of SmartNets prototypes – that should actively support the collaborative development and production – comprising also the SmartNet Navigator, the SmartNet Method Consultant and the SmartNet Configurator.
6.2 Knowledge transformation
From knowledge perspective the next step in supporting the networks in their transition from development to production is to directly contribute to the project status identification. Therefore the method “Intermediate structural gap reasoning” can be applied to identify and define at which point in the development process the knowledge structure must be filled to which degree or must be extended by additional attributes. Using the method template displayed in Figure 13 in combination with the functionality of the SmartNet Navigator the results will directly affect the elaboration of the current project status. A practical approach therefore is the definition of
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intermediate results for each phase of the innovation reference process or individually planned gates to pass. Marking these result-pages with different status such as finalised – if the structure is completely filled – these results will be considered by the rule set of the SmartNet Navigator. These result pages work as control mechanism for the status elaboration, e.g. to include knowledge and information documented and stored in other systems than the collaboration platform Tricia.
Figure 13: “Intermediate structural gap reasoning”-Template
6.3 ICT transformation
Advanced functionalities of the SmartNet Transformation Manager in the perspective of ICT are the implementation of a template-functionality and the ability to draw conclusions from the uploaded network models. A huge improvement of the collaboration platform in the course of the implementation of the SmartNet Transformation Manager was the development of a template-functionality, which makes the standard process of copying a page needless. The new functionality allows defining instances of a specific type as template. These templates could then be selected if a new page of this specific type will be created (see Figure 14).
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Figure 14: Creating a new page from a template
Using this functionality improves the implementation of the Collaborative Development and Production Methodology (D3.2), the Network Coordination Methodology (D5.4) and the SmartNet Transformation Methodology (D7.4) with pre-configured pages to simplify their application on the collaboration platform.
The second improvement of the collaboration platform was the implementation of the network models from the three networks. Representing the models at the platform brings two major advantages; (1) the current version of models is always available and accessible; (2) the implementation of the model types with respective attributes enables searches on the content of the models. Figure 15 shows exemplarily the implementation of an ecosystem model. This screenshot shows the market view of the innovative helmet network which describes the relationships between the network partners, their responsibilities for (intermediate) good, constraints arising from the market and potential market segments for the produced goods. Furthermore this model also specifies information on competences in certain knowledge domains. The processes specified in the attribute section of Figure 15 are displayed in the management view of the ecosystem model which is also part of the implementation but due to readability reasons not displayed in this screenshot.
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Figure 15: Implementation of network models; ecosystem model
For creating an additional added value on the modeling of the networks the implementation allows the definition of queries on the models’ content. An example of such a query is displayed in Figure 16. This exemplary query retrieves all applications that are available in the networks and indicates in how many models they are described. In addition this query also shows in which kind of models the applications were described, namely “Information Model” and “Resource Model”. Due to the high degree of data integration at the platform this query additionally provides the opportunity to navigate directly to the models in which the applications were described.
Figure 16: Query for identification of available applications in the networks
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7 Technical Information and Licensing
The SmartNet Transformation Manager will be delivered as a free add-on to the Tricia System, thus only costs for the platform and required consultancy during the implementation will incur.
Beside the available implementation into the Tricia system of InfoAsset AG, the SmartNets consortium and in particular the core group offers additional services and support to transfer the SmartNet Transformation Manager principles to other applications.
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8 Application guideline
In this chapter, application guidelines for setting up knowledge structures and the definition of templates are given. Furthermore this guidelines give hints where to find the functionalities of the SmartNet Transformation Manager in the system.
8.1 Using methods from the SmartNet Transformation Methodology
As described above, all methods from the SmartNet Transformation Methodology have been implemented on the collaboration platform along with its own guidelines and templates. To apply the method, the user can:
1. Access the method description: Either by using the search functionality or the list of methods available, people can directly access method descriptions. All descriptions comprise step-by-step explanations for the implementation, giving also reference to experts that might assist the application and providing also link to the template.
2. Duplicating the method template In some cases, method templates are available as standard Tricia pages which can simply be copied to the respective project work space. After editing the access rights, read and write access can be limited or extended according to the involved user group. If the method template is implemented as a template (see below), it can be initiated when creating a new page, by selecting “create from template” as explained in chapter 6.3 and Figure 14.
3. Managing application with the included task management Sometimes method applications and filling templates might require several steps that have to be carried out one after the other. To organise this, the method initiator can use the provided project management functionalities of the SmartNet Configurator.
8.2 Building knowledge structures in Tricia
The key functionality for building knowledge structures is the definition of “types”. These types allow – similar to classes in programming – to derive instances with a pre-defined set of attributes.
Types can be defined for each workspace in the Tricia system. Therefore it is necessary to change from the reading mode to the configuration mode of the specific workspace. At the tab “Types” there is the possibility to create or manage all types of this workspace (see Figure 17 (1)). Pushing the button “New Type” opens the dialog window where the type’s name and some other attributes must be specified (see Figure 17 (2)). Clicking on “Create new Type” closes the dialog and opens the configuration page of the newly created type. There one can create, change and delete attributes that later specify the content of the instance pages. Furthermore this page also shows the usage of the attributes within the instance pages at the column “Frequency”. This functionality is very useful for the evaluation of knowledge structures.
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Figure 17: Dialogs for creating, managing types in Tricia
Regarding available attribute definitions, besides well-known database attributed like date or number, references (in particular to specific types of pages, e.g. task, method) play an important role for the knowledge structure definition. For any attribute it is possible to define if the filling of the attribute is mandatory, and also cardinality of the attribute can be pre-defined in advance.
8.3 Template definition in Tricia
Defining a Template in Tricia simplifies the use of pre-defined content and forms for specific types. Every page that is an instance of any type can be set as a Template in Tricia by changing the settings of the page. As displayed in Figure 18 ticking the option “Use it as template” make this specific page available as Template. The only thing that should be considered is, that templates are no longer be retrieved by queries. Thus a Template cannot be used as standard page.
(1)
(3)
(2)
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Figure 18: “Use it as template” option of Tricia pages
Due to the fact that only pages that are instances of a certain type can be declared as Temples, the management of the Templates is attached to the type definition and configuration, too.
8.4 Access to the SmartNet Transformation Manager
As stated above, the SmartNet Transformation Manager is not a single tool which is accessible at a certain point in the system; it is rather a set of tools and functions that improve the basic functionalities of the Tricia platform. Thus this chapter is about the different access points of the SmartNet Transformation Manager in the Tricia system.
The most prominent point where to find the SmartNet Transformation Manager is the visualisation of the SmartNet Navigator for respective development and production projects. As described in above the main achievement is the integration of all four SmartNets prototypes in only one system in general and the suggestion of the most promising next step in particular. This suggestion will be calculated by clicking at any “thumb”-icon of the visualisation.
All methods from the SmartNet Transformation Methodology presented in D7.4 are implemented at the collaboration platform and can be accessed via the “Method overview” page, similar to the development methods.
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9 Link to other SmartNets Results
The main objective of the SmartNet Transformation Manager is to support the application of the transformation method developed in WP7. Therefore the implementation is to some extend close to the implementation of the SmartNet Method Consultant from a methodical point of view. From a technological point of view the integration of the four main tools of the SmartNets project – SmartNet Navigator, SmartNet Method Consultant, SmartNet Configurator and SmartNet Transformation Manager – provides significant improvement to the day-by-day work within the industrial networks. To sum up, the SmartNet Transformation Manager completes the prototypically developed tools of the SmartNets project in closing the gap between status analysis, methodical support and real guidance through collaborative development and production processes.
