Experiences from a standardization attempt in AO methodologies

1
Experiences from a standardization attempt in AO
methodologies

• Massimo Cossentino
• (Italian National Research Council)

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Reference Scenario for this talk

• I dont like your methodology!!!
• Im going to create a new, better one!
• how ??

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Place of events

• The (ex) FIPA Methodology Technical Committee

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AOSE Today (methodological point of view)

• Several methodologies exist with different
  advantages
• Gaia
• Ingenias/Message
• MaSE
• PASSI
• Prometheus
• Tropos
• e.g. one size does not fit all !!!

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The FIPA Methodology TC Goals

• Problem
• It makes no sense to define one unique
  methodology and to force everyone to adopt it in
  order to be FIPA compliant
• (Proposed) Solution
• Let the developer of a multi-agent system create
  his own methodology
• Suited for the specific problem/system to be
  built
• Not conflicting with his (development)
  environmental constraints
• Coherent with his (or his group) knowledge and
  skills
• Supported by a CASE tool
• Supported by a FIPA methodology composition
  framework (specifications, guidelines and
  construction bricks)

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The proposed approach

• Adopting and customizing for Agent-based systems
  the well known Method Engineering paradigm
• The development methodology is built by the
  developer assembling pieces of the process
  (method fragments) taken from a repository.
• The repository is composed of contributions
  coming from existing methodologies and other
  novel and specifically conceived fragments

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What is method engineering
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The normal agent development process
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The proposed Method Engineering approach
The Method Engineer uses a CAME tool to compose
the new methodology by reusing fragments from the
repository
The Method Engineer analyzes the problem and the
development context/people to deduce new
methodology features
The CAME tool is used to instantiate a
methodology specific tool
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Key elements

• OK sounds interesting, now, I want to create my
  new methodology with this approach.
• What do I need?
• A collection of method fragments
• Some guidelines about how to assemble fragments
• A CAME (Computer Aided Method Engineering) tool
• an evaluation framework (is my new methodology
  really good?)

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The results of the FIPA Methodology TC
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The new methodology production process
Fragments are identified and described according
to the previous discussed definition
All methodologies are expressed in a standard
notation (we adopt SPEM - Software Process
Engineering Metamodel by OMG)
New fragments are defined if necessary
A method fragments repository is composed with
all existing fragments
The methodology design tool is aware of the
selected MAS meta-model (this helps in fragments
selection and consistency check)
A CAME (Computer Aided Method Engineering) tool
assists in the selection of fragments and
composition of design process
A new and problem specific methodology is built
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What has been done

• First release of a glossary of agent-design
  related terms (one of the TC deliverables) (see
  http//www.pa.icar.cnr.it/cossentino/
  FIPAmeth/glossary.htm)
• Definition of the method fragment structure
  (meta-model)
• In terms of a portion of process, some
  deliverables, preconditions, list of concepts
  addressed in the fragment, guidelines, glossary
  of terms, composition guidelines, aspects and
  dependencies.
• Study of several MAS meta-model, definition of an
  unifying proposal
• Extensive experimentation of OMG SPEM (Software
  Process Engineering Metamodel) as a modeling
  language for representing process aspects of
  fragments of MAS design processes
• Collection of fragments from several
  methodologies (Adelfe, Gaia, PASSI, Tropos, to be
  completed Ingenias)
• Experiments of methodologies composition

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What is (still) to be done(according to the old
plan)

• Extraction of more fragments from existing
  methodologies in order to improve the methods
  base
• Documents to be completed
• Fragments Repository architecture definition
• Methodology Composition Guidelines

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Our Plans for the future

• Starting a debate
• With both old TC members and new interested
  people
• Defining the new strategy
• From the technical point of view
• Merging with OPF?
• Exploring new directions?
• Consolidating this position?
• From the organizational point of view
• Preparing a proposal for an IEEE FIPA WG/SG?
• Collaborating within other contexts? (ISO,
  Agentlink, research projects, )

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Are you interested?

• Please, contact me
• cossentino_at_pa.icar.cnr.it

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Further details
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What is a (method) fragment

• A fragment1 is a portion of the development
  process, composed as follows
• A portion of process (what is to be done, in what
  order), defined with a SPEM diagram
• One or more deliverables (artifacts like
  (A)UML/UML diagrams, text documents and so on).
• Some preconditions (they are a kind of constraint
  because it is not possible to start the process
  specified in the fragment without the required
  input data or without verifying the required
  guard condition)
• A list of concepts (related to the MAS
  meta-model) to be defined (designed) or refined
  during the specified process fragment.
• Guideline(s) that illustrates how to apply the
  fragment and best practices related to that
• A glossary of terms used in the fragment (in
  order to avoid misunderstandings if the fragment
  is reused in a context that is different from the
  original one)
• Other information (composition guidelines,
  platform to be used, application area and
  dependency relationships useful to assemble
  fragments) complete this definition.
• 1According to the (old) FIPA Methodology TC
  definition (see http//www.pa.icar.cnr.it/cossent
  ino/ FIPAmeth/metamodel.htm)

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MAS meta-models

• It is the meta-model of the system to be built
• It specifies
• which elements (agents, roles, behaviors,
  communications, ) will constitute the agent
  solution
• which relationships exist among these elements
• The MAS meta-model (when chosen before of the
  methodology) provides a guideline for the
  methodology pieces selection and assembling

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Method Fragment structure
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Description of a methodology in SPEM

• (From the PASSI process)

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Description of a methodology in SPEM

• (From PASSI process the Agent Society Phase)

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Relationship with the MAS meta-model

• MAS meta-model elements and work products are
  directly related
• Kinds of relationships
• Define
• Refine
• Quote
• Relate

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A unifying MAS meta-model (from Adelfe, Gaia,
Ingenias, PASSI)
C. Bernon, M. Cossentino, M.P. Gleizes, J. Pavon,
P. Turci, F. Zambonelli. Towards Unification of
Multi-Agent Systems Meta-Models.
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Experiments of methodologies compositions

• Recently, several papers have been written
• Among the others
• Following the Methodology TC approach
• M. Cossentino, V. Seidita. Composition of a New
  Process to Meet Agile Needs Using Method
  Engineering. Software Engineering for Large
  Multi-Agent Systems vol. III. LNCS Series,
  Elsivier Ed. (2004)
• A. Garro, G. Fortino, W. Russo. Using Method
  Engineering for the Construction of
  Agent-Oriented Methodologies. In Proc. of WOA 04
  - Dagli Oggetti agli Agenti, Sistemi Complessi e
  Agenti razionali, pages 5154, Torino, Italy,
  December 2004.
• Following similar approaches
• B. Henderson-Sellers. Method Engineering for OO
  Systems Development. Communications of the ACM,
  46(10), 2003. 29 B. Henderson-Sellers. Creating
  a comprehensive agent-oriented methodology -
  using method engineering and the OPEN metamodel.
  In B. Henderson-Sellers and P. Giorgini, editors,
  Agent-Oriented Methodologies Idea Group, 2005.
• T. Juan, and L. Sterling, and M. Winikoff.
  Assembling Agent Oriented Software Engineering
  Methodologies from Features. In Proc. of the
  Third International Workshop on Agent-Oriented
  Software Engineering, at AAMAS02.

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Proposals for a new plan

• Merging with OPF (Open Process Framework)?
• Design tools
• A standardization effort could help in enabling
  the development of this kind of tools
• Specific topics of interest for FIPA
• Definition of a MAS meta-model,
• Definition of the methodology meta-model
• Identification of the basic activities that
  constitute a MAS design process (?)
• Proposals?