| dc.description.abstract | Complex products and their development processes may be viewed as systems,
whose different aspects can be modelled as networks of interactions between
elements in different domains. Many approaches have been proposed to explore,
support or improve engineering processes by building such models. Developing
these approaches, and applying them to problems of realistic complexity, often
requires specialised computer software suitable for manipulating large data sets.
However, creating suitable tools can be difficult–because software development is
time-consuming and requires skills that many researchers and practitioners do not
possess.
We developed an approach which aims to address this problem by recognising the
iterative nature of modelling research and its often tight coupling with prototype
software development, and by reducing the effort of software prototyping and
revision within this process. The approach is enabled by, and embodied in, the
Cambridge Advanced Modeller (CAM)–a configurable software platform we have
developed, refined and applied over several years and through a number of
research projects. | |
