Adaptable methodology for automation application development

An adaptable methodology for automation application development (AMAAD) is introduced. This development methodology is based on the key concept that design automation (DA) applications are a subset of higher level knowledge-based engineering (KBE) applications, and thus can be developed using a subset of KBE methods. The proposed methodology is largely built upon two existing KBE methodologies: CommonKADS and MOKA, which have become popular models for automating engineering processes. The proposed extension of these methods introduces flexibility to tailor the process for producing automation software to the specific needs of the problem through the specification of a number of attributes. These attributes are linked to subtasks in the key lifecycle phases of application development. This proposed methodology provides a link between KBE and DA applications and provides structure to the application development process. A software tool was written to facilitate the process of identifying the capability needs of an automated solution, and providing detail of the tasks to be followed for its development.