Problems of designing task-based user interfaces for large-scale CIM systems

The research discussed stems from work undertaken within the Alvey research programme in the United Kingdom. The project, design to product (DtoP), was a large scale demonstrator project, whose purpose was to design an innovative, integrated AI-based system covering the design to manufacture process for a complex, mechanical, precision-engineered component. There are a number of major tools in the system, which was build in modular fashion, together with a series of utilities and support tools; the paper concentrates on the work done to develop a user interface to the process planning tool. It describes the methodology adopted to design a series of user interfaces for a range of AI-based tools and their accompanying utilities. It moves on to discuss some of the major issues and problems that arose during the development of these interfaces and some of the conclusions reached