Original Date: 11/03/1996
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

In 1992, the Development Division at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant implemented an Information and Advisory System (IAS) testbed. The testbed is a state-of-the-art, software-development facility for the construction, evaluation, and demonstration of the IAS solutions such as intelligent design and process advisor systems. The IAS testbed supports rapid prototyping of complex solutions by improved methods of integrating, presenting, analyzing, and communicating information to the end user. When used to develop design and process advisor systems, the IAS testbed reduced the software-development time and cost by 90%.

The traditional software development process begins with a detailed functional requirements document and progresses through a software code development and test period of 6 to 36 months. Next, the end user reviews the prototype software, determines any new requirements, and the process is repeated. With the IAS testbed, the Development Division uses a new software development paradigm which produces the prototype software within a few weeks. This new process begins with an idea or basic concept, and quickly generates the prototype software that has user-driven system features. In addition, the process provides a needs-based migration path for maturing the system.

The IAS tools include databases, graphical data, and knowledge bases. These tools use the IAS software- development environment to develop an integrated system including product design and manufacture; material utilization; business decisions; operations; resource and asset management; and software hooks to all data structures. The core software, a powerful 3-D information and database tool, is provided by the Intergraph Geographical Information System (GIS). The GIS integrates with the multi-layers of the Intergraph system to create a point-and- click, user-friendly interface for interactive graphics and information retrieval.

Advisory systems can be developed and applied to any application requiring key decisions. Examples include cost advisors for manufacturing; product design; process control; optimal production planning; integrated control; GIS information integration; business enterprise modeling; inventory control; intelligent facility management; asset management; flexible and concurrent engineering; and market studies and economic development.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.