This presentation is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the result of some phase 2 analysis work performed for the NIST PSL effort. Part 2 involves a high-level sketch of new work on SPAR (no association with a chain of small grocery stores).
Part I This part is a summary of analysis work completed during phase 2 of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Process Specification Language (PSL) project. A set of requirements for this language was produced in phase 1. These requirements were divided into separate categories. The main categories of interest for this analysis are the core and outer core requirements. Each set was then further partitioned into either representational or functional requirements. In phase 2, existing candidate process representations were proposed which were believed to satisfy much of the representational and functional needs. Most of the particular set of candidates reviewed are those representations generated by participants in the DARPA/Rome Laboratory Planning Initiative (ARPI), or representations in which participants in the initiative played a part. The results of the analyses of a number of the candidate representations with respect to the requirements are reviewed here. Part II It is important that information about processes, plans and activities are sharable within and across organisations. Cooperation and coordination of the planning, monitoring and workflows of the organisations can be assisted by having a clear shared model of what comprises plans, processes and activities. The Shared Planning and Activity Representation (SPAR) is intended to contribute to a range of purposes including domain modelling, plan generation, plan analysis, plan case capture, plan communication, behaviour modelling, etc. By having a shared model of what constitutes a plan, process or activity, organisational knowledge can be harnessed and used effectively. References: Slides: http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/students/stevep/apr/documents.html#psl2edin Slides: http://projects.teknowledge.com/CPR2/meetings/arpi110397/austin/sld001.htm SPAR home page: http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~arpi/spar/