Knowledge representation and processing in intelligent software measurement system (ISMS)

Intelligent software measurement system (ISMS) is an agent-based system that is able to produce automatically a software measurement implementation plan based on users' initial business or measurement goal(s). The ISMS is composed of a personal assistant agent (PA) as the client interface, and a cluster of expert assistant agents (EA). The PAs provide users with a simple business goals template for selection, and then, through communication with the EAs, they proceed to the goal(s). A central component of EA is the knowledge base (KB). We present a step by step methodology for building the knowledge base for ISMS. Unlike conventional knowledge based systems, the knowledge base in ISMS is composed of a series of relational tables, weights and factual rules. Automated learning and update mechanisms are also provided for performance improvement.