A web-based XML information sharing system for collaborative product development

Abstract

A successful product development project must tightly integrate multi-disciplinary experts through intensive information sharing. Although many computer integrated design systems have tried to fulfil this need, information sharing in a heterogeneous, distributed, and collaborative product development environment is still problematic. This research proposes a web-based information sharing system that uses XML (eXtensible Markup Language), ontology, and access control technologies to deal with product design collaboration problems. In this study, the critical product development information is transformed into XML documents so that data can be exchanged using existing Internet protocols. Ontology analysis is conducted on the XML documents allowing semantic differences in cross-domains to be resolved. Furthermore, a role-based access control mechanism is developed to allow secure and fine-grained access control for each element in the XML documents. This web-based XML information sharing system was implemented in a new product development project. The proposed method allows designers to be more productive and innovative through seamless information sharing, exchanging, and searching.

Keywords:

• Collaborative product development
• XML (eXtensible Markup Language)
• Ontology analysis
• Role-based access control