Intelligent assistance for software construction: a case study

An important type of software design task involves constructing software artifacts from existing components. Major user tasks are locating relevant components, reusing existing artifacts, and ensuring that the artifact is complete and consistent. We developed a prototype knowledge-based graphical system that supports these tasks. It delivers information to users by adding and deleting graphical objects and changing their appearance. The system was developed in cooperation with an AT&T product organization. They created a production version of the tool for assembling sets of telecommunications features for customers. The tool lets users work at a high level and eases problems with locating relevant features, reusing feature lists, and maintaining consistency