IPAS

IPAS (Integrated Products and Services) is a £2.3 million project funded by the UK Government (Department of Trade and Industry) and Rolls-Royce plc.

The project consortium includes three industrial partners (Rolls-Royce, Epistemics and Data Systems & Solutions) and four universities (Southampton, Cambridge, Aberdeen and Sheffield).

The project started in May 2005 and is due for completion in May 2008.

Context

A fundamental shift is occurring in many industries away from the selling of products (e.g. cars) to the provision of services (e.g. transport, car leasing). Essential to the long-term success of businesses in this emerging global environment is the creation of new Integrated Products And Services (IPAS). These require knowledge transfer between three very different worlds:

• new service design
• new product design
• the operation of existing products and services in the field

Objectives

IPAS will integrate and apply a number of disparate generic technologies that are currently in the research phase and span the disciplines of computer science, engineering design, knowledge management, manufacturing and work psychology. IPAS will significantly improve these generic technologies, which are critical to the effective exploitation of intra and inter-enterprise computing, and validate them by application to a complex real world challenge.

Deliverables

IPAS deliverables include:

• a Designer Knowledge Desktop
• defined work social issues and solutions
• process simulations and optimisation
• a life cycle cost modelling toolkit

Epistemics Role

Epistemics role in IPAS is as a developer of leading-edge knowledge tools. In the first phase of IPAS, Epistemics have created a translator to convert PCPACK knowledgebase (XML) format into the OWL format. This allows knowledge captured and modelled in PCPACK to be exported for use as a web ontology or for use with ontology editors (such as protégé). Epistemics will carry out further development work on their existing tools to provide an enterprise-wide knowledge application.

Further Information

For further information, please visit the IPAS website.