Integrating diverse information resources in a case-based design environment

The success of case-based design aids depends both on the case-based reasoning processes they apply and on effectively integrating those processes into the larger task context: on making the case-based reasoning component present case information at the right time and in the right way, on exploiting additional information resources as needed to supplement the case library and to guide case application, on capturing useful information from current reasoning and providing it to up- and down-stream designers, and on unobtrusively learning new cases during the design process. This article presents a set of principles and techniques for integrated case-based design support systems and illustrates their application through a case study of the Stamping Advisor, a system to support feasibility analysis for sheet metal automotive parts.