A design framework for the ALVEY/ICL/DHSS demonstrator process

The purpose of this project is to develop a system to provide knowledge based decision support within a large legislation based organisation. The system developed will not be made fully operational within the target organisation, the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS), but will however be constructed to the standards required for real operational use. The project is a collaborative venture involving ICL as the prime contractor, LOGICA, the Universities of Surrey and Lancaster and Imperial College of the University of London. Lastly, but most importantly, the DHSS itself is involved both as end user and co-developer. This project is funded as a large demonstrator as part of the UK ALVEY Programme. The demonstrator system constructed will consist of a fully integrated set of subsystems each supporting a distinct area of DHSS activity (eg. benefit assessment, training). Each subsystem wil be produced by a separate and independent group; therefore a strong framework is required if the design of the demonstrator is to be consistent. This framework should not be regarded as a rigid set of legislative rules but rather as a house style or declaration of design intent.