A Multi-Agent View of Distributed Collaborative Decision Support Systems
Adla Abdelkader, Nachet Bakhta, Ould-Mahraz Abdelkader · Frontiers in artificial intelligence and applications · 2012
In this paper, we propose a Multi-agent view of distributed collaborative decision support systems in which a facilitator and group decision makers are supported by intelligent agents. It considers group participants as multiple agents concerned with the quality of the collective decision. We define a facilitator agent as that agent responsible for the overall decision making process. This includes managing the complex negotiation processes that are required among those participants collaborating on decision making. The agents in the system autonomously plan and pursue their actions and sub-goals to cooperate, coordinate and negotiate with others, and to respond flexibly and intelligently to dynamic and unpredictable situations. Specifically, agents were used to collect information and generate alternatives that would allow the user to focus on solutions that were found to be significant. The decision making process, applied to the fault diagnosis in an oil plant, relies on a cycle that includes recognition of the causes of a defect (diagnosis), plan actions to solve the incidences and, execution of the selected actions.