現今資訊技術蓬勃發展，網際網路打破了地球上原本因地理環境因素而分開的界線，為因應全球化競爭的來臨，各企業無不以提昇產品的品質與加快產品開發的速度，以期能夠增加企業的競爭力。企業要掌握競爭優勢，就必須對於顧客快速變化的需求，在最短的時間內，設計出符合市場需求的產品。近來許多研究皆提到使用工作流程管理促成協同產品設計的完成，來提昇企業競爭力。因此，本研究提出了一結合協同產品設計作業之工作流程管理雛型系統，希望不僅能利用協同產品開發的概念，更能因為工作流程系統的導入，而使整個系統的運作更多樣化也更具彈性。在本研究所提出的系統雛型架構中，採用軟體代理人技術將流程建構與流程推進分離，以利更新與管理推進機制。並利用XML╱RDF的語法，將工作流程以RDF格式呈現，以利網際網路上流程資料之交換及溝通。最後，以本研究提出之系統架構，實作一雛型系統，藉由代理人技術來建立分散式環境下資訊傳遞溝通的機制，以充分發揮其流程元件之再使用性、擴充性及安全性。並以協同產品設計作業管理之概念設計及實作代理人間溝通行為模式，以達成產品開發的多樣化、溝通的及時性並縮短產品開發時間。因工作流程管理控管機制的建立，能減少重覆的工作，並增加協調合作及資源利用的效率。

In order to survive the keen competition, enterprise should advance the quality of products and design the product that answer to the quick-changing market in the shortest time. It is the key in strengthening competitiveness by using resource effectively and responding demands quickly. There are many researches depicting that the significant benefits for enterprises using workflow management system and collaborative product design. Thus, this research proposes a workflow management system architecture, which enables the practice of collaborative product design. Within this architecture, we choose software agent technology to achieve the information transportation and process coordination among design partners in distributed environments. In this research, we separate the workflow enactment mechanism from the workflow building tool by using agent technology. The agent behaviors include communicating with users, communicating with other agents, and controlling the flows of tasks according to the attributes of users input. Further, we use XML/RDF schema to present a workflow template in a RDF file. It enhances the workflow data interchangeability. At last, this research implements a prototype system based on the system architecture. Applying the concept of collaborative product design makes development quickly with instant communication and versatile products. The workflow management system embedded with agent technology makes the system reusable, extensible, and flexible in changing flow logics.

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