TeamWorker: An Agent-Based Support System for Mobile Task Execution

Abstract

An organization's mobile workforce is a vital asset, as it is in the front line liaising with customers, and driving the sale of an organization's products and/or services. Despite this, the IT support provided to mobile workers is often inferior to that available to office-based workers. Mobile workers operate in an unreliable environment, and as such require differing types of support. Within this paper we present a multi-agent based computer cooperative support system known as TeamWorker which can help overcome the difficulties faced by mobile workers. Within this system, each mobile worker is assigned a personal agent that can assist her/him during the working day through appropriate service provision (based on current work context), and through monitoring work progress to anticipate and undertake required actions on the user's behalf. A detailed presentation of the TeamWorker system is given, including the benefits provided for a real life mobile business process.