SPAM – A Process Model for Developing Smart Personal Assistants

Abstract

Information technology capabilities are growing at an impressive pace and increasingly overstrain the cognitive abilities of users. User assistance systems such as online manuals try to help the user in handling these systems. However, there is strong evidence that traditional user assistance systems are not as effective as intended. With the rise of smart personal assistants, such as Amazon's Alexa, user assistance systems are becoming more sophisticated by offering a higher degree of interaction and intelligence. This study proposes a process model to develop Smart Personal Assistants. Using a design science research approach, we first gather requirements from Smart Personal Assistant designers and theory, and later evaluate the process model with developing an Amazon Alexa Skill for a Smart Home system. This paper contributes to the existing user assistance literature by offering a new process model on how to design Smart Personal Assistants for intelligent systems.

Chatbot Introduction and Operation in Enterprises – A Design Science Research-based Structured Procedure Model for Chatbot Projects

“…Due to the increasing research in the last years, various terms emerged, e.g., chatbots [19], smart personal assistant [15], conversational agent [7], digital assistant [1], or conversational user interface [20]. However, all describe information systems that use artificial intelligence and machine learning in terms of natural language processing to provide a dialog-based user interface.…”

“…Additionally, Adam et al [34] show that there are three HCI research modes, and what aspects are addressed and considered in each for respective projects A different approach highlights the knowledge needed for chatbot DSR-projects [35]. As mentioned in the introduction, Winkler et al [15], and Schuetzler et al [16] summarize scientific findings to apply them in a targeted process-oriented manner. However, only individual aspects are presented, so that usability for the entire chatbots' lifecycle is limited.…”

“…Depending on the sourcing decision, the phase starts with the selection of a chatbot platform or framework 16 [15]. Under certain circumstances, the choice might be dependent on the external partner selected for outsourcing.…”

“…For the latter 23.2 , the available data sources must be selected and integrated. Second, if the chatbot should encompass or map a (business) process, the respective one must be defined 24 and transferred to natural language dialog form in terms of dialog modeling 25 [15]. Finally, the chatbot can be developed depending on the expertise and desired development approach of the respective company, e.g.,…”

“…Up to now, some researchers already summarize their findings and deduce generalized design principles for enterprise chatbots [2,13,14]. However, only two approaches are known to us that aim at creating enterprise guidelines [15,16]. Hereby the first focuses only on the technical aspects while disregarding the organizational or individual ones.…”