Page 235 - DMGT505_MANAGEMENT_INFORMATION_SYSTEM

Management Information Systems

Notes Analysis

The purpose of analysis is to identify a potential application. Possible applications include
diagnostics, a controller, etc. During analysis the developer must also assess the suitability of
knowledge-engineering technology for this application. You must ask yourself the question
Will something else work better? This is true for applying any type of artificial intelligence to
solve a problem.

!
Caution If there is a numerical method or heuristic that is well established, then stick with
that approach and use artificial intelligence to solve problems which are difficult.

Specification

The specification step is where the developer defines what the expert system will do. Here the
developer must also work with the expert to learn enough about the task to plan system
development. The expert is a human who is identified as being the domain expert in a particular
field. The developer must familiarize himself with the problem so that system development can
be performed. The developer will spend a significant amount of time in this phase acquiring
knowledge.

Defining what an expert system should do can be challenging. It may be difficult to obtain
reliable information. Some experts may solve problems differently, or tell the developer what
they think he wants to hear. The experts may envision a different functionality for the system
than the developer, who better understands the limitations of the software. It is also important
to assure the experts that the purpose of the expert system is not to replace the experts, but to
proliferate their knowledge and expertise throughout the organization. It is up to the human
experts to continually refine their knowledge and find better ways of solving problems.

!
Caution Once an expert system is developed, it cannot create new ways to solve problems.

Development

The development step consists of several important tasks. Here, the developer must learn how
the expert performs the task (knowledge acquisition) in a variety of cases. There are basically
three kinds of cases the developer should discuss with the expert: current, historical, and
hypothetical. Current cases can be covered by watching the expert perform a task. Historical
cases can be discussed by discussing with the expert a task that was performed in the past. And,
hypothetical cases can be covered by having the expert describe how a task should be performed
in a hypothetical situation.
The knowledge acquisition process, which started in the specification phase, continues into the
development phase. The developer must extract knowledge from the previous case discussions.
The types of knowledge the developer looks for can be grouped into three categories: strategic,
judgemental, and factual. Strategic knowledge is used to help create a flow chart of the system.
Judgemental knowledge usually helps define the inference process and describes the reasoning
process used by the expert.

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