DEVELOPMENT OF A CASE-BASED EXPERT SYSTEM - APPLICATION TO A SERVICE COORDINATION PROBLEM

Researchers have recently begun utilizing the case-based reasoning (CBR) technique in the construction of expert systems. Instead of developing a knowledge base that contains explicit rules, CBR involves developing a case base with prior cases or examples. Retrieving prior cases relevant to the current problem and deciding on a solution on the basis of the outcome of previous cases constitutes the use of such an expert system. A major advantage of CBR is that in domains that already have much of the required knowledge in the form of cases a case-based expert system can be easily developed. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the CBR technique as applied to the problem of emulating the decision process of service coordinators. This article describes the architecture of a case-based expert system and the detailed methodology of applying the CBR technique. The benefits and pitfalls of applying the technique in the development of an expert system are also discussed.