Case-based reasoning: Extending the frontiers of knowledge-based systems

Knowledge-based systems (KBS) provide a powerful tool to capture expert knowledge and deploy it throughout the organization to support decision making tasks. They offer an effective means to combat competition by supporting the activities of knowledge-workers in business organizations. Most of the KBS in use today an rule-based systems. These systems have several limitations. Alternative KBS development methods have been proposed to overcome these limitations. One such method, which is recently gaining popularity is case-based reasoning (CBR). Unlike rule-based systems which use heuristic rules, CBR stores and reuses experience to solve problems. This promising new technology overcomes most of the problems of rule-based systems and has the potential to extend the reach of KBS to new frontiers. This paper provides an overview of CBR and discusses its current applications and future potential. Open research issues facing this new technology are discussed.