THE KEEP MODEL, A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING PROCESS MODEL

The idea of building a specification in the first phase of modeling a system, a principle known from Software Engineering, has been transferred to the area of knowledge engineering. In the context of the so-called model-based knowledge engineering, KADS is a very popular methodology ([BWS87], [WSB91], [WSG89], [HKL89], [KLV89]). However, KADS only provides some basic principles but no complete method how the knowledge engineer should perform his tasks. Therefore, the knowledge engineering process model - the so-called KEEP model - was developed as a guideline for the process of model-based knowledge engineering in the sense of KADS. The KEEP model resulted from some experience in using the KADS methodology and an assessment of the life-cycle model of Hickman et. al. [HKL89]. The KEEP model is described at different layers of abstraction with the help of a dataflow diagram to give a detailed and structured description of the knowledge engineer's tasks and its results. Furthermore, the KEEP model includes a specification of the control flow for determining the order in which the different activities have to be carried out.