The development, validation and implementation of knowledge-based systems

It is now ten years since Operational Research, and other groups that support management decision making, seized upon Knowledge-based Systems (KBS) as an alternative set of techniques and methods for building systems that support, augment or automate decision making. Success, as with most information technologies, has been mixed. This paper briefly reviews where KBS have been successful, and what benefits have been derived. It notes that interest in KBS has been rekindled by the present interest in business process re-engineering. Given the mature state of development tools, most KBS developers are now focusing on methodological and life-cycle issues. The paper reviews progress in understanding and using development methodologies, validation methods (now generally considered as crucial to technical success) and implementation. Some ideas about where KBS ‘fits in’ to the array of tools, techniques and methodologies available to the modern analyst and system developer are presented.