Exporting knowhow: Providing a knowledge base for an expert system requires careful thinking from the expert

In October 1987 the then Manpower Services Commission agreed to fund the development of an exporting expert system. The system was to be produced by the National Computing Centre, with the aid of three ‘experts’, one of whom was Jim Grassick. The system was completed in 1988 and piloted during 1989, and is currently being improved with a view to commercialization. This article describes Jim’s experience of the knowledge acquisition process and provides some important pointers for Operational Research OR practitioners in this field.