Integration of modeling and AI techniques in KBDSS generators: The Edipuss system

The problem of giving computer-aided support to managers and decision-makers has received growing interest in recent years. It is now widely recognized that in order to realize systems able to tackle such problems it is not possible to use classical techniques of software production, but it is necessary to use specific high-level software environments, integrating technologies of DBMS, statistical elaboration, modeling, optimization (the basic functionalities of DSS generators) and AI techniques. Different kinds of integration have been investigated and experienced in the literature and often the term Knowledge Based Decision Support Systems is used to indicate such systems. In order to explore the capabilities of KBDSS incorporating different levels of integration, in this paper the authors describe a first experience in designing a system which, using a commercially available KBDSS generator, providing features of a first level integration, incorporates an expert system for the use of forecasting models, realizing a deeper level of integration between computation and reasoning.