Integration of Case Based Retrieval with a Relational Database System in Aircraft Technical Support

Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) is suited to problem solving in domains where there are recurring problems. This paper describes the development of a CBR system for use in such a domain, the Technical Support department of an aircraft manufacturing company. The system uses three types of indexing: knowledge-guided induction, inductive indexing and nearest neighbour matching. The resultant system integrates case based retrieval with a relational database system to provide a rich environment to help manage the life cycle of a technical support query. In early tests with the system, staff can discern if a new query is a recurring problem and has been solved before or if it is a completely new unsolved technical query.