An expert system scheduler: Some reflections on expert systems development

Abstract In constructing an expert system, the developers (i.e. the knowledge engineers) meet with a multitude of situations which may necessitate modification of development procedures, may affect project milestone schedules or which may influence final system implementation. In this paper, the authors outline their efforts in constructing an expert system scheduler for a major petrochemical company—with a focus on events and situations which can have profound effects on practical expert system development work. As will be noted, the problems encountered are not all that different from those faced in the development and implementation of any tool for (real-world) system automation.