Applying systems analysis techniques to knowledge engineering

: This paper deals with the issue of knowledge elicitation for expert systems. Specifically, it looks at the requirements of the knowledge elicitation process and the suitability of structured methods from systems analysis to carry out part of the elicitation task. The techniques of data flow analysis, entity-relationship analysis and entity-life cycle analysis are used to structure the data associated with the expert task. The methods proposed lay emphasis on the definition of limited data sets at the boundary of the explicit knowledge base and the identification of status attributes to model the control of activation of ‘processes’ within the knowledge base. Attention is also paid to the relationship between the resulting logical model, and two popular methods of knowledge representation, namely, Production Systems and Frames.