PDM: a knowledge-based tool for model construction

A description is given of PDM, a knowledge-based tool designed to help nonexpert users construct linear programming (LP) models of production, distribution, and inventory (PDI) planning problems. PDM interactively aids users in defining a logic model of their planning problem and uses it to generate problem-specific inferences and as input to a model building component that mechanically constructs the algebraic schema of the appropriate LP model. Interesting features of PDM include the application of domain knowledge to guide user interaction, the use of syntactic knowledge of the problem representation language to effect model revision, and the use of a small set of primitive modeling rules in model construction