AEROPLAN-an expert system for planning supply and storage of jet fuel

In the oil industry, there is a growing need for software capable of performing planning tasks for the transportation and storage of oil products. The objective of the AEROPLAN project was to provide a fully operational tool to assist an engineer with over 15 years experience in ordering jet-fuel at Geneva Airport for six oil companies. In order to meet this objective various new methods and techniques were implemented. AEROPLAN is an interactive tool, designed to be totally integrated in an operational environment. There are still situations in which AEROPLAN does not react in exactly the same way that the expert would. This happens mainly when external events influence the expert´s decision. Writing rules to deal with such cases has proved inefficient and time consuming. There will always be a limit to the competence of an expert system, the important aspect of AEROPLAN is that it avoids this drawback by allowing the user to predefine any part of the result. AEROPLAN deals with the most tedious and difficult part of planning, enabling the user to evaluate immediately all of the implications of any number of different scenarios