Toward an art and science of knowledge engineering: a case for belief networks

The knowledge engineering of belief networks is discussed. Several design issues that arose during the construction of two belief network-based systems, Pathfinder and ARCO1, are described. The issues of accuracy, consistency, and calibration as they emerged during the design of these systems are addressed, and the ways in which compatibility of all networks designed for the same domain suggests an architecture for combining the recommendations of independently designed knowledge bases into a single, consensus recommendation are discussed