Constructing knowledge-based systems

Vital, a four-and-a-half-year ESPRIT II research and development project that involves nine organizations in five countries is discussed. It addresses the problems of effective process modeling for knowledge-based systems, providing guidelines on when to use various knowledge-engineering methods and techniques, and reducing the bottleneck in acquiring expert knowledge by providing both methodological and software support for developing large, industrial, knowledge-based system applications. The project goals, approach, and workbench are outlined, and a case study is described.<>