Expert system
An expert system is a knowledge-based information system; that is, it uses its
knowledge ab0out a specific area to act as an expert consultant to users. The
components of an expert system are a knowledge base and software modules that
perform inferences on the knowledge and offer answers to a user’s questions.
Expert systems provide answers to questions in a very specific problem area by
making human like inferences about knowledge contained in a specialized
knowledge base. Expert systems can provide decision support to end users in the
form of advice from an expert consultant in a specific problem area. Expert
systems are being used in many different fields, including medicine, engineering,
the physical sciences, and business. For example, expert systems now help
diagnose illnesses, search for minerals, analyze compounds, recommend repairs,
and do financial planning. Expert systems can support either operations or
management activities.
As an expert is a person who can solve a problem with the domain knowledge in
hands it should be able to solve problems at the level of a human expert. The
source of knowledge may come from a human expert and/or from books,
magazines and internet. As knowledge play a key role in the functioning of expert
systems they are also known as knowledge-based systems and knowledge-based
expert systems. The expert‘s knowledge about solving the given specific problems
is called knowledge domain of the expert.
The most common form of expert system is a computer program, with a set of
rules, that analyzes information (usually supplied by the user of the system) about
a specific class of problems, and recommends one or more courses of user action.
The expert system may also provide mathematical analysis of the problem(s). The
expert system utilizes what appears to be reasoning capabilities to reach
conclusions.
MAJOR COMPONENTS OF EXPERT SYSTEMS
The User Interface
The user interface is the means of communication between a user and the expert
systems problem-solving processes. A good expert system is not very useful unless
it has an effective interface. It has to be able to accept the queries or instructions in
a form that the user enters and translate them into working instructions for the rest
of the system. It also has to be able to translate the answers, produced by the
system, into a form that the user can understand. Careful attention should be given
to the screen design in order to make the expert system appear ‘friendly’ to the
user.
The Knowledge Base
The knowledge base stores all the facts and rules about a particular problem
domain. It makes these available to the inference engine in a form that it can use.
The facts may be in the form of background information built into the system or
facts that are input by the user during a consultation. The rules include both the
production rules that apply to the domain of the expert system and the heuristics or
rules-of-thumb that are provided by the domain expert in order to make the system
find solutions more efficiently by taking short cuts.
The Shell or Inference Engine
The inference engine is the program that locates the appropriate knowledge in the
knowledge base, and infers new knowledge by applying logical processing and
problem-solving strategies.
Characteristics of Expert Systems
1. High performance: They should perform at the level of a human expert.
2. Adequate response time: They should have the ability to respond in a
reasonable amount of time. Time is crucial especially for real time systems.
3. Reliability: They must be reliable and should not crash.
4. Explanation: They are capable of explaining in detail the reasoning that led
to a conclusion.
5. Multiple expertise: It can be designed to have knowledge of many experts.
6. Understandable: They should not be a black box instead it should be able
explain the steps of the reasoning process. It should justify its conclusions in
the same way a human expert explains why he arrived at particular
conclusion.
Application of expert systems
Expert systems are designed and created to facilitate tasks in the fields of
accounting, medicine, process control, financial service, production, human
resources etc. Indeed, the foundation of a successful expert system depends
on a series of technical procedures and development that may be designed
by certain technicians and related experts
Use of an expert system
Expert system Decision to be made
HR interrogates the expert system. It
provides a set of personality profiles
based on each persons' response. HR
Expert system: Personality profiler. make a short list of which people are
HR (Human Resources) want to assign likely to be good at the job. HR
only one of a large group of people to interview those people for a final
a new role. Each person answers a decision. The expert system is assisting
number of psychological questions that them in cutting down the work load but
the expert system presents them with. does not make the ultimate decision.
Use of an expert system
Expert system Decision to be made
Expert system: Sales mix modeler The sales planner has the task of picking
A car company has a large number of three car combinations out of the
options on a new model they are about thousands of possible configurations to
launch. The car has a dozen paint make stock cars ready for sale. These
colour options, three engine sizes, 24 are the three cars that will be pre-built in
optional accessories. The expert their thousands by the factory, so he
system has a complete record of what better get it right. He uses the sales mix
sold well in the past with previous expert system to put together a number
models and some trends for the future. of scenarios. Each scenario is then
discussed with senior management to
make a final decision.
Expert system: Medical diagnostics The doctor meets a patient in the clinic
This contains a body of knowledge who has an unusual set of symptoms. He
about thousands of diseases. It is used loads those symptoms into the expert
by the doctors at a hypothetical clinic system. It returns a number of possible
to help diagnose patient illnesses based illnesses. The doctor then phones a
on their symptoms. specialist consultant to also ask their
opinion before making a decision. The
expert system is assisting but not
providing the final answer.
Expert system: A loan approval system The credit approval manager meets the
The expert system has a body of client and poses a number of questions
knowledge about the results of past about their financial status along with a
loans made by the credit company. It history of their past loans. This
has knowledge about all the factors information is loaded into the expert
that point to a low risk or high risk system. The system comes back with a
loan. risk factor for the loan. The manager
will use this as part of his decision to
approve the loan (or not)
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages:
Provides consistent answers for repetitive decisions, processes and tasks
Holds and maintains significant levels of information
Encourages organizations to clarify the logic of their decision-making
Never "forgets" to ask a question, as a human might
Disadvantages:
Lacks common sense needed in some decision making
Cannot make creative responses as human expert would in unusual circumstances
Domain experts not always able to explain their logic and reasoning
Errors may occur in the knowledge base, and lead to wrong decisions
Cannot adapt to changing environments, unless knowledge base is changed