System Analysis and Design

Main phases of System Analysis and Design Phase are as follows:

• Detailed Design.
• Development Strategy.
• Sources of Knowledge.
• Selection of Computer Resources.
• Feasibility Study.
• Cost-Benefit Analysis Sheet.

Detailed Design

Detailed design is like an architectural map of a building. It is composed of following activities:

• Required resources are defined and allocated.
• Main interfaces are finalized with the customer.
• Main functionalities are verified with the customer.
• Potential risks are identified and calculated. A plan is made to handle the all-potential risks.

Development Strategy

Knowledge Engineer selects the development strategy that is most feasible according to the circumstances. The main strategies are as follows:

• In house Development.
• Outsourcing.
• Contract with a software house.
• Joint Venture with a software house.
• Merge of the external software house into in house IT department.

Sources of Knowledge

Knowledge Engineer gathered or acquired the detailed knowledge or requirements from the following main sources:

• Human Expert.
• Expert’s Reports.
• Textbooks.
• Standard and official databases.
• Journals such as IEEE and ACM.
• Manuals.
• Research Reports.
• Pictures.

Knowledge acquisition process is another name of requirements determination process. Knowledge acquisition method is divided into two main categories:

1. Traditional.
2. Modern.

These are the main traditional methods to acquire knowledge:

• Interviews.
• Protocol Analysis.
• Observation.
• Expert Driven Method.
• Questionnaire.
• Study Documents (Reports of Expert).
• Prototype.

Knowledge Engineer visits personally to Expert and asked him to perform his actions by verbally speaking during the Protocol Analysis method. Knowledge Engineer has already mentioned to Expert that he needs to explain the each and every action performed during Protocol analysis session. Expert also explains the reason or logic of his actions. Knowledge Engineer normally records the interview to extract the requirements from it. Expert himself is a Knowledge Engineer using the Expert Driven Method.

Modern methods of knowledge acquisition are as follows:

• Repertory Grid Analysis (RGA).
• Automated Rule Induction.
• Auto Intelligence.

Repertory Grid Analysis (RGA) is a method to assign a scale value to possible sources of problem. Problem is written in a Grid and expert is asked to assign a scale value to possible causes or sources of the problem.

Expert is normally asked to scale a value from 1 to 5. 1 is assigned for high % or occurrence of cause and 5 is assigned for low % or occurrence of cause.

Automated Rule Induction method used a Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tool to automatically generate facts and rules. Knowledge Engineer gathered knowledge from the expert by using traditional methods of knowledge acquisition. He entered knowledge into a CASE tool to automatically generate code about the problem domain. Automated Rule Induction method reduced the role of Knowledge Engineer. Automated Rule Induction Method saves time, cost and resources. Names of popular CASE tools are as follows that automatically generate the code:

• Rule Master.
• VP Expert.
• Level 5.
• 1st Class.

Auto Intelligence Method used CASE tools that not only gather the knowledge from an Expert but also generate the code in the form of facts and rules. Auto Intelligence method totally removes the role of Knowledge Engineer. It also makes a considerable difference in the cost, time and resources required in completing the Expert System (ES) like the Automated Rule Induction method.

Selection of Computer Resources

Knowledge Engineer arranges a session with the customer to decide the hardware and software needed to develop an Expert System (ES) so that technical feasibility can be made.

Related posts:

1. Methodologies to Develop Expert Systems (Part Three) Rapid Prototyping Rapid Prototyping is divided into these main sub...
2. Methodologies to Develop Expert Systems (Part One) These are the two main methodologies used to develop expert...
3. Components of an Expert System These are the main components of an expert system: Knowledge...
4. Main Purposes of Developing Expert Systems and Main Concepts of an Expert System (Part One) Main Purposes of Developing Expert Systems The main purposes of...
5. Main Concepts of an Expert System (Part Three) Expertise Knowledge gained after reading training and experience about a...