INTERFACER - A USER-INTERFACE TOOL FOR INTERACTIVE EXPERT-SYSTEMS

From the user interface point of view, expert-systems are different fr om conventional applications in some features. First, the user query s equence highly depends upon input data up to that time. Second, any ch ange in query sequence requires highly complicated data modification r outines. Thus, user interface implementation is a bottleneck in the sa me manner as knowledge acquisition is the bottleneck for expert-system s. To resolve this problem, this paper proposes the user interface too l ''INTERFACER'' for interactive expert-systems. INTERFACER automatica lly generates a user interface screen according to the data input quer y requirement from the inference engine, and requires no user data mod ification routines in expert-system development. We applied the propos ed INTERFACER to a practical middle-scale business system: The General Employee Affairs Expert-system. Program amount was decreased 50% comp ared to the conventional procedural implementation.