COMPLEX DOCUMENT SEARCH FOR DECISION-MAKING

Professionals are often faced with ill-structured and complex decision situations, and they must make choices on the basis of limited inform ation and problem clarity. These decisions are especially difficult wh en extensive document search is required. Thus, decision makers often satisfice rather than select an optimal alternative. The research repo rted here applies a cascading index, logical views, hypertext, notatio n capability, and case-based reasoning to a conceptual design and the prototyping of an electronic retrieval document system (ERDS) that may serve as a valuable tool for decision makers faced with an ill-struct ured problem and the task of extensive searching. The ERDS prototype w as applied to the problem domain of public accounting professional con duct. It was developed using a portion of the AICPA Professional Stand ards, which served as the electronic document text. The text was linke d by hypertext to real and prototypical cases. A panel of industry exp erts validated the prototype. The results of analysis and evaluation p roduced ideas for the extension and wider application of the system. ( C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.