Development of an Expert System for implementation of ISO 9000 quality systems

A comprehensively and properly implemented quality system is the best means for a company to ensure that its products and services will consistently m eet customers requirements. The ISO 9000 series of quality standards is the most widely accepted for such a quality system. ISO 9000 has been adopted as a national standard by most industrial nations of the world The main pur pose of this paper is to describe a Gauging Absence of Prerequisites (GAP) analysis Expert System for ISO 9000 implementation by using an Expert Syste m Shell called CRYSTAL 4. This Expert System consists of four sections. The introduction section is meant for new users who desire to implement ISO 90 00 in their organization. The recommendation section advises the type of IS O 9000 to register with, in addition to selecting a registrar and registrat ion. The GAP analysis section, which is the core of this Expert System, ide ntifies the GAP between the prerequisites and what actually, exists in the present environment so that successful implementation can be achieved. The system also provides the user solutions with a wide variety of common quali ty problems through a trouble-shooting section. The Expert System has been validated using two different scenarios.