Knowledge engineering for an intelligent case-based system for help desk operations

Help desks are computer-aided environments in customer support centers that provide frontline support to external and internal customers. The paper re ports on an automated help desk system developed at an information technolo gy company. With the proliferation of diverse software and hardware, the ce nter provides support to a large variety of client systems. The number of c alls increases while the turnover rate of employees is high, which means th e cost of training escalates. The objective of this project is to develop a n automated case-based help desk system to support both call center personn el and customers. The system would contribute to shortening the response ti me on incoming calls and reduce training time for new employees. The focus of the paper is on the knowledge engineering process of the system. We disc uss in detail the knowledge acquisition, knowledge representation, system i mplementation and verification processes, and we emphasize the structured a nd automated development methods adopted. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.