Knowledge maps: An essential technique for conceptualisation

The process of conceptualisation is a fundamental problem-solving activity and, hence: is an essential activity for solving the problem of software sy stems construction. This paper first analyses the process of conceptualisat ion generally, that is, not as applied specifically to software systems, an d establishes a general-purpose conceptualisation process, composed of thre e activities: analysis, synthesis and holistic testing. A proposed instanti ation of this framework for the process of conceptualisation in knowledge-b ased systems (KBS) construction is then presented. The paper focuses on an activity that is frequently overlooked in conceptualisation, that is, holis tic testing, and on a technique that is proposed to address this phase, kno wn as the knowledge map (KM). This technique integrates the static and dyna mic perspectives of the reasoning employed by the expert to solve the probl em. This paper discusses the foundations and an application of this techniq ue. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.