Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
Database and Expert Systems Integration
System reengineering is broadly defined as the use of engineering knowledge or
artifacts from existing systems to build new ones and is a technology for improv-
ing system quality and productivity. Traditionally this work has focused on reusing
existing software systems (i.e., software programs, files, and databases). However,
knowledge-based systems have also been developed within these organizations and
are growing in popularity. It will soon be necessary for us not only to reuse existing
databases, but also to reuse the existing expert systems to create new expert systems
and expert database systems.
Reusing or developing an integrated system for existing expert systems and data-
base systems is a complex process. There are three possible scenarios that a system
developer may encounter:
1. Reusing expert systems—The system developer reuses an existing expert system
and builds new databases to create an integrated expert database system. This
happens when:
− Theexistingexpertsystemhasdifficultyhandlingagrowingvolumeoffac-
tual data.
− Anewdatabaseisrequiredintheorganizationandthisdatabasecansupport
the existing expert systems.
− Anewdatabasesystemisrequiredtoworkunderneathanexistingintelligent
interface, such as a natural language interface.
2. Reusing databases—The system developer reuses existing databases and builds
a new expert system to create an expert database system. This happens when:
− Thereisarequirementtobuildintelligentcomponentsintoexistingdatabase
(for example, integrity constraints, natural language interfaces or intelligent
interfaces, deductive rules, intelligent retrieval, or query optimization).
− Anewexpertsystemisrequiredandtheexistingdatabasescansupportthis
system.
3. Reusing both database and expert systems—The system developer reuses both
existing database and expert systems to create an expert database system. For
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