Knowledge‐Elicitation Study in Construction Scheduling Domain

Abstract

Little discussion has occurred in journal circles regarding knowledge‐elicitation experiences during the development of civil engineering expert systems. This paper focuses on that subject by discussing CRITEX, a system written for the Corps of Engineers with the purpose of critiquing construction schedules. Its perspective is that of an owner's reviewing initial and in‐progress schedules. The following knowledge‐elicitation techniques are used: (1) Published material review; (2) structured interview; (3) observation of tasks and behavior with limited information. Comments are made about using these three approaches, as well as four other available approaches. Use of multiple techniques results in richer systems. The key in selecting the correct combination of knowledge‐elicitation methods starts with looking at the problem‐domain characteristics and system‐developer resources. A novel aspect of this investigation is the knowledge engineering experiment that was conducted. The purpose of this test was to learn what is involved in collecting information from experts while observing them in the process of analyzing a schedule.