What is Expert System? What are its components? Mention its application areas?

An expert system is a computer program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to simulate the

judgment and behavior of a human or an organization that has expert knowledge and experience in a
particular field.
Typically, an expert system incorporates a knowledge base containing accumulated experience and an
inference or rules engine a set of rules for applying the knowledge base to each particular situation that
is described to the program. The system's capabilities can be enhanced with additions to the knowledge
base or to the set of rules. Current systems may include machine learning capabilities that allow them to
improve their performance based on experience, just as humans do.

So the components of Expert System are as follows :-

1. Knowledge Acquisition System

Knowledge Acquisition program is used by an individual, who has expertise in the problem to,
creates, add to or change the knowledge base. Potential sources of knowledge include human
expert, research reports, textbooks, databases and the user’s own experience.
Experts make decisions based on qualitative & quantitative information. The system engineer
has to translate the standard procedures into the form suitable for the expert system. Acquiring
the knowledge from experts is a complex task that often is a bottleneck in expert system
construction.
2. Knowledge Base
This is the most important element of an expert system since it holds the expert’s problem
solving knowledge. It is where the knowledge elicited from the expert is stored. It contains rules,
facts and descriptions of objects etc. With newer expert system products, the knowledge base is
always stored in data. The information in knowledge base is everything that is necessary for
understanding & formulating the problem & then solving it. The key to knowledge base is how
the knowledge is represented. The knowledge acquired from the expert has to be represented
formally. Such knowledge representation deals with the structuring of the information,
manipulation of information, and knowledge acquisition. The power of a system tends to be r
elated from all sides of the knowledge in the knowledge base.

3. Interference Engine
The interference engine is that part of the program which regains & determines how to apply
the knowledge in the knowledge base to the facts & premises presented at the user interface. It
performs this task in order to deduce new facts which are subsequently used to draw further
conclusions. The interference engine is the active component of an expert system. It is the Brain
of the expert system. Interference engine is also known as the control structure or the rule
interpreter. This component is essentially a computer program that processes the knowledge
base to achieve the goal stipulated by the user, who is communicating with the system via the
user interface. It provides a methodology for reasoning about information in the knowledge
base & for formulating conclusions.

4. User Interference
Expert system contains a language processor for friendly problem oriented-communications
between the manager-user & the computer. This communication is best carried out in a natural
language and in some cases; it is supplemented by the graphics. The human computer interface
or user interface technology allows users to interact with the system. The user presents the
problem and has the conclusions presented to him. A significant feature of some expert systems
is that they can justify the conclusions reached as well as explain why certain options were used
or discarded.

So its application areas are as follows:-

Classification – It identifies an object based on stated characteristics

Diagnosis Systems – It helps to infer malfunction or disease from observable data

Monitoring – So it compares data from a continually observed system to prescribe behaviour

Process Control – It controls a physical process based on monitoring

Design – It helps to configure a system according to specifications

 Scheduling & Planning –It helps to develop or modify a plan of action

Generation of Options – It generates alternative solutions to a problem

2. What are Transaction processing System (TPS) and Executive Information System? Explain
in detail.

A transaction process system (TPS) is an information processing system for business transactions
involving the collection, modification and retrieval of all transaction data. Characteristics of a TPS include
performance, reliability and consistency. TPS is also known as transaction processing or real-time
processing. A transaction process system and transaction processing are often contrasted with a batch
process system and batch processing, where many requests are all executed at one time. The former
requires the interaction of a user, whereas batch processing does not require user involvement. In batch
processing the results of each transaction are not immediately available. Additionally, there is a delay
while the many requests are being organized, stored and eventually executed. In transaction processing
there is no delay and the results of each transaction are immediately available. During the delay time for
batch processing, errors can occur. Although errors can occur in transaction processing, they are
infrequent and tolerated, but do not warrant shutting down the entire system.

To achieve performance, reliability and consistency, data must be readily accessible in a data
warehouse, backup procedures must be in place and the recovery process must be in place to deal with
system failure, human failure, computer viruses, software applications or natural disasters.

An executive information system (EIS) is a decision support system (DSS) used to assist senior executives
in the decision-making process. It does this by providing easy access to important data needed to
achieve strategic goals in an organization. An EIS normally features graphical displays on an easy-to-use
interface. Executive information systems can be used in many different types of organizations to
monitor enterprise performance as well as to identify opportunities and problems. Early executive
information systems were developed as computer-based programs on mainframe computers to provide
a company’s description, sales performance and/or market research data for senior executives.
However, senior executives were not all computer literate or confident. Moreover, EIS data was only
supporting executive-level decisions but not necessarily supporting the entire company or enterprise.

Current EIS data is available company- or enterprise-wide, facilitated by personal computers and
workstations on local area networks (LANs). Employees can access company data to help decision-
making in their individual workplaces, departments, divisions, etc. This allows employees to provide
pertinent information and ideas both above and below their company level. The typical EIS has four
components: hardware, software, user interface and telecommunication.

Rochak Neupane Khatri

BBA 6th sem