A knowledge-based consulting system for process modeling in systems analysis

When developing information systems, data modeling and process modeling are two the major tasks involved. These two tasks are quite knowledge- and experience-intensive, thus requiring the expertise of skilled professionals. In data modeling, there have been some efforts in building knowledge-based systems in the literature. Yet, little attention has been paid to process modeling in the academic literature as well as in industry. In this paper, a heuristic model is developed for process modeling as conceptual specifications. This model is composed of various tasks in process modeling. Each conceptualization of a task provides a building block for implementing a system for process modeling. The model consists of three major tasks: goal analysis, process analysis, and goal and process interaction analysis. This heuristic model is characterized in terms of generic tasks and their structures. These three major tasks are further decomposed into smaller generic tasks. Protocol analysis of human experts was extensively used for identifying and conceptualizing the generic tasks in process modeling. Once the model was conceptualized, a computer system, process consulting system (PCS), was implemented using Lisp. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.