Abstract
Abstract As more companies turn to expert systems to support traditional help desk activities, the need to understand the particular issues inherent in the development of such systems becomes increasingly important. This article describes the design and development of Expertech, a prototype expert system intended to assist a help desk operator in the resolution of common problems encountered by the users of a telecommunications network. Expertech, a rule-based system, is a partial implementation of a model of human expertise in network diagnosis. We argue that developers of intelligent help desk support systems (IHDSS) must consider several challenges not typically encountered in other environments. An IHDSS, for example, must consider the heterogeneous nature of the end users, and tailor its interface to encompass the varying technical knowledge of those users. Furthermore, an IHDSS must deal with the three-party nature of computer-based support, where the system does not interact directly with the end user. Instead, communication between the IHDSS and the end user takes place indirectly, through a human intermediary, the help desk operator. In the context of these considerations, we describe the approach we took in developing Expertech.
Published Version
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