Mapping the expert systems development process to the Department of Defense life-cycle model

The author reports on the results of a study performed by a team from RAND Corp. and the 7th Communications Group (USAF) for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Production and Logistics. The study guides managers and technicians seeking expert systems (ES) solutions. It is noted that, as ES developments are software engineering efforts, the lessons learned building software over the past decades still apply. DoD software engineering and life-cycle policies can be applied to ES developments. The practical methodology elaborated in the study maps the rapid prototyping paradigm to DoD standards using the spiral model and risk containment strategies as described by B.W. Boehm. Furthermore, software life-cycle management and documentation standards reflect a hardware bias which also affects conventional software developments. Other peculiarities of ES developments are not totally unique to expert systems, either. Modern conventional software developments arc experiencing many of the same problems. Hence, it is concluded that the standards and acquisition practices of yesterday need to evolve to accommodate the nature of software development in the 1990s and beyond