Past Issues

Studies in Informatics and Control
Vol. 5, No. 4, 1996

Case-based Support System for Problem Analysis in Business Information Systems Planning

Takenao Ohkawa, Shuji Soga, Norihiko Kugumiya, Norihisa Komoda
Abstract

A structural model which represents the causal relationships of problems using a directed graph is one of the effective techniques for prob­lem analysis in business information systems plan­ning. However, it is very difficult for novice system planners to make a structural model of reasonable quality, since advanced skills, such as acquiring and selecting nodes in a structural model, relating the nodes and so forth, are needed for structural model­ing. In this paper, we propose a support method of structural modeling by providing useful information from case-base for a user. The case-base is con­ structed from cases of structural models by using a technique in which nodes of structural models are divided into four parts. From the case-base, effec­tive information for creating appropriate nodes is re­trieved and provided for a user. We have developed a support system for structural modeling based on the proposed method, named SMAP. As a result of evaluation, the effectiveness of SMAP for structural modeling could be recognized.

Keywords

Problem Analysis, Information Systems, Business Information Systems Planning, Structuring Modeling Assist System for Problem analysis (SMAP)

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