How to Design a Knowledge Base for an Expert System
A knowledge base is a searchable repository that contains content, documentation and scripts offered by a system as a way to help users understand, make intelligent decisions and teach themselves how to use a particular system. These repositories are ideal for business professionals and self-learning enthusiasts who want to have a broad understanding of a particular system to help them in problem resolution and have a general understanding of the system.
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Instructions
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Make a list of who the users or consumers are likely to be. This will influence the presentation, availability and the content nature.
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Group or stream the content based either on the type or subject matter of the documents. The grouping should be easily understood by consumers.
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Create documents that are short and that address specific issues as opposed to those that address a range of issues. Since consumers want to make quick decisions, the broader the topics are, the harder it gets to make these "quick" decisions.
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Select one format for the documents and stick with it for the entire knowledge base. Recommendations include HTML or PDF files.
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Give alpha-numeric references to each document title to make it easier to direct consumers to another part of the knowledge base to get more information on a particular topic.
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Establish a Quality System. This can be an editor who ensures that all the catalogued documents are accurate, all new documents added are unique and do not address a similar subject matter covered and that consumer feedback is responded to when necessary. The editor should also have a system set up that offers suggestions for other content consumers might like to look at.
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Tips & Warnings
Alpha-numeric numbers have the advantage of being free from reorganization over using links. As the content repository grows, some documents may be moved, making links to them invalid. Numbering allows consumers to simply research the documents and find it wherever it is located.
SerioWeb is an example of a system that seamlessly fits into a website and allows consumers to search knowledge base catalogs, log issues and likewise allows the Help Desk to manage customer requests.
To suggest new documents for content consumers, look at the keywords content users are using to search for content. This will help you target your consumers by giving them what they are looking for and what areas are giving them problems to help you improve the quality of your content.
