International Cognitive Computing

Industrial Design Corporation.

Return on Investment (ROI)
     Whatever view of an expert system is used, the return on investment from this technology begins immediately. As knowledge engineering is applied to describing how the business is conducted, a better understanding of the business is obtained. Knowledge engineering seeks to identify, re-engineer, codify and teach business knowledge to an expert system. The processes of, engineering knowledge is very similar to that of Data Engineering; in that each contains a methodology together with techniques and tools that normalize elements into either a relational knowledge base or relational database.

ROSE   Knowledge  Navigator  Screen.

 Analytical thinking requires the ability to compose business issues into logical and functional models that correctly reflect business processing, coupled with the skill to communicate the results to all levels of an organization.

ROSE segway. 

Industrial Design Corporation,

Tempe, Arizona,

a division of CH2M Hill Engineering Corporation, Portland, Oregon

made the decision to invest in an expert system to help manage the need for human engineers against the dynamics of customer expectations and orders. IDC saw this as an approach to maintain the highest level of senior engineering. As winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, they embraced the founder's core values of integrity and ingenuity. They sincerely believe that good people, inspired and empowered with the proper environment and tools, would make every effort to exceed their client's requirements.

      These reasons together with an ERP (Enterprise Resource Plan) initiative to integrate all engineering disciplines and sciences, IDC selected a multi-expert system generator. Within ninety days they had installed an AI based computer system that enabled IDC senior engineers to transfer much of their knowledge for arriving at solutions for particular customer specifications, to the computer system.

Rose Navigator
     The Rose web site Navigator page illustrates the resulting knowledge groupings from the knowledge normalization process.
      The IDC expert system, named Rose after the multi-expert system generator module called Rosetta-Stone, is a web based access portal to the knowledge domains of IDC's senior engineers. This system offered IDC the ability to:

1. Save the accumulative learned knowledge of all its managers and engineers, and through attrition increases the effect work force capability without increasing the staff.

2. The management team has access to real world, real-time processes and procedural management controls.This includes controls for the following business disciplines: ERP; charters, processes, procedures and job descriptions reengineering; project management and IT application and systems.

3. The company's business operation and engineering knowledge is saved, protected and available to all authorized employees.

4. Junior managers and engineers ask business operations and engineering questions, as though they were speaking with a senior manager or engineer, to make senior level decisions.

5. Senior managers and engineers can teach Rose the knowledge they use to make new business and engineering decisions.

6. The technology employed designs, constructs, programs and deploys a working knowledgebased Information Management system for: Business Continuity, Business Impact Analysis and Disaster Management.

7. The technology assists with the following issues: a. Due to the cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry, IDC must hire and layoff engineers, forcing IDC to continually search for new talent.
b. The uniqueness of the skills required is compounded by the varying engineering disciplines and sciences involved in a single customer order.
c. IDC management has a strong ERP strategic direction that includes the automation and retrieval of the rules by which their business is conducted.