A Distributed Case-Based Reasoning Application for Engineering Sales Support

Ian D. Watson, Dan Gardingen

Abstract: This paper describes the implementation of a distributed case-based reasoning application that supports engineering sales staff. The application operates on the world wide web and uses the XML standard as a communications protocol between client and server side Java applets. The paper describes the distributed architecture of the application, the two case retrieval techniques used, its implementation, trial, roll-out and subsequent improvements to its architecture and retrieval techniques using introspective reasoning to improve retrieval efficiency. The benefits it has provided to the company are detailed.