computer software involving stored reasoning schemes and containing decision making processes of human experts in an area. This is the area of ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) that has received great attention from business decision makers. Recent advances have been made in this area of software systems that are designed to mimic the way human experts make decisions, providing computerized consultants. In effect, the expert system evaluates and solves problems requiring human imagination and intelligence that involve known and unknown information. The components of the systems include a knowledge base, inference engine, user interface, and knowledge acquisition facility.