The Organizational Preparation of Existing Relational Databases for the Integration of Expert Systems

This thesis is a management guide for strategically planning a future integration of relational databases and expert systems. It relates best to an organization with large established relational databases, that is trying to access the changes required to integrate expert systems with those databases. Technical considerations for such a change are discussed, and include the role of database normalization and the requirement to maintain applications that are independent of the database structure. The organizational considerations of such an integration are examined, and focus on the people skills required within an organization to develop and maintain database and expert system combinations. Three product categories are established to represent an integrated system, and a commercial off the shelf product from each category is reviewed to illustrate its specific capabilities. The combination of relational databases and expert systems has the potential to deliver information systems of future strategic importance. This thesis serves to assist the information systems management of military organizations in planning the transition to such a system.