Knowledge validation: principles and practice

The KVAT knowledge validation tool, which tests core knowledge bases (CKBs) using cases, is discussed. KVAT relieves experts and knowledge engineers from manually validating the CKBs in a prototype knowledge-base system (KBS). KVAT addresses some of the most central problems met when KBSs are validated: what to validate, what to validate with, what to validate against, when to validate, and how to validate. A help desk prototype developed using KVAT is described to illustrate how the tool works. The authors have found KVAT's strengths to be a high level of abstraction, user friendliness, and generality.<
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