Self-Tuning Flowcharts: A priority-based approach to optimize Diagnostic Flowcharts

Flowcharts have been used in problem diagnosis for a long time because of their effectiveness during process representation. However, with time, diagnostic flowcharts can become unmanageably complex and incomprehensible, thus leading to longer decision paths. A lengthy decision path also implies a time consuming diagnosis process while at the same time being boring to end users utilizing systems containing diagnostic flowcharts. This study investigates the extent to which diagnostic flowcharts can be made dynamic so as to optimize the decision making process without reducing the number of nodes. In this endeavor, the Dynamic Flowchart Parser Algorithm has been proposed using a priority-based approach to optimize diagnostic flowcharts within a diagnostic tool named Self Tuning Flowcharts.