Expert systems in business – a practical approach by M L Barratt and A C Beerel, Ellis Horwood Ltd, Chichester 1988

Expert systems in business—a practical approach by M L Barratt and A C Beerel, Ellis Horwood Ltd, Chichester 1988, pp 259, £29.25. Over the past three years the number of books on expert systems has grown from a handful to a small library. This abundance is, however, mostly descriptive and conceptual; few offer practical help borne of experience or rise above platitudes and vague generalities. Mike Barrett and Annabel Beerel’s book, Expert Systems in Business, is one of these few. The book’s aim is to help those as yet inexperienced in building expert systems to identify applications of this technology and to implement systems of clear business benefit. The authors can call upon several years of experience in building just such systems which, when coupled with their down to earth style and abundance of examples, has allowed them to create a book that is not only useful but also a pleasure to read. The book gives a detailed account of knowledge engineering in practice, covering in detail aspects of identifying practicable and worthwhile applications, planning and managing the projects, using experts, codifying know-how, and proceeding in use of this technology in a business-like, hypeand mysticism-free manner, from inception to economic or organizational gains. The book is divided into six parts which deal with the introduction to the technology, finding profitable applications, the inner workings of these systems, hardware and software tools, how to set about building applications, and a final summary of the key points. It is primarily a practitioner’s book and of greatest potential benefit to the working knowledge engineer, but the book covers material of vital interest to managers and planners. Unfortunately, perhaps because of this broad coverage, information and advice particularly important to managers is interleaved with the more technical detail. This, I fear, will put off some—in many cases those who would benefit most—from reading it. It really should not, however! Not only are even the most technical topics presented in a clear and easy to digest manner, but the authors never lose sight of their aim to present information relevant to practical needs and from a common sense standpoint. Each part is peppered with nuggets of practical wisdom, often expressed in the form of simple heuristics. For example, this is what the authors recommend on choosing software: