Pragmatic Kads: a Methodological Approach to a Small Knowledge Based Systems Project

There has been a growing desire for methodological support for the development of knowledge based systems, and the KADS methodology is probably the most widely known methodology in Europe. However, KADS has been criticised for the overhead which it places on small and medium-sized KBS projects where the risks of KBS development becoming unmanageable are relatively low. This paper describes the use of \pragmatic KADS", an attempt to extract the most useful elements from the KADS methodology, in the development of the course selector KBS, which assists undergraduate students to choose courses which comply with University regulations and timetabling restrictions. This KBS was built in 6 man weeks. The paper describes the three major phases of a KBS project, giving a brief outline of the KADS approach to each of these stages, and then discusses the techniques which were actually used for course selector. It concludes with a recommendation of techniques for future small KBS projects.