A Brief Overview of HyM: A Methodology for the Development of Hybrid Intelligent Information Systems

We now face many requirements for development of large-scale intelligent software systems. Hybrid intelligent information systems (HIIS) present a special case in the context of integrated systems in that both traditional information system and knowledge based system development methods are required. This paper describes the Hybrid Methodology (HyM) for the development of such systems in which a hierarchical architecture consisting of three levels is proposed. The methodology provides a hybrid life-cycle process model combining traditional and model-based approaches so as to overcome the disadvantages of each. It integrates four existing methods and manages volatile user knowledge without interference with stable data and knowledge essential for core system functions. HyM has been applied to development of a system for the diagnosis of vertigo diseases. Evaluation results are encouraging.