Decision Engineering – serie

For manufacturers of complex engineering equipment, the focus on service and achieving outcomes for customers is the key to growth. Yet, the capability to provide service for complex engineered products is less understood.Taking a trans-disciplinary approach, Complex Engineering Service Systems covers various aspects of service in complex engineering systems, with perspectives from engineering, management, design, operations research, strategy, marketing and operations management that are relevant to different disciplines, organisation functions, and geographic locations. The focus is on the many facets of complex engineering service systems around a core integrative framework of three value transformations – that of material/equipment, information and people.Complex Engineering Service Systems is the outcome of the EPSRC/BAE Systems S4T (Service Support Solutions: Strategy and Transition) research programme of 10 universities and 27 researchers, which examined how high-value manufacturers of complex engineering products adapt to a multi-partnered environment to design and deliver value in a service system.  Complex Engineering Service Systems aims to be the main source of knowledge for academics and professionals in the research and practice of contracting, managing, designing, leading, and delivering complex engineering service systems. The book takes a value-based approach to integrating equipment and human factors into a total service provision. In doing so, it aims to advance the field of service systems and engineering.

Effective decision making requires a clear methodology, particularly in complex, globally relevant situations. Institutions and companies in all disciplines and sectors are faced with increasingly multi-faceted areas of uncertainty which cannot always be effectively handled by traditional strategies. Complex Strategic Choices provides clear principles and methods which can guide and support strategic decision to face modern challenges. By considering ways in which planning practices can be renewed and exploring the possibilities for acquiring awareness and tools to add value to strategic decision making, Complex Strategic Choices presents a methodology which is further illustrated by a number of case studies and example applications. Dr. Techn. Steen Leleur has adapted previously established research based on feedback and input from various conferences, journals and students resulting in new material stemming from and focusing on practical application of systemic planning. The outcome is a coherent and flexible approach named systemic planning. The inclusion of both the theoretical and practical aspects of systemic planning makes this book a key resource for researchers and students in the field of planning and decision analysis as well as practitioners dealing with strategic analysis and decision making. More broadly, Complex Strategic Choices acts as guide for professionals and students involved in complex planning tasks across several fields such as business and engineering.

As I write, the financial systems of the world are collapsing with still no clear indication of what the consequences will be and which measures should be taken to avoid such a crisis in the future. There seems to be agreement though, that the financial instruments introduced in the past few decades entailed far too much complexity and uncertainty and that there was too little regulatory control over the use of these instruments. Management of uncertainty with the aim of achieving self-control is the core concern of this book. It was not written with a focus on financial systems, but many concepts developed in this book are applicable to this field as well. The - neric principles of reducing, maintaining or increasing uncertainties in view of the different contingencies an organization is faced with, the fundamental issue of how much control is possible and who should be in control, and the question of how much and what kind of regulation is necessary with the overall aim of finding an appropriate balance between system stability and flexibility are at the centre of heated debates on the future of finance.

Evolutionary algorithms are becoming increasingly attractive across various disciplines, such as operations research, computer science, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, social science and economics. Introduction to Evolutionary Algorithms presents an insightful, comprehensive, and up-to-date treatment of evolutionary algorithms. It covers such hot topics as:• genetic algorithms,• differential evolution,• swarm intelligence, and• artificial immune systems.The reader is introduced to a range of applications, as Introduction to Evolutionary Algorithms demonstrates how to model real world problems, how to encode and decode individuals, and how to design effective search operators according to the chromosome structures with examples of constraint optimization, multiobjective optimization, combinatorial optimization, and supervised/unsupervised learning. This emphasis on practical applications will benefit all students, whether they choose to continue their academic career or to enter a particular industry.Introduction to Evolutionary Algorithms is intended as a textbook or self-study material for both advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Additional features such as recommended further reading and ideas for research projects combine to form an accessible and interesting pedagogical approach to this widely used discipline.

For manufacturers of complex engineering equipment, the focus on service and achieving outcomes for customers is the key to growth. Yet, the capability to provide service for complex engineered products is less understood.Taking a trans-disciplinary approach, Complex Engineering Service Systems covers various aspects of service in complex engineering systems, with perspectives from engineering, management, design, operations research, strategy, marketing and operations management that are relevant to different disciplines, organisation functions, and geographic locations. The focus is on the many facets of complex engineering service systems around a core integrative framework of three value transformations – that of material/equipment, information and people.Complex Engineering Service Systems is the outcome of the EPSRC/BAE Systems S4T (Service Support Solutions: Strategy and Transition) research programme of 10 universities and 27 researchers, which examined how high-value manufacturers of complex engineering products adapt to a multi-partnered environment to design and deliver value in a service system.  Complex Engineering Service Systems aims to be the main source of knowledge for academics and professionals in the research and practice of contracting, managing, designing, leading, and delivering complex engineering service systems. The book takes a value-based approach to integrating equipment and human factors into a total service provision. In doing so, it aims to advance the field of service systems and engineering.

Problems with high stakes, involving human perceptions and judgements, and whose resolutions have long-term repercussions, call for a rational approach to their solution. Strategic Decision Making provides an effective, formal methodology that gives assistance to such strategic level decision making problems. Focusing on applying the AHP to decision-making problems in engineering, Strategic Decision Making explores the three main endeavours of human existence: business, defence and governance. Many years of successfully applying Strategic Decision Making in these domains have created extensive results covering many complex planning, resource, allocation and priority setting problems throughout industry and business. Case studies drawn from years of successful, practical application experience. Discusses applications of decision making for real life problems. Worked examples and solutions to problems throughout. The reader will gain comprehensive exposure to the extent of assistance that a formal methodology, such as AHP, can provide to the decision maker in evolving decisions in complex and varied domains. Decision makers, in business and industry around the world, will find this valuable for practical use as a working tool.

This book presents the results of extensive research in computer-supported decision processes in engineering,carried out over many years by the author and his coll- orators. The author has cooperated with designers in Poland and in Germany. Very often there was university–industry cooperation for the building of speci?c so- ware for certain engineering tasks. The majority of the concepts,for example “the designer’s personal assistant”and the decomposition and coordination of multicriteria decision problems, evolved through cooperation with designers in this ?eld. The author,while working together with them,understood that this group of people is characterised by a strong in- vidualism and that the range of applied approaches and methods is wide. The most signi?cant in?uences on the author’s opinions through contact with the designers were the lectures he delivered for more than 12 years for post-graduate studies on computer-aided design in machinery. The lectures included seminars which required the creation of concepts for an individual computer support system for decision processes,generally well known to the designers who participated in the lectures. In the theoretical part the characteristics of the actual computer-aided design and engineering (CAD and CAE) tools were depicted,whereas in the practical part the students created concepts of computer environments for the realisation of design projects in their own professional work. The task was con?ned to the expr- sion of the design process.

Effective supply chain integration, and the tight co-ordination it creates, is an essential pre-requisite for successful supply chain management.  Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration is a practical reference on recent research in the area of supply chain integration focusing on distributed decision-making problems. Recent applications of various decision-making tools for integrating supply chains are covered including chapters focusing on:Supplier selection, pricing strategy and inventory decisions in multi-level supply chains,RFID-enabled distributed decision-making,Operational risk issues and time-critical decision-making for sensitive logistics nodes, Modelling end to end processes to improve supply chain integration, andIntegrated systems to improve service delivery and optimize resource use.Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration provides an insight into the tools and methodologies of this field with support from real-life case studies demonstrating successful application of various decision-making techniques. By covering such a range of topics in this way, Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration is a useful reference for researchers looking to develop their knowledge or find potential new avenues of research.

Effective supply chain integration, and the tight co-ordination it creates, is an essential pre-requisite for successful supply chain management.  Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration is a practical reference on recent research in the area of supply chain integration focusing on distributed decision-making problems. Recent applications of various decision-making tools for integrating supply chains are covered including chapters focusing on:Supplier selection, pricing strategy and inventory decisions in multi-level supply chains,RFID-enabled distributed decision-making,Operational risk issues and time-critical decision-making for sensitive logistics nodes, Modelling end to end processes to improve supply chain integration, andIntegrated systems to improve service delivery and optimize resource use.Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration provides an insight into the tools and methodologies of this field with support from real-life case studies demonstrating successful application of various decision-making techniques. By covering such a range of topics in this way, Decision-Making for Supply Chain Integration is a useful reference for researchers looking to develop their knowledge or find potential new avenues of research.

Effective decision making requires a clear methodology, particularly in complex, globally relevant situations. Institutions and companies in all disciplines and sectors are faced with increasingly multi-faceted areas of uncertainty which cannot always be effectively handled by traditional strategies. Complex Strategic Choices provides clear principles and methods which can guide and support strategic decision to face modern challenges. By considering ways in which planning practices can be renewed and exploring the possibilities for acquiring awareness and tools to add value to strategic decision making, Complex Strategic Choices presents a methodology which is further illustrated by a number of case studies and example applications. Dr. Techn. Steen Leleur has adapted previously established research based on feedback and input from various conferences, journals and students resulting in new material stemming from and focusing on practical application of systemic planning. The outcome is a coherent and flexible approach named systemic planning. The inclusion of both the theoretical and practical aspects of systemic planning makes this book a key resource for researchers and students in the field of planning and decision analysis as well as practitioners dealing with strategic analysis and decision making. More broadly, Complex Strategic Choices acts as guide for professionals and students involved in complex planning tasks across several fields such as business and engineering.

Data Mining introduces in clear and simple ways how to use existing data mining methods to obtain effective solutions for a variety of management and engineering design problems.Data Mining is organised into two parts: the first provides a focused introduction to data mining and the second goes into greater depth on subjects such as customer analysis. It covers almost all managerial activities of a company, including:• supply chain design,• product development,• manufacturing system design,• product quality control, and• preservation of privacy.Incorporating recent developments of data mining that have made it possible to deal with management and engineering design problems with greater efficiency and efficacy, Data Mining presents a number of state-of-the-art topics. It will be an informative source of information for researchers, but will also be a useful reference work for industrial and managerial practitioners.

In recent years, the supply chain has become a key element to the survival and prosperity of organisations in different industry sectors. Organisations dealing in dynamic business environments demand supply chains that support the satisfaction of customer needs. The principles of lean thinking that once permeated standalone organisations have now been transferred to the supply chain, making imperative the development of innovative approaches to supply chain management.   Customer-driven Supply Chains: Strategies for Lean and Agile Supply Chain Design reviews the concept of lean thinking and its relationship to other key initiatives associated with supply chain management. Detailed industrial case studies based on the authors’ experience illustrate the principles behind lean supply chains. Moreover, a series of diagrams are used to illustrate critical concepts and supply chain architectures. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of transferring lean principles from the organisational level to the supply chain level. The theory and principles behind lean supply chains are reviewed. Other concepts related to lean supply chains discussed in the book include: mass customisation, agility, information sharing and the bullwhip effect. A methodology used to measure the performance of supply chains is introduced; this methodology comprises the tools of decision timeline, data-flow diagramming, supply chain value stream mapping and a performance measurement scorecard. Readers will gain a clear picture of the competitive implications of lean supply chains. Customer-driven Supply Chains: Strategies for Lean andAgile Supply Chain Design will be a valuable resource of material to students studying supply chain/operations management as well as researchers in this field. Industry practitioners will learn how to develop sound supply chain strategies that can have a positive impact in their organisation.

This book is a sequel to The Practice of Machine Design, and The Practice of Machine Design, Book 3 – Learning from Failure. It deals with what happens inside the human mind during such activities as design and production, and how we reach decisions. Unlike other regular machine design textbooks or handbooks that describe how to accomplish good designs, the present volume explains what the designer thinks when making design decisions. A design starts with a vague concept and gradually takes shapes as it proceeds, and during this process the mind extracts elements and makes selections and decisions, the results expressed in sketches, drawings, or sentences. This book aims at exposing the reader to the processes of element extraction, selection, and decision-making through real-life examples. Such a book has never been published before. An explicit description of the processes of making decisions, on the contrary, has been greatly needed by designers, and the managers of design groups have been much aware of such a lack. The non-existence of this type of book in the past is due to the following three reasons: the benefit of describing the mind process of design was never made clear, the method of such clarification was unknown, and no one ever invested the vast energy for producing such a manifestation. Under these circumstances, we the members of the “Practice of Machine Design Research Group” boldly tackled the problem of expressing the decision processes in design and have documented our findings in this book.

Composite decisions consist of subdecisions and correspond to a composite system. This approach extends the traditional paradigm of decision making of Herbert A. Simon, i.e. choice of the best alternative(s), and realizes a two-stage solving scheme: (a) selection of alternatives as the best subdecisions/local decisions and (b) composition of these local decisions into a composite global decision, accounting for the quality of the local decisions and their compatibility. This book describes an approach based on systems engineering and considered modular design of composite decisions. It describes basic systems approaches and examines basic ‘technological’ problems for composite systems (with applied examples), including: modular hierarchical design; multistage design and planning; redesign/improvement/adaptation; evaluation; and, combinatorial evolution/development.Applied researchers, students, and practitioners will find this book of value. It will also interest mathematicians, computer scientists, economists and social engineers.

Parametric cost estimating, when properly used, is a powerful and cost effective technique. Unfortunately, it is often misunderstood and rejected by many potential users for whom it could be a beneficial tool. An agreement on how to use it and how to recognise its limitations is a major benefit to the cost estimating community.This book presents ways of parametrically forecasting costs and their advantages and disadvantages with examples from the mechanical, software and building industries; it discusses most of the mathematical procedures useful for parametrically forecasting costs and introduces the judgement needed to audit the ways these techniques are used, firstly as a process and secondly as a tool to generate estimates. Volume 2 "Building a Specific Model" focuses on the building of ‘specific’ cost estimating models. Understanding the procedures is key in creating successful specific models; so all these procedures (classical and new) are described in this volume.

Decision-making Support Systems (DMSS) are computer-based systems that support individual or organisational decision-making processes. Recent advances in information technology and artificial intelligence are enhancing these systems and giving rise to intelligent-DMSS.This is the first book to provide integrated coverage of the technical aspects of intelligent Decision-Making Support Systems together with discussion of their application and evaluation in organisational structures.The book brings together up-to-date information on the theory and application of i-DMSS. Readers will learn about the foundations, architectures, methods and strategies for successfully designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating i-DMSS.This book will be of value to researchers in AI and management studies interested in the latest thinking in decision-making, as well practising managers and consultants who are involved with putting advanced information technologies into practice in organisations.

Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in knowledge. Leading organisations now recognise the importance of identifying what they know, sharing what they know and using what they know for maximum benefit. Many organisations employ knowledge engineers to capture knowledge from experts using the principles and techniques of knowledge engineering. The emphasis is on a structured approach built on a sound understanding of the psychology of expertise and making use of knowledge modelling methods and the latest web technologies. Knowledge Acquisition Projects is the first book to provide a detailed step-by-step guide to the methods and practical aspects of acquiring, modelling, storing and sharing knowledge. The reader is led through 47 steps from the inception of a project to its successful conclusion. Each step is described in terms of the reasons for the step, the required resources, the activities to be undertaken, and the solutions to common problems. In addition, each step has a checklist which lists the key items that should be achieved during the step.Knowledge Acquisition Projects will be of value to knowledge engineers, knowledge workers, knowledge officers and ontological engineers. The book will also be of interest to students and researchers of AI, computer science and business studies.

In recent years, the supply chain has become a key element to the survival and prosperity of organisations in different industry sectors. Organisations dealing in dynamic business environments demand supply chains that support the satisfaction of customer needs. The principles of lean thinking that once permeated standalone organisations have now been transferred to the supply chain, making imperative the development of innovative approaches to supply chain management.   Customer-driven Supply Chains: Strategies for Lean and Agile Supply Chain Design reviews the concept of lean thinking and its relationship to other key initiatives associated with supply chain management. Detailed industrial case studies based on the authors’ experience illustrate the principles behind lean supply chains. Moreover, a series of diagrams are used to illustrate critical concepts and supply chain architectures. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of transferring lean principles from the organisational level to the supply chain level. The theory and principles behind lean supply chains are reviewed. Other concepts related to lean supply chains discussed in the book include: mass customisation, agility, information sharing and the bullwhip effect. A methodology used to measure the performance of supply chains is introduced; this methodology comprises the tools of decision timeline, data-flow diagramming, supply chain value stream mapping and a performance measurement scorecard. Readers will gain a clear picture of the competitive implications of lean supply chains. Customer-driven Supply Chains: Strategies for Lean andAgile Supply Chain Design will be a valuable resource of material to students studying supply chain/operations management as well as researchers in this field. Industry practitioners will learn how to develop sound supply chain strategies that can have a positive impact in their organisation.

In the early years of the 21st Century, as a result of many changes, it has become possible for the first time for tens of thousands of companies to offer manufactured products to customers across six continents. For many of these "global products", there are potentially more than a billion customers. In 2007, Wall Street hit new highs as the enormous opportunity for increased sales and profits became clear. However the new environment is not easy to manage and the risks are high. Meeting the various requirements of customers from a range of countries, choosing the most suitable locations for the different stages of development and manufacturing, deciding what can be global and what must be local, implementing suitable processes and systems, accommodating different national regulations, and efficiently dividing the workload between diverse sites are among the many challenges faced by providers of global products. Product Lifecycle Management is now used worldwide to manage the innovation, development and support of global products. This key new business activity manages a product anywhere in the world, at any time in its life: from the first idea through to recycling and disposal. Based on interviews with executives and managers in companies such as ABB, Alcatel-Lucent, Dow Corning and Siemens, Global Product outlines the new environment and driving forces, and the resulting opportunities and challenges. From lessons learned, it draws conclusions about best practices and the ground rules for successful strategies, structures and implementation. In addition, the objectives and components of Product Lifecycle Management are highlighted.

The aim of this book is to help enable the use of the technique of simulation modelling in the organisation. There is an emphasis in the book on the implementation of the technique in organisations, rather than a detailed treatment of the mechanics of simulation software execution or the statistical analysis undertaken during a study. The focus in this text is on recent changes in the way simulation is used which have led to its wider use and provide the potential for a continued growth in use. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the technique and gives details of where the technique can be applied in the organisation. Chapter 2 provides evidence of previous and current survey research showing the use of simulation and the challenges ahead if usage is to be increased. A particular area of growth in the use of simulation is in service applications. This has led to an interest in the modelling of human behaviour in addition to the traditional simulation of material and information processes. A framework is presented indicating approaches to the challenge of modelling people in organisations to provide guidance for simulation practitioners. Chapter 3 examines the physical and human resources that are necessary to enable a simulation capability within the organisation.

Network models are critical tools in business, management, science and industry. “Network Models and Optimization” presents an insightful, comprehensive, and up-to-date treatment of multiple objective genetic algorithms to network optimization problems in many disciplines, such as engineering, computer science, operations research, transportation, telecommunication, and manufacturing. The book extensively covers algorithms and applications, including shortest path problems, minimum cost flow problems, maximum flow problems, minimum spanning tree problems, traveling salesman and postman problems, location-allocation problems, project scheduling problems, multistage-based scheduling problems, logistics network problems, communication network problem, and network models in assembly line balancing problems, and airline fleet assignment problems. The book can be used both as a student textbook and as a professional reference for practitioners who use network optimization methods to model and solve problems.

As I write, the financial systems of the world are collapsing with still no clear indication of what the consequences will be and which measures should be taken to avoid such a crisis in the future. There seems to be agreement though, that the financial instruments introduced in the past few decades entailed far too much complexity and uncertainty and that there was too little regulatory control over the use of these instruments. Management of uncertainty with the aim of achieving self-control is the core concern of this book. It was not written with a focus on financial systems, but many concepts developed in this book are applicable to this field as well. The - neric principles of reducing, maintaining or increasing uncertainties in view of the different contingencies an organization is faced with, the fundamental issue of how much control is possible and who should be in control, and the question of how much and what kind of regulation is necessary with the overall aim of finding an appropriate balance between system stability and flexibility are at the centre of heated debates on the future of finance.

Evolutionary algorithms are becoming increasingly attractive across various disciplines, such as operations research, computer science, industrial engineering, electrical engineering, social science and economics. Introduction to Evolutionary Algorithms presents an insightful, comprehensive, and up-to-date treatment of evolutionary algorithms. It covers such hot topics as:• genetic algorithms,• differential evolution,• swarm intelligence, and• artificial immune systems.The reader is introduced to a range of applications, as Introduction to Evolutionary Algorithms demonstrates how to model real world problems, how to encode and decode individuals, and how to design effective search operators according to the chromosome structures with examples of constraint optimization, multiobjective optimization, combinatorial optimization, and supervised/unsupervised learning. This emphasis on practical applications will benefit all students, whether they choose to continue their academic career or to enter a particular industry.Introduction to Evolutionary Algorithms is intended as a textbook or self-study material for both advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Additional features such as recommended further reading and ideas for research projects combine to form an accessible and interesting pedagogical approach to this widely used discipline.

Data Mining introduces in clear and simple ways how to use existing data mining methods to obtain effective solutions for a variety of management and engineering design problems.Data Mining is organised into two parts: the first provides a focused introduction to data mining and the second goes into greater depth on subjects such as customer analysis. It covers almost all managerial activities of a company, including:• supply chain design,• product development,• manufacturing system design,• product quality control, and• preservation of privacy.Incorporating recent developments of data mining that have made it possible to deal with management and engineering design problems with greater efficiency and efficacy, Data Mining presents a number of state-of-the-art topics. It will be an informative source of information for researchers, but will also be a useful reference work for industrial and managerial practitioners.

This book is a sequel to The Practice of Machine Design, and The Practice of Machine Design, Book 3 – Learning from Failure. It deals with what happens inside the human mind during such activities as design and production, and how we reach decisions. Unlike other regular machine design textbooks or handbooks that describe how to accomplish good designs, the present volume explains what the designer thinks when making design decisions. A design starts with a vague concept and gradually takes shapes as it proceeds, and during this process the mind extracts elements and makes selections and decisions, the results expressed in sketches, drawings, or sentences. This book aims at exposing the reader to the processes of element extraction, selection, and decision-making through real-life examples. Such a book has never been published before. An explicit description of the processes of making decisions, on the contrary, has been greatly needed by designers, and the managers of design groups have been much aware of such a lack. The non-existence of this type of book in the past is due to the following three reasons: the benefit of describing the mind process of design was never made clear, the method of such clarification was unknown, and no one ever invested the vast energy for producing such a manifestation. Under these circumstances, we the members of the “Practice of Machine Design Research Group” boldly tackled the problem of expressing the decision processes in design and have documented our findings in this book.

Composite decisions consist of subdecisions and correspond to a composite system. This approach extends the traditional paradigm of decision making of Herbert A. Simon, i.e. choice of the best alternative(s), and realizes a two-stage solving scheme: (a) selection of alternatives as the best subdecisions/local decisions and (b) composition of these local decisions into a composite global decision, accounting for the quality of the local decisions and their compatibility. This book describes an approach based on systems engineering and considered modular design of composite decisions. It describes basic systems approaches and examines basic ‘technological’ problems for composite systems (with applied examples), including: modular hierarchical design; multistage design and planning; redesign/improvement/adaptation; evaluation; and, combinatorial evolution/development.Applied researchers, students, and practitioners will find this book of value. It will also interest mathematicians, computer scientists, economists and social engineers.

Parametric cost estimating, when properly used, is a powerful and cost effective technique. Unfortunately, it is often misunderstood and rejected by many potential users for whom it could be a beneficial tool. An agreement on how to use it and how to recognise its limitations is a major benefit to the cost estimating community.This book presents ways of parametrically forecasting costs and their advantages and disadvantages with examples from the mechanical, software and building industries; it discusses most of the mathematical procedures useful for parametrically forecasting costs and introduces the judgement needed to audit the ways these techniques are used, firstly as a process and secondly as a tool to generate estimates. Volume 2 "Building a Specific Model" focuses on the building of ‘specific’ cost estimating models. Understanding the procedures is key in creating successful specific models; so all these procedures (classical and new) are described in this volume.

Decision-making Support Systems (DMSS) are computer-based systems that support individual or organisational decision-making processes. Recent advances in information technology and artificial intelligence are enhancing these systems and giving rise to intelligent-DMSS.This is the first book to provide integrated coverage of the technical aspects of intelligent Decision-Making Support Systems together with discussion of their application and evaluation in organisational structures.The book brings together up-to-date information on the theory and application of i-DMSS. Readers will learn about the foundations, architectures, methods and strategies for successfully designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating i-DMSS.This book will be of value to researchers in AI and management studies interested in the latest thinking in decision-making, as well practising managers and consultants who are involved with putting advanced information technologies into practice in organisations.

Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in knowledge. Leading organisations now recognise the importance of identifying what they know, sharing what they know and using what they know for maximum benefit. Many organisations employ knowledge engineers to capture knowledge from experts using the principles and techniques of knowledge engineering. The emphasis is on a structured approach built on a sound understanding of the psychology of expertise and making use of knowledge modelling methods and the latest web technologies. Knowledge Acquisition Projects is the first book to provide a detailed step-by-step guide to the methods and practical aspects of acquiring, modelling, storing and sharing knowledge. The reader is led through 47 steps from the inception of a project to its successful conclusion. Each step is described in terms of the reasons for the step, the required resources, the activities to be undertaken, and the solutions to common problems. In addition, each step has a checklist which lists the key items that should be achieved during the step.Knowledge Acquisition Projects will be of value to knowledge engineers, knowledge workers, knowledge officers and ontological engineers. The book will also be of interest to students and researchers of AI, computer science and business studies.