ontology
Background and related work
Pham et al. [1999] define product support as everything necessary to allow the continued use of a product.
An IETM is defined as a technical manual authored in digital form and designed for electronic display by means of an automated authoring system. An IPM, on the other hand, is referred to as a computerised interactive product support system that uses product life-cycle information, expert knowledge and hypermedia to provide just-in-time support to the user during the life of the product. Finally, an EPSS is regarded as an integrated, readily available set of tools that help individuals to do their job and increase their productivity.
Most of the research in this area indicates the complexity of the domain, since knowledge is integrated from a number of engineering and non-engineering fields.
The importance of integrating knowledge engineering practices into the development of product support systems has been acknowledged by a number of researchers. Earlier studies focused on integrating reasoning mechanisms in product support systems, mainly as diagnostic tools. Gradually, the focus in this area of research shifted from the reasoning mechanism to the knowledge base. Recent studies focus on user classifications, product and/or task structures, concentrating on how these are integrated.Latest research in product support indicates a trend towards semantic data modelling. However, although these studies address the use of KE practices in product support, they do not follow a uniform approach towards the development of their knowledge bases. As a result, a major limitation of the previous work is the lack of design and knowledge reusability.
This challenge could be successfully addressed if product support modelling is unified, formalised and enriched by employing ontological principles.
