Certifying KBSs: Using CommonKADS to Provide Supporting Evidence for Fitness for Purpose of KBSs

Certification is the process of showing that software meets its requirements and is fit for purpose. It occurs in sensitive contexts where it is essential for safety or other reasons that the software should never fail. Certifying KBSs can be seen as especially problematic, because KBSs' output, being heuristic rather than algorithmic, is less predictable than that of conventional software. By developing a detailed and extended case study, the authors show that KBS development governed by CommonKADS is, with very little adjustment, satisfactory for KBS certification.