Expert systems in process management: a case study

New methodologies and tools are being developed to manage the great complexity of many modern systems. Their aim is also to support the decision-making processes, in order to increase the efficiency and the efficacy of the engaged actions. Nowadays, a lot of studies and many projects aim to implement decision making supports for aiding either the maintenance crew or the process operator to take the right decisions at the right time. One of the most relevant problem that should be faced is the low quality of the information and of the data, too much often incorrect and incomplete. Another important element that shoul be considered is the different experience and the skills ofthe human resources. Computer based expert system represent asuccessful answer to these topic in order to provide the operator with a decision aiding system to reduce the uncertainty, lack of experience and ignorance. This article reports the study carried out to realize a decision aiding system within a chemical plant aiming at improving the performance ofthe decision maker. After taking into account the problem statement, in paragraph 2 the methodology and theory used to achieve the goal ofthe study are presented.. The main steps ofthe project are described in paragraph 3 and consequently the following section contains the results of the study. At last the conclusions and the prospective future developments areproposed in paragraph 5.