Expert system feasibility study.

The purpose of this feasibility study was four-fold:

• to assess the need for knowledge-based expert systems, or similar computerized tools, in the residential sector of the construction industry;
• to assess the adequacy of EXP.AIR, a shell dealing with indoor air quality, developed specially for CMHC;
• to assess a number of commercially available expert system shells and recommend a possible alternative to the shell used to develop EXP AIR;
• to assess the market potential of such tools and recommend a marketing strategy.

The answers to the first two tasks were obtained from a mail survey that resulted in approximately 150 completed questionnaires, from a series of over 50 interviews, and from approximately 80 demonstrations of the EXPAIR tool followed by discussions and written assessments.