Intelligent debugging of utility constraints in configuration knowledge bases

Abstract

Knowledge-based configurators support customers in preference construction processes related to complex products and services. In this context utility constraints (scoring rules) play an important role. They determine the order in which configurations are presented to customers. In many cases utility constraints are faulty, i.e., calculate configuration rankings which are not expected and accepted by marketing and sales experts. The repair of these constraints is extremely time-consuming and often an error-prone task. In this paper we present an approach which effectively supports automated debugging and repair of faulty utility constraint sets. This approach allows us to automatically take into account intended rankings of configurations specified by marketing and sales experts.