Enhancing menu-based executive information systems using a natural language-menu guide*

摘要

Ufe argue that current Executive Information Systems (BIS), with simple menu-based user interfaces, support an inadequate range of information needs because a menu base which is too large or changes too rapidly becomes prohibitively difficult to use. We consider an alternative approach to increase executivesu27 access to information bases by incorporating a series of component- specific Natural Language Interfaces (NLI) into the various components of the BIS (database, model base, etc.), and adding a u22Natural Language-Menu Guideu22 (NLMG) to the traditional menu and graphics based executive information systems. The various NLI will allow users to get access to information bases without having to know information system structures or techniques. At the same time, the NLMG will help users to navigate more easily through large and changing menu bases. The larger, changing menu bases rendered usable by the NLMG can, in turn, offer more options, and options of a more timely nature. The use of a series of smaller, interrelated natural language processing systems, rather than one big NLP system, should also take fuller advantage of the limited nature of current NLP technology.