When an equipment malfunction occurs, you need to do much more than simply "sweep up the glass" and get back to work. Expert systems can vastly improve your troubleshooting efforts.

Law enforcement organizations have this down to a science. Arrive at any crime scene, and you'll find yourself immediately in the midst of a flurry of activity. After the Under Pressure Food Mart is burgled, the area is roped off,witnesses are gathered together and segregated from other onlookers, fingerprints are being lifted, and suspects may already be in custody.More cops are there to guard the area from accidental or purposeful intrusion.

The amount of resources expended on a major (or even many minor) crime scene can be truly mind-boggling.You'll find the team leader, who directs general responsibilities. The photographer documents visual evidence, a sketch artist takes descriptions and draws the crime scene, and a number of officers guard the area. Investigators interview people at the scene, while more patrolmen canvass the local residents for more data. Specially-trained evidence gathering personnel process the evidence and ensure the documentation is foolproof. Investigators immediately start researching the backgrounds on suspects, looking for clues in past history.

Why is this immediate effort so massive? When actually analyzed, the number of man-hours invested, equipment expended and depreciated, and the inter-departmental coordination required

add up to a hefty wad of cash that the taxpayers must pony up. Of course, this must have been determined to be appropriate, or local law-enforcement efforts would be shut down. Is this initial level of investigation really necessary? In fact, why not wait a few days for everyone to calm down, let the emotions die off? After all, we are hurting the business owner by restricting access to the shop, bothering his customers, even appropriating pieces of his store or inventory. Let him get back on his feet.What makes this worth the effort?

What makes this acceptable is the fact that there is really no other method available that can reliably produce the required results. If the photographer was not there, there would be no record of the actual environment at the scene. Evidence that is not quickly and accurately recorded will be lost or modified, with no hope of retrieval. We could wait to begin researching background information, but this will just prolong the successful completion of the investigation beyond reasonable time-limits. Sweeping up and throwing away the broken glass gets the business up and running, but for how long? Without this process in place, the crime is almost guaranteed to happen again.The stricken store may install bars on the windows, but the criminal still atlarge will just find another way in, or move on to the next store down the street.

The process of determining the cause of an equipment malfunction can often seem as daunting as a major crime scene investigation. It often appears to require expert knowledge about how the equipment was operated, how it was installed, the...(Read whole article)