User-Friendly Interaction in an On-line System Based on Semantic Technologies

Nowadays, SME have to take into account new business and management approaches, like CRM, as well as the support provided by ICT. In this scenario, SME would take advantage from a Web-based service like ARNEIS, supporting an intelligent matching between supply and demand of CRM-related tools. Such a service needs a detailed knowledge base, and a friendly user interface (UI) enabling users to interact with the formal knowledge base. In this chapter we claim that both the knowledge representation and the user interaction mechanisms have to be based on a domain analysis (how users talk about CRM). The chapter presents three UI, based on on-line forms, business processes, and natural language. All three exploit semantic templates, i.e., formal representations of dialog topics (key concepts in the descriptions of CRM activities). The proposed approach suggests a general solution to enable users to enter formal representations in systems based on semantic technologies.