Subject Matter Expert

Subject Matter Expert

A Subject Matter Expert (SME) is a person who is an expert in a particular area. In software engineering environments, the term is used to describe professionals with expertise in the field of application but without technical project knowledge.

It also has a broader definition in engineering and high tech as one who has the greatest expertise in a technical topic. SMEs are often asked to review, improve and approve technical work, to guide others, and to teach. According to Six Sigma, a Subject Matter Expert "exhibits the highest level of expertise in performing a specialized job, task, or skill."

Sometimes the acronym is voiced ("smee") and other times spelled ("S-M-E").

In software development, as in the development of "complex computer systems" (e.g. artificial intelligence, expert systems, control, simulation, or business software) a SME is a person who is knowledgeable about the domain being represented (but often not knowledgeable about the programming technology used to represent it in the system). The SME tells the software developers what needs to be done by the computer system, and how the SME intends to use it. The SME may interact directly with the system, possibly through a simplified interface, or may codify domain knowledge for use by knowledge engineers or ontologists. A SME is also involved in validating the resulting system. SME has formal meaning in certain contexts such as CMMs.

Certification tests are often created by a team of psychometricians and a team of subject matter experts. The psychometricians understand how to engineer a test while the subject matter experts understand the actual content of the exam.

Technical writers typically use the term SME to describe any individual with expertise in the subject matter to be documented. Technical communicators interview SMEs to extract information and convert it into a form suitable for the audience.

ee also

*User Acceptance Testing
*Subject matter expert Turing test
*System testing

Humana RightSource SME Subject Matter Expert - Help Desk


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Subject-matter expert — A subject matter expert (SME) or domain expert is a person who is an expert in a particular area or topic. When spoken, sometimes the acronym SME is spelled out ( S M E ) and other times voiced as a word ( smee ).[citation needed] The term domain …   Wikipedia

  • Subject matter expert Turing test — A subject matter expert Turing test is a variation of the Turing test where a computer system attempts to replicate an expert in a given field such as chemistry or marketing. This concept was described by Ray Kurzweil in his 2005 book The… …   Wikipedia

  • Subject matter — may refer to:* patentable subject matter (or statutory subject matter), defining whether patent protection is available * subject matter jurisdiction, determining the kinds of claims or disputes over which a court has jurisdiction * Subject… …   Wikipedia

  • expert — One who is knowledgeable in specialized field, that knowledge being obtained from either education or personal experience. Midtown Properties, Inc. v. George F. Richardson, Inc., 139 Ga.App. 182, 228 S.E.2d 303, 307. One who by reason of… …   Black's law dictionary

  • expert — One who is knowledgeable in specialized field, that knowledge being obtained from either education or personal experience. Midtown Properties, Inc. v. George F. Richardson, Inc., 139 Ga.App. 182, 228 S.E.2d 303, 307. One who by reason of… …   Black's law dictionary

  • expert system — noun A type of artificially intelligent software system, which stores expertise concerning some subject matter in a knowledge base and attempts to answer questions or solve problems in a manner which simulates the thought processes of a human… …   Wiktionary

  • Domain expert — A domain expert or subject matter expert (SME) is a person with special knowledge or skills in a particular area. Domain experts are individuals who are both knowledgeable and extremely experienced with application domains… …   Wikipedia

  • Content Expert — VP The subject matter expert versed in the content of a program …   Audio and video glossary

  • Expert — For other uses, see Expert (disambiguation). Cognoscenti redirects here. For the Marvel character, see Cognoscenti (comics). Sociology …   Wikipedia

  • expert testimony — Opinion evidence of some person who possesses special skill or knowledge in some science, profession or business which is not common to the average man and which is possessed by the expert by reason of his special study or experience. Board of Ed …   Black's law dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”