We consider the situation where the decision procedure of an interactive expert system
must repeatedly solve a logic minimization problem. In that setting, the response time is
slow if the instances of the logic minimization problem are dicult to solve. We propose
an alternate process. It utilizes a logic problem decomposition and replaces some instances
of the logic minimization problem by instances of satisability subproblems. In practice,
instances of satisability subproblems tend to be much easier to solve than instances of
the original logic minimization problem. Due to that fact, the decomposition approach can
be expected to produce a substantial reduction of the required computing eort. We have
used the approach in an interactive expert system for the optimal management of industrial
chemical exposure. Due to the decomposition approach, the user typically experiences no
perceptible waiting during the interactive query phase.