Abstract: In an information processing systems a procedure to be processed is divided into a plurality of basic processing units and those basic processing units are stored in the system. The system further creates and stores processing unit information for each of the stored basic processing units, the processing unit information including a name of processing executed in each processing unit, an input table required by the processing unit, and an output table outputted by the processing unit. When an operator inputs data about a desired output table format, the information processing system selects the most suitable processing unit information (knowledge) compatible with the desired output table format. From the selected processing unit information, the other relevant processing unit information is selected. By repeating a similar flow, the system traces back the flow of the processing from the output table for searching the processing unit information group.