Expert System To Develop Job Standards

The Job Standards Development System is a user-friendly expert system that (1) helps users select an appropriate work measurement methodology to develop job standards (or the less formal job time estimates) and (2) leads the users through the steps necessary to use a work time estimating technique to develop job standards for long-duration, low-repetition work. The computer program comprises three parts, the first being a system-administration subprogram, in which an administrator sets values of parameters that are not changeable by a job standards developer. The second part is a subprogram that assists the job standards developer in the selection of an appropriate work measurement technique. The third part supports the application of a work time and resource requirement estimating technique that relies on domain expertise to describe human work, collects work time and resource requirement data from the domain expert, and computes a job standard. The program is expected to be useful for the management of organizations devoted to performing functions consisting of long-duration, low-repetition work. Illustrations of this type include facility and equipment maintenance and the knowledge work of service firms and federal, state, and local governments. The program is written for use with the Windows operating systems on IBM PC and compatible computers.