PET: An expert system for productivity analysis

This paper describes the framework for a comprehensive productivity analysis procedure and presents a prototype expert system that attempts to provide this analysis. The importance of this work stems from the current lack of formal, integrated methodologies that go beyond productivity measurement for interpreting and evaluating performance data. This system was developed using spreadsheet software for the measurement part and expert systems development software with an interface to spreadsheets for the rest. It incorporates rules for recognizing time-series patterns as well as the degree of severity. The system can further be developed to include diagnosing the root causes of problems and also recommending possible solutions or further analyses.