Expert System Job Offer Evaluation SoftwareMay 05-08

Abstract

The project’s focus is to decide what criteria should be used to determine which job offer is best and how to manage unavailable data. To solve this problem, it shall be necessary to poll other ISU students to see what input they may have. It shall also be necessary to be in contact with Engineering Career Services to see what elements they would like to see in the software. The software shall have the capability for the user to add criteria in the event that an item important to them isn’t included in the final list of criteria. The end product shall be designed on a platform that allows students to enter their job offers and the corresponding data with each job offer that assists evaluation. A large portion of time shall be spent communicating with peers and Engineering Career Services to ensure that the program does the best possible job of comparing a student’s job offers.

Introduction

General Problem Statement•Develop an easily understandable and highly usable program•Design a platform independent program•Use an extensive list of criteria and a priority-driven system to evaluate offers

General Solution Approach•Create a formula to produce overall and category scores•Use a web-based system will be used to run the program•Users will have the option to input their own criteria and establish priorities for criteria

Operating Environment•The backend hosting server must be protected from power surges, extreme temperatures, and dust

•The user should be using an up to date browser

Intended Users•College level students wishing to evaluate multiple job offers•Users with basic computer knowledge and internet access•Anyone wishing to evaluate two or more jobs

Assumptions•Program can handle up to 10 users at a time•The minimum required browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or equivalents

•Up to 10 new criteria may be added to the program

Limitations•Compares up to 5 job offers at the same time•Only an Internet browser is required to run the program•Program will be multiple operating system compatible

Expected End Product and Other Deliverables•End-Product Prototype•End-User Documentation•Maintenance and Support Documentation

Project Requirements

Design Objectives•Provide user with a predefined list of criteria•Must allow user to compare multiple job offers at a time•Must allow user to enter their own criteria to compare job offers•Program must work on multiple operating systems and Internet browsers

Functional Requirements•Provide a default list of criteria concerning job offers•Should allow the user to split up the results into subgroups for comparison between categories

•Must allow user to enter their own criteria to save and edit saved jobs

•Shall allow the user to prioritize each item within the list of factors

Design Constraints•A host server is needed to run the backend of the program •The program shall only be available in English•No additional software will be needed beyond that of the operating system and Internet browser

Measurable Milestones•Completion of the product design•Completion of product coding and implementation•Completion of product testing•Completion of documentation

Approach and Considerations

Proposed Approach•Existing software and the evaluation criteria used by those programs shall be researched

•Engineering Career Services and advisors will be contacted for their input on the product’s structure and criteria used

•Prospective users from a variety of backgrounds will be asked to help test the product

Technologies Considered•An Excel-based spreadsheet •A web program utilizing a web-based language such as PHP •A program using a compiled language such as C++ or Java

Testing Considerations•Stress testing by the programmers of the system •Evaluative testing subjects include:

•Engineering Students•Non-Engineering Students•Career services staff and advisors•Subjects not attending ISU

Resources and Schedule

Closing Summary

Financial Requirements

Poster $65.00

Binding and Copying $25.00

Labor at $10.50/hour $9,187.50

Total $9,252.50

Personal Effort Requirements (hours)

Aaron Neuroth 225

Joel Winbigler 210

Jeff O’Brien 220

Scott Moser 220

Total 875

Task Name Completion Date

Problem Definition 10/10/2004

Technology Considerations and Selection 11/7/2004

End-Product Design 4/24/2005

End-Product Prototype Implementation 1/30/2005

End-Product Testing 3/27/2005

End-Product Demonstration 4/24/2004

Project Reporting 4/24/2004

Team Client:

Senior Design

Team Advisors:

Dr. John Lamont jwlamont@iastate.edu

Prof. Ralph Patterson III repiii@iastate.edu

Design Team:

Aaron Neuroth, Electrical Engineering rolls@iastate.edu

Joel Winbigler, Computer Engineering jwinbig@iastate.edu

Jeff O’Brien, Computer Engineering jrobrien@iastate.edu

Scott Moser, Computer Engineering scoser@iastate.edu

FIGURE 2: Software output screen

FIGURE 1: User input interface

Individuals wishing to effectively evaluate two or more job offers have many factors to consider, and it is necessary for them to have an effective means of performing this evaluation. By utilizing multiple resources, this project shall provide the user with flexible web-based software to perform this evaluation. Upon completion, the Expert System Job Evaluation Software shall not only assist users in determining the strengths and weaknesses of job offers they receive, but also urge the user to consider aspects of a job offer that may not have been considered otherwise.