Using Expert Systems to Manage Professional Survey Practices

The manager of a professional surveying practice is often confronted with the seemingly simple, but actually rather complicated, task of assigning surveying projects to different survey parties at different times. His or her choice is often complicated by the need to reassign tasks in the middle of a project to meet the specified deadline. Similarly, when quoting or tendering for a new project, the survey manager must take into consideration the commitment and specialization of the different survey parties to arrive at a competitive quotation. The use of a rule-based expert system can help, although not replace, the survey manager in making these important decisions. Making the correct decision can increase productivity profitability for the survey company. A bad decision can adversely affect the profit of a company. This paper describes the development of an expert system to help survey managers maximize correct decisions and minimize bad ones.