A Decision Support System Application for Student-Project Team Formation Problem

Abstract

Student-project allocation is a multi-criteria complex problem that requires the consideration of the preferences of students and academic advisers and grouping team members with different qualifications according to some project specifications. It is thus necessary to use information technologies in the process of forming project teams. In this study, a decision support system application running on a personal computer is developed for forming student-project teams. An integrated office software environment is thus presented where the users can organize problem data, perform allocations and report results. It is a two-phase allocation process in which the allocations of students and academic advisers are performed, respectively, using an integer programming-based approach. There are two integer programming models to allocate students and advisers to project teams using the corresponding criteria, respectively. The proposed application is illustrated using a real-life student-project allocation problem in an academic institution. The results are compared with the ones presented in the literature with respect to some performance parameters.

Keywords

• Student-project team formation,Integer programming,Mathematical programming,Decision support systems

Öğrenci-Proje Takımı Oluşturma Problemi için Bir Karar Destek Sistemi Uygulaması

Abstract

Öğrenci-proje takımı oluşturma, öğrencilerin ve onlara danışmanlık yapacak öğretim üyelerinin tercihleri dikkate alınarak farklı niteliklere sahip takım üyelerinin birtakım proje kriterlerini sağlayacak şekilde bir araya getirilmelerini amaçlayan çok kriterli ve karmaşık bir problemdir. Bu nedenle, proje takımlarının oluşturulması sürecinde bilişim teknolojilerinin kullanımına ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, öğrenci-proje takımı oluşturma problemi için kişisel bir bilgisayarda çalışan bir karar destek sistemi uygulaması geliştirilmiştir. Böylelikle, temel ofis programları ortamında; problem veri setinin düzenlenebildiği, öğrenci-proje takımı oluşturma sürecinin gerçekleştirilebildiği ve elde edilen sonuca ilişkin raporların görüntülenebildiği bütünleşik bir yapı sunulmuştur. Öğrenci-proje takımı oluşturma süreci iki aşamadan oluşan ve birinci aşamasında öğrenci, ikinci aşamasında danışman atamalarının yapıldığı tamsayılı programlama bazlı bir yaklaşım kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmektedir. Burada iki tamsayılı programlama modeliyle öğrenci ve danışman öğretim üyeleri ilgili kriterlere göre proje takımlarına atanmaktadırlar. Önerilen yaklaşım, akademik bir kurumda gerçek bir öğrenci-proje takımı oluşturma problemine uygulanmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlar, literatürde yer alan atama sonuçları ile çeşitli performans parametreleri açısından karşılaştırılmıştır.

Keywords

• Öğrenci-proje takımı oluşturma,Tamsayılı programlama,Matematiksel programlama,Karar destek sistemleri

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