SWXPert: A Prototype Expert System for Serviceware Selection

Abstract

Solid waste management has become a major concern from the perspective of consumers, policy makers, and the food service industry. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a prototype expert system that could aid food service professionals in the serviceware decision. Initial knowledge acquisition involved sending a questionnaire to 327 school food service professionals. The responses provided by 172 (52.8%) food service professionals were factor analyzed to identify which variables were most significant and the relative importance these variables had in their decision making process. Based on the results of this analysis, a prototype rule-based expert system (SWXpert) was created using VP-Expert.Thirty school district food service directors evaluated the decision reached by the prototype expert system (SWXpert) on 30 sample school districts. Overall, a 75.8% agreement rate was found between SWXpert and the school food service directors. This paper presents an alternative knowledge acquisition strategy that can be used for the development of the initial prototype expert system.