Minimizing Cost and Effort in Performing a Link Analysis

Abstract

For several years link analysis techniques have proven to be very useful tools in human-machine systems planning. The primary drawback found in the application of these methodologies is that the time and manual effort required is often prohibitive in terms of the cost of analysis. Within the context of this paper methods for reducing the time required to perform a link analysis are introduced. The application of a relationship chart and the attendant procedures are shown to provide a systematic approach to the establishment of the link values for a human-machine system. A computer program is employed to develop a block plan layout. The feasibility and computational efficiency of these techniques are demonstrated through an example problem.