Frequently Asked Questions

How to archive and activate a project?

Comparion provides the capability to archive the projects.  Archived projects are not active and are not available for evaluation. You can easily switch an archived project back to it’s active status and make it available for evaluation.

To archive the project, please follow these instructions.

• Go to list of projects page by clicking on Decision Projects tab on the upper right drop down.
• Go to Decisions tab.
• Click on + icon placed before the name of the project that you want to archive.
• Click on Archive Project link to archive the project.
• Archived projects are available under the tab called Archives.

To activate an archived project, please follow these instructins.

• Go to Decisions tab.
• Click on + icon placed before the name of the project that you want to activate.
• Click on Activate Project link to activate the project.
• Once the project is activated, it’s available for evaluation.

Please explain the four tabs - Decisions, Evaluations, Archives, Templates - in the page that lists all my projects. Also, explain the Online, Participants, Editable and Status columns.

Comparion projects are organized into four tabs - Decisions, Evaluations, Archives and Templates.

• Decisions: Decisions tab shows all projects for which you are a Project Manager. By default, you are the Project Manager for any project that you create. In addition the creator of the project can appoint a participant as a Project Manager.
• Evaluations: Evaluations tab shows all projects that you can evaluate. All the projects under Decisions tab also appear under Evaluations tab if you can evaluate the project.
• Archives: Archives tab shows all archived projects. All archived projects are inactive; they are not available for evaluation. You can easily activate an archived project by moving it to the Decisions tab.
• Templates: Templates tab shows all project templates that can be used to create new projects. Project Templates contain only the structure of the model. They do not contain any judgments or data. They also do not contain any participant information.

Each project has four flags associated with it. 

• On-line: This flag indicates whether a project is online or offline. Online projects are available for evaluation and offline projects are not. 
• Participants: This flag indicates whether a project is available for evaluation for selected participants or by access code. An access code allows new users to join the model as evaluators.
• Editable: This flag indicates whether a project is available for editing or whether it is locked.
• Status: This flag indicates whether a project is under development or active. In development projects do not count towards your license. As soon as an evaluator or the Project Manager inputs judgments or data in the project, it becomes active.

How to retrieve my password?

Retrieving password is easy. Just click on the Password Help? link in Comparion home page and when promted, enter your email address. Comparion will send you an email with the password.

How do I invite evaluators in Comparion Core and Comparion TeamTime?

Comparion Core

As a Project Manager, you can invite the evaluators in either of the following two ways:

1. Send out invitation emails to all evaluators in the project with one click. The link (url) in each invitation email is unique to the respective evaluator and is secure.  All that an evaluator needs to do is to click on the link and start evaluating without having to log-in to Comparion. Please follow these steps to invite all evaluators to participate in the evaluation process.

• Go to 1. Manage Project tab.
• Click Overview sub-tab.
• Click on Send Invitation link
• Click on the Send button to send out the invitations. You customize the email if you want to, by clicking on Edit button.

2. Invite individual evaluator through email or IM. You can copy the link unique to an individual evaluator to your clipboard and then email / IM the link to that evaluator. Please follow these steps to copy the link to the clipboard.

• Go to 3. Set Workflow tab.
• Click Select Participant sub-tab.
• For each evaluator, you will see a few commands (icons) under Action column. Click on the following icon   corresponding to the evaluator whom you want to invite, and you will see a pop up containing a link. 
• Click on the link to copy it to the clipboard.

Comparion TeamTime

When using TeamTime, a Project Manager can invite the evaluators in either of the following two ways:

• Open up the TeamTime Setup page.
• Click on Invite participants tab

You will have the following options:

• Invite by email: Click on Invite by email tab and then click on Send email button to send emails to all evaluators added to the meeting. Evaluators need to click on the link in the email to join the meeting.
• Invite by phone: Click on Invite by email tab and you will see set of instructions that you can read out to an evaluator over the phone.
• Copy and paste: Click on Invite by email tab and you can press on Copy button to copy the instructions to the clipboard. You can then paste these instructions in an IM window.

Is EC11.5 Windows 7 compatible?

EC11.5 is implemented for 32 bit environment. When Windows 7 operates on 64 bit environment, you have to run EC11.5 in Compatibility mode. For more details on how to run 32 bit programs in 64 bit environment, please refer Microsoft’s website at: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/Make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-Windows.

Can you provide some advice when structuring or building a model?

Your model can be built in the ModelView’s TreeView and Alternatives panes. Alternatively you can build your model in the TreeView and enter your alternatives in the Data Grid. Expert Choice is flexible and let’s you work the way you want and doesn’t force you to work they way Expert Choice thinks you should work.

In addition, you can use our Top Down Structuring or Affinity Diagramming window – this can be used if you know more about the objectives (criteria) than the alternatives. To access this window select the Down Structuring or Affinity Diagramming Icon located in the ModelView window.

If you know more about the alternatives start with them – this is called Bottom Up Structuring of Pros and Cons. The pros and cons of the alternatives are then used to help identify the objectives that can then be clustered into groups. To access this feature select the ProCon icon located in the ModelView window. Use the on-line help section or the tutorials to learn more.

How do I group enable a model using Expert Choice?

After a defining a model with objectives, sub-objectives and alternatives select the Go Menu and then select the Participants table. Next select the Edit command; then select Add and enter the number of participants to be added such as 5.

How can I import collected data (pairwise comparisons) from Excel to Expert Choice. I don't want to enter my pairwise comparisons one by one since I already have them in a column of an excel file?

For each set of paired comparisons to be imported;

1: Select the menu command Assessment | Pairwise

2: From your Excel spreadsheet highlight the pairwise comparisons to be imported, the range inthe column of your spreadsheet. Note: No error checking is performed.

3: From the Assessment menu select Edit | Paste from the clipboard.

4: Save your imported results

5: Repeat steps 1-4 for the next comparison.

If you have a group enabled model you will have to repeat this process for each participants' instance which is accessible from the dropdown in the ModelView. If you are using Expert Choice in your studies please encourage your school to buy a site license.

How do I develop a Ratings Scale from the Data Grid?

1: Select Go, Data Grid.

2: Select F ormula Type, Ratings. Alternatively, you can right-click in the cell above the covering objective’s name select Ratings.

3: When the Ratings definition window appears, type an Intensity Name, one per row, starting from the highest to the lowest value, for example, Excellent, Very Good, Good…

4: Click the Assess button and pairwise compare the relative preference of the intensities. When done you will be returned to the Ratings Definition window to see the derived priorities.

Alternatively, if you know the exact values (priorities) that you want to enter do not click Assess, but click and drag a bar in the intensity priority column until the desired priority appears. Alternatively, you can enter a value between 0 and 1.

5: Select Close and then the intensities will be shown on the Data grid in priority order. For additional help see the Ratings section of on-line help or the tutorials.

I am installing Expert Choice on a new computer and can’t find my serial number. What do I do?

First look in the documentation that came with the software for a serial number and if you can’t find it call us. Once you have the serial number install Expert Choice from either the CD or link that we provided via email. When prompted to enter a serial number copy and paste the serial number from the email. If you are typing the serial number you must enter it exactly as shown (upper and lower case letters including hypens).

Also follow these directions if you are installing the trial version.