Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) or multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a sub-discipline of operations research that explicitly evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision making. It is also known as multiple attribute utility theory, multiple attribute value theory, multiple attribute preference theory, and multi-objective decision analysis.
In the theory of decision making, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), also analytical hierarchy process, is a structured technique for organizing and analyzing complex decisions, based on mathematics and psychology. It was developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s; Saaty partnered with Ernest Forman to develop Expert Choice software in 1983, and AHP has been extensively studied and refined since then. It represents an accurate approach to quantifying the weights of decision criteria. Individual experts’ experiences are utilized to estimate the relative magnitudes of factors through pair-wise comparisons. Each of the respondents compares the relative importance of each pair of items using a specially designed questionnaire. The relative importance of the criteria can be determined with the help of the AHP by comparing the criteria and, if applicable, the sub-criteria in pairs by experts or decision-makers. On this basis, the best alternative can be found.
Pairwise comparison generally is any process of comparing entities in pairs to judge which of each entity is preferred, or has a greater amount of some quantitative property, or whether or not the two entities are identical. The method of pairwise comparison is used in the scientific study of preferences, attitudes, voting systems, social choice, public choice, requirements engineering and multiagent AI systems. In psychology literature, it is often referred to as paired comparison.
Requirement prioritization is used in the Software product management for determining which candidate requirements of a software product should be included in a certain release. Requirements are also prioritized to minimize risk during development so that the most important or high risk requirements are implemented first. Several methods for assessing a prioritization of software requirements exist.
The analytic network process (ANP) is a more general form of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) used in multi-criteria decision analysis.
For group decision-making, the hierarchical decision process (HDP) refines the classical analytic hierarchy process (AHP) a step further in eliciting and evaluating subjective judgements. These improvements, proposed initially by Dr. Jang Ra include the constant-sum measurement scale for comparing two elements, the logarithmic least squares method (LLSM) for computing normalized values, the sum of inverse column sums (SICS) for measuring the degree of (in)consistency, and sensitivity analysis of pairwise comparisons matrices. These subtle modifications address issues concerning normal AHP consistency and applicability in the process of constructing hierarchies: generating criteria, classifying/selecting criteria, and screening/selecting decision alternatives.
Decision-making software is software for computer applications that help individuals and organisations make choices and take decisions, typically by ranking, prioritizing or choosing from a number of options.
This is a worked-through example showing the use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in a practical decision situation.
The Brown–Gibson model is one of the many techniques for multi-attribute decision making. The method was developed in 1972 by P. Brown and D. Gibson. This is one of the few models which integrates both objective and subjective factors in decision making.
The decision-making paradox is a phenomenon related to decision-making and the quest for determining reliable decision-making methods. It was first described by Triantaphyllou, and has been recognized in the related literature as a fundamental paradox in multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) and decision analysis since then.
In decision-making, a rank reversal is a change in the rank ordering of the preferability of alternative possible decisions when, for example, the method of choosing changes or the set of other available alternatives changes. The issue of rank reversals lies at the heart of many debates in decision-making and multi-criteria decision-making, in particular.
Potentially All Pairwise RanKings of all possible Alternatives (PAPRIKA) is a method for multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) or conjoint analysis, as implemented by decision-making software and conjoint analysis products 1000minds and MeenyMo.
This is a worked-through example showing the use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in a practical decision situation.
SDI Tools is a set of commercial software add-in tools for Microsoft Excel developed and distributed by Statistical Design Institute, LLC., a privately owned company located in Texas, United States.
D-Sight is a company that specializes in decision support software and associated services in the domains of project prioritization, supplier selection and collaborative decision-making. It was founded in 2010 as a spin-off from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Their headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium.
Agile Business Intelligence (BI) refers to the use of Agile software development for BI projects to reduce the time it takes to show value to the organization in comparison to other approaches. It helps in quickly adapting to changing business needs. Agile BI enables the BI team, business people or in general stakeholders to make better business decisions, and to start doing this more quickly.
Continued process verification (CPV) is the collection and analysis of end-to-end production components and processes data to ensure product outputs are within predetermined quality limits. In 2011 the Food and Drug Administration published a report outlining best practices regarding business process validation in the pharmaceutical industry. Continued process verification is outlined in this report as the third stage in Process Validation.
Super Decisions is decision-making software which works based on two multi-criteria decision making methods.
Waldemar Koczkodaj, is a Polish-Canadian computer scientist specialized in expert systems, assessments by pairwise comparisons method, inconsistency theory, bioinformatics, rating scale improvement, and behavioral addiction. He is known for the introduction of the inconsistency indicator for pairwise comparisons. He proposed axiomatization for the inconsistency indicator in 2014 (published with Ryszard Szwarc and enhanced it in 2018.
Ordinal priority approach (OPA) is a multiple-criteria decision analysis method that aids in solving the group decision-making problems based on preference relations.
