Decision-making methods As mentioned earlier, most DM software is based on
multi-criteria decision making (MCDM). MCDM involves evaluating and combining alternatives' characteristics on two or more criteria or attributes in order to rank, prioritize or choose from among the alternatives. There is currently a great deal of interest in quantitative methods for decision making. Many decision analysts argue for multi-attribute
decision analysis as the gold standard to which other methods should be compared, based on its rigorous axiomatic basis. Some other MCDM methods include: •
Aggregated Indices Randomization Method (AIRM) •
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) •
Analytic network process (ANP, an extension of AHP) •
DEX (Decision EXpert) •
Elimination and Choice Expressing Reality (ELECTRE) •
Multi-attribute global inference of quality (MAGIQ) •
Potentially All Pairwise RanKings of all possible Alternatives (PAPRIKA) •
Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) •
Evidential reasoning approach for MCDM under hybrid uncertainty There are significant differences between these methods and, accordingly, the DM software implementing them. Such differences include: :# The extent to which the decision problem is broken into a
hierarchy of sub-problems; :# Whether or not
pairwise comparisons of alternatives and/or criteria are used to elicit decision-makers' preferences; :# The use of
interval scale or
ratio scale measurements of decision-makers' preferences; :# The number of criteria included; :# The number of alternatives evaluated, ranging from a few (finite) to infinite; :# The extent to which numerical scores are used to value and/or rank alternatives; :# The extent to which incomplete rankings (relative to complete rankings) of alternatives are produced; :# The extent to which uncertainty is modeled and analyzed.
Software features In the process of helping decision-makers to rank, prioritize or choose from among alternatives, DM software products often include a variety of features and tools; common examples include: •
Pairwise comparison •
Sensitivity analysis • Group evaluation (teamwork) • Web-based implementation
Comparison of decision-making software DM software includes the following notable examples. A good summary of the capabilities of various software packages is available in the Decision Analysis Software Survey conducted by the
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). The software packages listed in the survey range from free to commercial or enterprise-level packages. ==See also==