Enhancing the Decision Making Process: An Ontology-based Approach

Decision making is a key activity for management in any organization, several decision making methods including Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) have been used to assist this process especially when the decision involves multiple stakeholders and multiple criteria. These methods, which evaluate each alternative by a set of criteria, tend to be subjective in nature. However, although they are subjective it should be ensured that the decisions makers have as much knowledge about the alternatives as is possible. This would include understanding all the consequences of each alternative and all the effects of these consequences. This requires a thorough understanding of the domain within which the decision is being made. We argue that an organizational ontology provides this understanding and propose a method for integrating an ontology into typical multi-criteria decision making techniques. The overall aim of this method is to improve the decision making process. We demonstrate the applicability of this method by applying it to decision making at a university in the Caribbean

Computer-aided decision-making in construction project development

One of the most difficult problems in construction is taking objective decisions. A decision-making process is very complicated and time consuming (due to the complex nature of construction projects). Many experts with extensive knowledge of construction industry take subjective decisions related to verbal methods of decision-making. Difficulties are related mostly to the creation of a set of relevant criteria, providing answers to the decision-maker’s questions. A set of proper criteria and mathematical tools (such as computer calculation algorithms with multi-criteria analysis) could significantly improve objective decision-making. The paper presents ESORD – an informatics tool allowing to establish a hierarchy (ranking) of different types of solutions on the basis of mathematical calculation. The authors present a comparison of different methods used for multi-criteria decision-making

Multi-criteria decision making/selection using weighted sum method and team-compromise instrument

Multi-criteria decision making based on values and preferences of the decision makers has been a major challenge in selecting the optimal material for any engineering product design. However, to evaluate the criteria weights by importance as a major valuable tools in decision making among the team members are another problem being faced in group decisions. In this paper weighted-sum method is adopted for solving material selection problems. The team-compromised approach is introduced as a parameter in the model by combining the subjective weights and objective weights of importance of the criteria in the decision making process. Two examples are presented to illustrate the efficacy of the model.  The results shows that the proposed model is capable of selecting the best material taking into account the material selection criteria. Keywords: Multi-criteria, Criteria preference, Material selection, Team-compromised, Decision-makin

Weighting methods for multi-criteria decision making technique

Determining criteria weights is a problem that arises frequently in many multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques. Taking into account the fact that the weights of criteria can significantly influence the outcome of the decision-making process, it is important to pay particular attention to the objectivity factors of criteria weights. This paper provides an overview of different weighting methods applicable to multi-criteria optimization techniques. There are a lot of concept been reported from the literature that are very useful in solving multicriteria problems. The present work emphasized on the use of these weighting methods in determining the criteria preference of each criterion to bring about desirable properties and in order to establish and satisfy a multiple measure of performance across all the criteria selected by identifying the best options possible. And from the results, it shows that subjective weighting methods are easy and straight forward in terms of their computations than the objective weighting methods which derived their information from each criterion by adopting a mathematical function to determine the weights without the decision-maker’s input,. This can be seen from the pairwise comparison which gives an internal storage and random access memory of a smart phone a weight value of 0.33 and 0.22 respectively as they have the highest criteria weights.Keywords: Multi-criteria, Decision-making, Relative importance, Alternative, Criteri

Material Selection Optimization Using Weighted Sum Method and Team-Compromise Instrument

The main challenge of multi-criteria optimization application is the difficulty in selecting the optimal material for any engineering product design. However, to determine criteria weights without conflicts among the team members is another problem being faced in concurrent engineering. In this paper weighted-sum method is adopted for solving material selection problems. The team-compromised approach is introduced as a parameter in the model by combining the subjective weights and objective weights of importance of the criteria in the decision making process. Two examples are presented to illustrate the efficacy of the model.  The results shows that the proposed model is capable of selecting the best material taking into account the material selection criteria. Keywords: Multi-criteria, Optimization, Material selection, Team-compromised, Decision-makin

Investigating the potential impact of stakeholder preferences in Passivhaus design

Low-energy buildings have a major role to play in achieving carbon emission reduction targets. The Passivhaus standard is driven by improved thermal comfort and has stringent targets for limiting energy consumption. Such constraints can be difficult to achieve with aesthetically pleasing results. In early stage building design, decisions are often made based on preferences, without assessing their impact on energy performance. Multi-criteria decision-making provides a technique of evaluating competing criteria using a robust framework. However, existing research in building performance focusses on quantitative measures, leaving a research gap in the subjective area of design preferences. This paper applies a modelling technique that incorporates user preferences, alongside quantitative building performance measures, by applying multi-criteria decision-making to a Passivhaus case study. Potential building forms are evaluated using dynamic simulation, then the impact of stakeholder preferences is assessed

Approach of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to evaluate e-commerce websites

Секция 9. Распознавание образов, информационные системы управленияWith the fast development of internet and computers, economic commerce has become a significant way of running business over the Internet. Evaluation of a website is not so straightforward since many parameters or criteria are considered in judging of websites, especially for economic commerce websites. Due to the imprecise nature of the problem, this assessment cannot be addressed using the traditional Boolean logic. Three evaluated indexes include design, usability and reliability, which are chosen as effect factors to evaluate websites and the member function and fussy rules of factors are discussed. Analytic hierarchy process is a kind of common used multi-criteria decision making methods, which integrates subjective and personal preferences in performing analyses. It has been widely used in evaluating various kinds of multi-criteria decision making method problems in both academic researches and practices. However, due to the uncertainty and vagueness on subjective judgments of the decision makers, the crisp pair wise comparison in the conventional analytic hierarchy process seems too insufficient and imprecise to capture the right judgments of decision makers. In conclusion fuzzy method analytic hierarchy process is presented to evaluate electronic commerce websites

Using Fuzzy Neural Networks and Analytic Hierarchy Process for Supplier Classification in e-Procurement

Electronic procurement is frequently defined as the sourcing of goods or services via electronic means, usually through the internet. A major process in the e-procurement decision making is that of supplier selection process. In the real world, the criteria and constraints for such a process are subjective in nature. In this study, the criteria for supplier selection, which already have been established empirically, has been adopted and no new criteria for the same has been proposed. These criteria and constraints have been modeled using fuzzy logic into constraints, which further has been modeled as a multi-objective decision making process, by combining neural networks and analytic hierarchy process. Then the suppliers have been classified into suitable suppliers and unsuitable suppliers, from the viewpoint of the firm

A Spatial Fuzzy Compromise Approach for Flood Disaster Management

Natural disasters affect regions with different intensity and produce damages that vary in space. Topographical features of the region; location of properties that may be exposed to the peril; level of exposure; impact of different mitigation measures; are all variables with considerable spatial variability. A new method for evaluation of disaster impacts has been presented in this report that takes into consideration spatial variability of variables involved and associated uncertainty. Flood management has been used to illustrate the utility of proposed approach. Floodplain management is a spatial problem. Representation of flood damage mitigation alternatives and objectives in space provides a better insight into the management problem and its characteristics. Protection of a region from floods can be achieved through various structural and non-structural measures. Comparison of different measures and evaluation of their impacts is based on the multiple criteria. If they are described spatially, decision-making problem can be conceptualized as spatial multi criteria decision-making (MCDM). Tkach and Simonovic (1997) introduced spatial Compromise Programming (SPC) technique to account for spatial variability in flood management. Some of the criteria and preferences of the stakeholders involved with flood management are subject to uncertainty that may originate in the data, knowledge of the domain or our ability to adequately describe the decision problem. The main characteristic of flood management is the existence of objective and subjective uncertainty. Fuzzy set theory has been successfully used to address both, objective and subjective uncertainty. Bender and Simonovic (2000) incorporated vagueness and imprecision as sources of uncertainty into multi criteria decision-making in water resources. In this report a new technique named Spatial Fuzzy Compromise Programming (SFCP) has been developed to enhance our ability to address the issues related to uncertainties in spatial environment. A general fuzzy compromise programming technique, when made 2 spatially distributed, proved to be a powerful and flexible addition to the list of techniques available for decision making where multiple criteria are used to judge multiple alternatives. All uncertain variables (subjective and objective) are modeled by way of fuzzy sets. In the present study, fuzzy measures have been introduced to spatial multi criteria decision-making in the GIS environment in order to account for uncertainties. Through a case study of the Red River floodplain near the City of St. Adolphe in Manitoba, Canada, it has been illustrated that the new technique provides measurable improvement in flood management. Final results in the form of maps that shown spatial distribution of the impacts of mitigation measures on the region can be of great value to insurance industry.https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wrrr/1004/thumbnail.jp

The triangle assessment method: a new procedure for eliciting expert judgement

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one of the most widely used Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methods worldwide. As such, it is subject to criticisms that highlight some potential weaknesses. In this study, we present a new Multi-Criteria Decision-Making method denominated the “Triangular Assessment Method” (referred to by its Spanish abbreviation, MTC©). The MTC© aims to make use of the potential of AHP while avoiding some of its drawbacks. The main characteristics and advantages of the MTC© can be summarised as follows: (i) evaluation of criteria, and of the alternative options for each criterion, in trios instead of pairs; (ii) elimination of discrete scales and values involved in judgements; (iii) a substantial reduction in the number of evaluations (trios) relative to the corresponding number of pairs which would have to be considered when applying the AHP method; (iv) consistent decision-making; (v) introduction of closed cyclical series for comparing criteria and alternatives; and (vi) the introduction of opinion vectors and opinion surfaces. This new method is recommended for supporting decision-making with large numbers of subjective criteria and/or alternatives and also for group decisions where the consensus must be evaluated. The MTC© provides a different promising perspective in decision-making and could lead to new research lines in the field of information systems.This work was supported by the Galician Regional Government [“Programa de Consolidación e Estructuración de Unidades de Investigación Competitivas, modalidade de Grupos de Referencia Competitiva” for the period 2006–2017] and by the European Union [ERDF program]. Likewise, the authors thank Daniele de Rigo, Dora Henriques and Cesar Pérez-Cruzado, because his comments improved notably this manuscript.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio