Analytic Hierarchy Process - AHP (Decision makeing process)

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satisfactionuk
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Posts: 132
Joined: Wed 08 Sep 2010 1:38 pm
Location: Westminster - London

Hi,
While studying the book Project Management - A Managerial Approach by Jack R Meridity and Samuel J Mantel I came across a section that dealt with making decisions under uncertainty with limited information.

The focus of this is for selecting and ranking portfolios and individual groups of projects according to their fit with regards the company’s strategic goals. The authors claim that this is a much better and more efficient system that using NPV and other financial modelling and decision criteria.

The first three paragraphs are located below from an extensive study on the subject that can be found by clicking on this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytic_Hierarchy_Process

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a structured technique for dealing with complex decisions. Rather than prescribing a "correct" decision, the AHP helps decision makers find one that best suits their goal and their understanding of the problem—it is a process of organizing decisions that people are already dealing with, but trying to do in their heads.

Based on mathematics and psychology, the AHP was developed by Thomas L. Saaty in the 1970s and has been extensively studied and refined since then. It provides a comprehensive and rational framework for structuring a decision problem, for representing and quantifying its elements, for relating those elements to overall goals, and for evaluating alternative solutions.

It has particular application in group decision making,[1] and is used around the world in a wide variety of decision situations, in fields such as government, business, industry, healthcare, and education.

Several firms supply computer software to assist in using the process.

If you have not come across this methodology before I thoroughly recommend that you check it out.

DO NOT USE this open source suite of tools that is dedicated to AHP at http://www.talend.com/download.php it is overly large and complicated,

IT WILL SLOW YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT DOWN AND IT HANGS UP ALL THE TIME.

You will eventually have to uninstall it and you WILL FIND THAT THE UNINSTALL PROGRAME DOES NOT WORK therefore you will try and use the Add Remove Programs facility and find that that to has stopped functioning so your only option is to use the Microsoft Computer Restore function and after that go to the Microsoft One Care web page and do a full scan and remove every element of the programme and clean up your computer.

This will take you hours to complete and it just is not worth it, trust me, I have just had to do exactly that.

Update: 67 registery items found and deleted by MS One Care from this one product alone.

When I find a better alternative I will post it here for your consideration.

Kind regards

Stephan Toth
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