Decision-making software (DM software) is

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

for computer applications that help individuals and organisations make choices and take decisions, typically by ranking, prioritizing or choosing from a number of options. An early example of DM software was described in 1973.Dyer, JS (1973), "A time-sharing computer program for the solution of the multiple criteria problem", ''Management Science'', 19: 1379-83.Wallenius, J, Dyer, JS, Fishburn, PC, Steuer, RE, Zionts, S and Deb, K (1992), "Multiple criteria decision making, multiattribute utility theory: The next ten years", ''Management Science'', 38: 645-54. Before the advent of the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

, most DM software was spreadsheet-based, with the first web-based DM software appearing in the mid-1990s.Koksalan, M, Wallenius, J, and Zionts, S, ''Multiple Criteria Decision Making: From Early History to the 21st Century'', World Scientific Publishing: Singapore, 2011. Nowadays, many DM software products (mostly web-based) are availableWeistroffer, HR, and Li, Y, "Multiple criteria decision analysis software", Ch 29 in: Greco, S, Ehrgott, M and Figueira, J, eds, ''Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: State of the Art Surveys Series'', Springer: New York, 2016.Oleson, S (2016)
"Decision analysis software survey"
''OR/MS Today'' 43(5).Amoyal, J (2018)
"Decision analysis software survey"
''OR/MS Today'' 45(5). – e.g. see the comparison table below. Most DM software focuses on ranking, prioritizing or choosing from among alternatives characterized on multiple criteria or attributes. Thus most DM software is based on

decision analysis Decision analysis (DA) is the discipline comprising the philosophy, methodology, and professional practice necessary to address important decisions in a formal manner. Decision analysis includes many procedures, methods, and tools for identifyi ...

, usually

multi-criteria decision-making 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 (both in daily life and in settings s ...

, and so is often referred to as "decision analysis" or "multi-criteria decision-making" software – commonly shortened to "decision-making software". Some decision support systems include a DM software component.

Purpose

DM software can assist decision-makers "at various stages of the decision-making process, including problem exploration and formulation, identification of decision alternatives and solution constraints, structuring of preferences, and tradeoff judgements." The purpose of DM software is to support the analysis involved at these various stages of the decision-making process, not to replace it. DM software "should be used to support the process, not as the driving or dominating force."Belton, V, and Stewart, TJ, ''Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: An Integrated Approach'', Kluwer: Boston, 2002. DM software frees users "from the technical implementation details f the decision-making method employed allowing them to focus on the fundamental value judgements". Nonetheless, DM software should not be employed blindly. "Before using a software, it is necessary to have a sound knowledge of the adopted methodology and of the decision problem at hand."Figueira, J, Greco, S and Ehrgott, M, "Introduction", Ch 1 in: Figueira, J, Greco, S and Ehrgott, M, eds, ''Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: State of the Art Surveys Series'', Springer: New York, 2005.

Methods and features

Decision-making methods

As mentioned earlier, most DM software is based on

multi-criteria decision making 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 (both in daily life and in settings s ...

(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.Wallenius, J, Dyer, JS, Fishburn, PC, Steuer, RE, Zionts, S and Deb, K (2008), "Multiple criteria decision making, multiattribute utility theory: Recent accomplishments and what lies ahead", ''Management Science'' 54: 1336-49. There is currently a great deal of interest in quantitative methods for decision making. Many decision analysts argue for multi-attribute

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 In applied mathematics and decision making, the aggregated indices randomization method (AIRM) is a modification of a well-known aggregated indices method, targeting complex objects subjected to multi-criteria estimation under uncertainty. AIRM wa ...

(AIRM) *

Analytic Hierarchy Process 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 ...

(AHP) *

Analytic network process The analytic network process (ANP) is a more general form of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) used in multi-criteria decision analysis. AHP structures a decision problem into a hierarchy with a goal, decision criteria, and alternatives, while ...

(ANP, an extension of AHP) * DEX (Decision EXpert) * Elimination and Choice Expressing Reality (ELECTRE) * Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique (MACBETH) * 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 In decision theory, the evidential reasoning approach (ER) is a generic evidence-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach for dealing with problems having both quantitative and qualitative criteria under various uncertainties including ...

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 Level of measurement or scale of measure is a classification that describes the nature of information within the values assigned to variables. Psychologist Stanley Smith Stevens developed the best-known classification with four levels, or scal ...

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 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 pairwi ...

Sensitivity analysis Sensitivity analysis is the study of how the uncertainty in the output of a mathematical model or system (numerical or otherwise) can be divided and allocated to different sources of uncertainty in its inputs. A related practice is uncertainty anal ...

*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 th
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.

References