Decision-making software (DM software) is used to help individuals and organizations with their decision-making processes, typically resulting in ranking, sorting or choosing from among alternatives.
Contents
An early example of DM software was described in 1973. Before the advent of the World Wide Web, most DM software was spreadsheet-based, with the first web-based DM software appearing in the mid-1990s. Nowadays, many DM software products (mostly web-based) are available – e.g. see the table below.
Most DM software focuses on ranking or choosing from among a group of alternatives characterized on multiple criteria or attributes. Thus most DM software is based on decision analysis, usually multi-criteria decision-making, 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 is intended to support the analysis involved in decision-making processes, not to replace it. "It should be used to support the process, not as the driving or dominating force." DM software frees users "from the technical implementation details [of 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."
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, sort or choose from among the alternatives.
DM software employs a variety of MCDM methods; popular examples include:
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, sort or choose from among alternatives, DM software products often include a variety of features and tools; common examples include:
Comparison of decision-making software
Notable DM software includes the following.