Decision and Information Support System for a Framework to Building Multicriteria Decision Models

Several Decision Support Systems (DSS) have been presented in literature. This paper presents an Information and Decision System that has been performed to implement a Framework for building decision models in the context of Multi-Criteria Decision Making/Aiding (MCDM/A) approach. This system incorporates the steps of the framework in order to support DMs to build decision models. This system does not intend to suggest a specific MCDM/A method but can be used to structure the model with rigor following the framework steps. In addition, this system can be used to document important steps of the process. The DSS also provides flexibility for users since they can return to previous steps to review or adjust some points. Also, the DSS is interactive since the users present preferential information in all steps. An important step presented in the system regards the preference modeling process. During this step, Decision-Makers (DMs) should contextualize the rationality presented in the MCDM/A problem. Moreover, several tests of consistency are done in order to improve the system and to understand how DMs define the rationality of those problems and if they stay consistent with their rationality during the process. In addition, the DSS included several aspects of Problem Structuring Methods, considering important aspects that are not considered in the previous version of the framework. In special, concepts of the Value Focus Thinking method have been included in the system to support the definition of objectives, criteria, and alternatives. This feature improves the new version of the framework. This DSS presents the most important steps of the framework and also provides insights for the development of behavioral studies, which can bring advances in the MCDM/A approach.