A project portfolio selection problem in a group decision-making context

Abstract

Firms often face the problem of deciding how to share scarce resources between a set of candidate projects and simultaneously schedule them; that is, how to choose a project portfolio. Usually, this decision-making process is carried out in groups, and all the individuals’ preferences have to be considered simultaneously to determine an acceptable solution. We propose a two-step approach to assist groups in making this crucial decision. In the first step, a multiobjective model is solved that takes into account the characteristics of the organization (private or public) as well as the many key factors required by the decision group, such as available resources, synergies between projects, and other constraints to suitably select and schedule efficient project portfolios. Usually, the decision-making group has to choose from among a large number of efficient solutions. In the second step, the decision-making group refines the potential solutions. This second step is characterised by a flexible selection of weights, which helps to rank the set of efficient solutions and maximise consensus between the group members.