Evaluation of software development projects based on integrated Pythagorean fuzzy methodology

Abstract

Implementing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system successfully comes with a set of costly and complex challenges. The purpose of this paper is to offer an effective cloud-based ERP software evaluation framework to gain a better understanding of these complexities and address such challenges by identifying the selection criteria. The PFS (Pythagorean Fuzzy Set) is the new extension of Intuitionistic fuzzy sets, the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) is an easy-to-use technique to determine the weights of the criteria, and the VIKOR technique is a compromise ranking methodology. In the recommended novel integrated MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision-Making) methodology, Decision-Makers (DMs) must choose the best one among a set of candidate alternatives that satisfies the evaluation criteria. The GDM (Group Decision Making) is preferred here to deal with hesitancy in the evaluation of alternatives under group preferences. The sensitivity analysis resulted from various scenarios reveals that the proposed method is quite sensitive to criteria weights. The service and support, cost, and functionality are found as the essential evaluation criteria for the Turkish firm. These findings emphasize the significance of a qualified group of DMs for the evaluation process. The case study findings demonstrate that the developed approach is practical and validated for solving software development projects. This study presents a novel integrated methodology based on the PFS, SAW, and VIKOR to measure the performance of software development projects, to deal with the ambiguity and imprecision caused by the subjective judgments of DMs. The research contributes to the literature by delivering a combined decision methodology for the first time and by applying it to evaluate the software development projects.