Modified analytic hierarchy process for project proposal evaluation: An alternative method for practical implementation

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to develop an alternative means for implementing analytic hierarchy process (AHP). AHP has been widely used for ranking alternative choices among others. AHP builds a matrix containing ordinal scores derived from comparing attributes inherent in alternative criteria. Weights among alternative choices are derived from the eigenvector representing the priorities associated with a special type of positive matrix built according to AHP which become the basis for ranking the alternatives. In practice, matrix operations and calculating the eigenvector are not only a burden to many, but also are difficult to explain the processes and meanings of the eigenvector and eigenvalue to the decision makers using an ordinary common language. The importance of project proposals, particularly for public projects, stems from the fact that implementations of such projects have tremendous impacts on cities and regionals in socio‐economic settings. Since AHP is being used widely in the world for evaluating public project proposals among others, the focus of the paper is to develop an alternative way to evaluate public project proposals based on the modified AHP approach for practitioners. The modified approach described in this paper does not need for a separate calculation of eigenvector since the process guarantees making a consistent matrix for pairwise comparative scores. The workings of the modified approach are reported in detail for evaluating a real‐world example in ranking project proposals.