Multi-criteria project selection using fuzzy preference relations based AHP and TOPSIS

Abstract

Project selection is a strategic problem and can be a critical factor to the outcome of project management. Meanwhile, it is often a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem with so many factors to be considered simultaneously. Further, the experts in the field must make judgments on a given set of alternatives based on conflicting criteria, and it is often hard for them to assign crisp judgments in most situations. To solve this problem, a hybrid approach based on fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) which uses fuzzy preference relations and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to rank different alternatives is proposed. The fuzzy AHP is used to analyze the problem and meanwhile to determine the criteria weights. Fuzzy TOPSIS is applied in ranking all the given set of alternatives and determining the most appropriate one. The hybrid approach can help provide suggestions under conditions of incomplete information. An illustrative example on project selection is studied to verify the effectiveness of the foregoing proposed approach. Moreover, comparable results show that the calculation of the criteria weights can influence the ranking orders. The application could provide us more insight into the project selection process.