Top Five most used decision making techniques for identification of best option (if you have many available alternatives)
Decision support systems are used to assist a decision maker to select the best available solution from a set of solutions.The problem with the existing method of selection lies in the fact that the choice may change with the change in the decision maker as the entire process is subjective and does not follow any specific operating procedures to execute the selection.In any DSS which are used to manage a water or energy based systems will require to consider multiple factors before selecting a one single option from the set of numerous other options to solve a single problem.As for example if we want to select the best location for installation of a Hydro-power plant and we have three different locations available for carrying out the desired operation then we have to look for specific factors based on which we can identify the best location. Now these factors are required to be evaluated for each location to come into conclusion.Again not all the factors are equally important.If the location selection of HPP is the objective and if flow,head and cost of land are the factors then each location will be assessed based on the given factors. Here you can see that not all the factors are equally important.Flow will be most significant and head will be least significant if all the three factors were compared. But for another decision maker the selection may be different.
That is why factor is required to be compared also with respect to the criteria : (For present example : Uncertainty caused and political decision making or Political,Environmental,Social and Technological interventions(PEST) on the factors) is required for evaluation of the factors. Once the factors are compared with each other with respect to each criteria considering the significance of each factors for that criteria with respect to the goal of the problem,the significance of factors become numerical and unchanged for all the investigators. Although in recent years many new decision making techniques are innovated which are multifaceted,efficient and technologically advanced, but still if you do not know the use of the following five decision making techniques you can not decide numerically as these are the methods which are used most commonly to find the best option among many.
1)Analytical Hierarchy Process
Link to research ideas on this topic:
1)Selection of Optimal Quality Water for Specific Uses by ANN-MCDM based Auto-Selector
2)Short Term Rainfall forecasting by ANN-MCDM Approach.
3)Pentagonal AHP in development of Environment Quality Index
4) Identification of Drivers in water management of energy industries by the AHP method
Link to new journals and conference :
3) Journals under the category of MCDM : See the report.
2-3)Weighted Sum and Weighted Product Method(WPM)
Link to research ideas on this topic:
1)A WSM and WPM approach to select suppliers in tea industry
2)Selection of turbines in hydro-power plant : A WSM and WPM approach
3) Application of the WPM method for management of soil erosion
4)Identification of vulnerability due to climate change :A WPM approach
5)Selection of renewable energy sources for development of hybrid power plant with maximum efficiency with the help of WSM and WPM method
6)Identification best location for installation of river dams cum defense structure with the help of WSM/WPM method
Link to new journals and conference :
5)Omega
5)Journals under the category of MCDM : See the report.
4)ELECTRE
Link to software/calculator:( XLSTAT)
Link to research ideas on this topic:
1)Multi-criterion analysis of a water and energy resource management problem using ELECTRE II
2)Optimal Selection of Location for Solid Waste Dumping by the ELECTRE method
3)Development of optimal power supply plan using integrated fuzzy ELECTRE III methods
4)Location selection of sub-surface dams in semi-arid region by ELECTRE methods
Link to new journals and conference :
5)Journals under the category of MCDM : See the report.
Link to software/calculator:(Visual PROMETHEE)
Link to research ideas on this topic:
1)Using criticality categories to evaluate water distribution networks by PROMETHEE method
2)PROMETHEE based decision framework for inland natural gas power plant site selection and management based on GIS
3) Inter-basin water and power transfer planning with PROMETHEE and fuzzy COPRAS techniques
4) The assessment of flow release scenarios from a hydro-power plant in the Alpine region
Link to new journals and conference :
5)Journals under the category of MCDM : See the report.
How to identify the best technique to solve your decision making problem ?
Use ODM to identify the best technique. ODM or Optimal Decision Maker V1 is a simple tool where you enter your decision making factors in the field "NAME OF DECISION MAKING FACTORS" and the score with respect to their importance at "SCORE THE FACTOR BASED ON YOUR PRIORITY (OUT OF 100)". Then enter the name of decision making(DM) methods under the column "NAME OF OPTIONS AVAILABLE".Now the score of significance of each of the DM methods with respect to the factors considered out of 100 may be entered under the column for each factors. That is all you have to do. The click the "update" button and under the "DECISION" column the best method will be shown and under the "RANK AS PER DESCENDING ORDER OF IMPORTANCE" a rank will be shown indicating the position of the method with respect to the other methods.
Remember : this selection is based on your input and will be as accurate as the input given by the decision maker.
Dr.Mrinmoy Majumder,
Founding and Honorary Editor
Innovate for Sustainability
http://www.baipatra.ws
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