A web‐based group decision support system for multicriteria problems

Abstract

One of the most important factors to determine the success of an organization is the quality of decisions made. Supporting a decision‐making process is a complex task, mainly when decision‐makers are dispersed. Group decision support systems (GDSSs) have been studied over the last decades with the goal of providing support to decision‐makers; however, their acceptance by organizations has been difficult. This happens mostly due to usability problems, loss of interaction between decision‐makers, and consequently, loss of information. In this work, we present a web‐based GDSS developed to support groups of decision‐makers, regardless of their geographic location. The system allows the creation of multicriteria problems and the configuration of the preferences, intentions, and interests of each decision‐maker. The presented system uses a multiagent system to combine and process this information, using virtual agents that represent each decision‐maker. We believe that, with this approach, we will proceed in the refinements of a successful GDSS to correctly support decision‐makers while preserving the valuable intelligence and knowledge that can be generated in face‐to‐face meetings. Furthermore, the high level of usability that the system provides will contribute to an easier acceptance and adoption of this kind of systems.