Raymond Bisdorff

Evaluation and decision models with multiple criteria: Case studies

This book showcases a large variety of multiple criteria decision applications (MCDAs), presenting them in a coherent framework provided by the methodology chapters and the comments accompanying each case study. The chapters describing MCDAs invite the reader to experiment with MCDA methods and perhaps develop new variants using data from these case studies or other cases they encounter, equipping them with a broader perception of real-world problems and how to overcome them with the help of MCDAs.

Human centered processes and decision support systems

Abstract This paper emphasizes the role of human factors in Decision Support Systems and related assisting tools that can be used in the Operational Research field. It links both historical information and real life realizations concerning the human centered processes. The historical points mentioned in the paper give only partial emphasis, according to the feeling of the authors. The aim, here, is essentially to review some tools (e.g., utility theory, cognitive modeling, etc.) that are or might be used to tackle new problems in the context of anthropocentered systems, especially when considering the recent evolution of Information Systems towards distributed ones. Several real-life problems (mostly in an industrial setting) are reviewed. They all concern applications on which the authors have worked (or are working) together.

R UBIS: A bipolar-valued outranking method for the choice problem

The main concern of this article is to present the RUBIS method for tackling the choice problem in the context of multiple criteria decision aiding. Its genuine purpose is to help a decision maker to determine a single best decision alternative. Methodologically we focus on pairwise comparisons of these alternatives which lead to the concept of bipolar-valued outranking digraph. The work is centred around a set of five pragmatic principles which are required in the context of a progressive decision aiding methodology. Their thorough study and implementation in the outranking digraph lead us to define a choice recommendation as an extension of the classical digraph kernel concept.

Logical Foundation of Multicriteria Preference Aggregation

In this chapter, we would like to show Bernard Roy’s contribution to modern computational logic. Therefore we first present his logical approach for multicriteria preference modelling. Here, decision aid is based upon a refined methodological construction, that provides the family of criteria with important logical properties giving access to the concordance principle used for aggregating preferential assertions from multiple semiotical points of view. In a second section, we introduce the semiotical foundation of the concordance principle and present a new formulation of the concordance principle with its associated necessary coherence axioms imposed on the family of criteria. This new methodological framework allows us, in a third part, to extend the classical concordance principle and its associated coherence axioms imposed on the family of criteria — first to potentially redundant criteria — but also to missing individual evaluations and even partial performance tableaux.

Concordant outranking with multiple criteria of ordinal significance

Abstract.In this paper we address the problem of aggregating outranking statements from multiple preference criteria of ordinal significance. The concept of ordinal concordance of a global outranking situation is defined and an operational test for its presence is developed. Finally, we propose a new kind of robustness analysis for global outranking statements integrating classical dominance, ordinal and classical majority concordance in a same ordinal valued logical framework.

Electre-like clustering from a pairwise fuzzy proximity index

Abstract In this paper, we propose an Electre-like approach for clustering judges from their L -valued pairwise proximities in preference judgements. The approach is based on the extraction of L -valued null kernels from a pairwise L -valued proximity index. A practical application will concern the clustering of movie critics.

Cognitive support methods for multi-criteria expert decision making

Abstract In this paper, written for the session on multi-criteria decision analysis of the EURO XV–INFORMS XXXIV International Conference (Barcelona, July 1997), we present different cognitive methods for supporting an expert decision maker in her/his daily decision practice. The first part of the paper deals with the construction of a cognitive artifact of the decision problem. The second part discusses the main methodological components of our approach and the final part introduces some possible approaches as candidates for an ecological validation.

Industrial linear optimization problems solved by constraint logic programming

In this article we try to illustrate that constraint logic programming (CLP) systems allow easy expression and solution of constrained decision problems. In order to do so, this paper proposes CLP solutions for two industrial linear optimization problems respectively using the Prolog III and the CHIP language. The first problem, a mixed linear multicriteria selection problem, illustrates the general linear rational solver. In order to fix some integer variables a branch and bound rounding heuristic is formulated. The second problem, a linear integer multicriteria location problem, is only concerned with integer finite domain variables and is particularly adapted to the CHIP system that provides a computation domain handling such variables.

An Evaluation Model for Selecting Cloud Services from Commercially Available Cloud Providers

Selecting the appropriate cloud services and cloudproviders according to the cloud users requirements is becoming a complex task, as the number of cloud providers increases. Cloud providers offer similar kinds of cloud services, but they are different in terms of price, quality of service, customer experience, and service delivery. The most challenging issue of the current cloud computing business is that cloud providers commit a certain Service Level Agreement (SLA), with cloud users, but there is little or no verification mechanisms which ensure that cloud providers are providing cloud services according to their commitment. In the current literature, there is a lack of an evaluation model which provides the real status of cloud providers for the cloud users. In this paper, an evaluation model is proposed, which verifies the quality of cloud services delivered for each service and provides the service status of the cloud providers. Finally, evaluation results obtained from cloud auditors are visualized in an ordered performance heat map, showing the cloud providers in a decreasing ordering of overall service quality. In this way, the proposed service quality evaluation model represents a visual recommender system for cloud service brokers and cloud users.

Disaggregation of Bipolar-Valued Outranking Relations

In this article, we tackle the problem of exploring the structure of the data which is underlying a bipolar-valued outranking relation. More precisely, we show how the performances of alternatives and weights related to criteria can be determined from three different formulations of the bipolar-valued outranking relations, which are given beforehand.