A web-based group decision support system for multicriteria problems

摘要

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.