AHP-OS online software – Frequently Asked Questions

Note: All answers assume that you are a registered user and logged in.

Q: How do I save a new AHP hierarchy definition?

A: In the Session Administration Menu click on New.

The hierarchy window is displayed. Define a new hierarchy in the text input field and click on Submit new hierarchy, then Save in the Hierarchy Input Menu.

The group session window will open. Optionally provide a project short description and  click Go, and the defined hierarchy is stored and shown as type “H” (Hierarchy) in the project table of the Session Administration Menu.

Q: How can I define and store a project for the evaluation of alternatives?

A: Start with a hierarchy definition, save and resume from the project table by clicking on the session code link. Complete all pairwise comparisons (Click on AHP in the hierarchy) to define the weights of criteria. (Before alternatives can be evaluated, criteria weights need to be defined.) Submit for group evaluation and view the result. In the group result page click on Use consol. priorities.

Then click on Evaluate Alternatives in the decision hierarchy display. Provide number and names of your alternatives and save a new project. It will be saved as type “A” (Alternative Evaluation). From there you can resume and start the alternative evaluation.

Q: How can I use a defined and stored hierarchy definition as template for a new project or new group session?

A: Click on the session code link of the project, you want to use, in the Stored AHP project session table.

a)      If the project has no participants, the project will be opened in the group session input mode. Click on Leave, then Close in the Active Session Menu.

b)      If the project has participants, the project will be opened in the AHP Group result window. Click on the Resume link at the bottom of the page, then Leave and Close in the Active Session Menu as in a).

You can now re-use the hierarchy definition and save as a new project.

Participate in an AHP group session – AHP practical example

This is a practical example of an AHP group session, using AHP-OS, where you can input your judgment and see the consolidated group result of all participants.

Imagine, you plan to buy a tablet computer. Decide on the importance of criteria, like display size, battery life etc. Click on the image below, input your name, click on AHP and start the pairwise comparisons.

What feature is more important and how much on a scale from 1 to 9? Once finished,  submit your input for group evaluation and see the results.

[php snippet=15]

View the detailed group results.

AHP Projects

With the latest update of my free web based AHP software you can now manage complete projects and group sessions. To use the full functionality, register a new account (It’s all free!) I had to implement the registration in order to manage and protect the data.

After login the project session page will be shown. Here your AHP projects are listed in a table, each of them with a unique session code.

A click on the session code will then open the project, either in the hierarchy display mode (the project has yet no participants),  where you can modify and update the hierarchy structure,  or in the group result mode, where you get the consolidated group result of all participants with a breakdown by categories and individual participants.

The project menu allows you to view project details, start a new hierarchy or delete existing projects.

After you have defined a new hierarchy, click on Save/Start new Group session. Enter a project short description, click Go, Ok and done, and the new project is saved in you project list.

Let me know in case you face any problems. A short description of the program as pdf can be found on the AHP-OS start page.

AHP group decision making

The figure below shows, how a group session is conducted to determine group priorities using BPMSG’s AHP online system. The group session chair initiates a group session (You need to be registered and logged in). A six character session code is generated. Participants can use this session code to log into the group session and provide their judgments. Try out a practical example, where you can participate and input your judgments

Example showing the result for two participants. See also my post about group decision making.

AHP Online Software – Version 2014-03-15

I just released a new version of my AHP Online Software. It includes the possibility to do group sessions: several participants can make the pairwise comparison, and you can view the consolidated group result.

After definition of the hierarchy using the AHP online system, click on “New Group Session” (You need to login  as  registered user). A session code will be provided. Enter your name, start the pairwise comparisons and submit for group evaluation.

Note down the session code, and provide the link, shown under the active group session, to your participants to log in and do their pairwise comparisons.

You can view the group result, once data are submitted, with a click on “View group results”. You might always review results by using the session code and your name using the AHP Group Session link.

Please be aware that this version is still a beta version. Kindly feedback any problems or bugs.

AHP Youtube video example – matrix values and priority vectors

Here the detailed results of the example in my AHP video:

Buy an MP3 Player

Color Memory Delivery
1 2 3
1 1  1/3  1/2
2 3 1 1
3 2 1 1

Resulting weights: Color: 16.9%, Memory: 44.3%, Delivery: 38.7%, CR = 1.9%

Color:

pink blue green black red
1 2 3 4 5
1 1 2 3  1/2  1/4
2  1/2 1 3  1/4  1/3
3  1/3  1/3 1  1/7  1/7
4 2 4 7 1  1/3
5 4 3 7 3 1

Resulting weights: pink: 13.6%,  blue:  9.8%, green: 4.3%, black: 26.5%, red: 45.8%, CR = 4.9%

Memory:

8 MB 16 MB 32 MB 64 MB
1 2 3 4
1 1  1/5  1/7  1/8
2 5 1  1/7  1/8
3 7 7 1 1
4 8 8 1 1

Resulting weights: 8 MB: 4%, 16 MB: 9.5%, 32 MB: 41.7%, 64 MB: 44.8%, CR= 12.5%

Delivery

immediate one week 4 weeks
1 2 3
1 1 1 5
2 1 1 3
3  1/5  1/3 1

Resulting weights: Immediate: 48.1%, 1 week: 40.5%, 4 weeks: 11.4%, CR = 3%

Resulting Global Priorities

AHP Online System

As I was asked by many visitors, how to evaluate priorities and alternatives for a whole project in AHP, I have realized an online solution, where you can define a hierarchy, get the priorities for all categories and evaluate alternatives. The project is realized in PHP.

AHP OS Example

Links

AHP Online System – BPMSG
AHP-OS software Implementation (paper 2018)
Short description (pdf) for download.

Please rate the software at the end of this post!

Continue reading AHP Online System

Updated AHP Excel template Version 2013-12-24

In this latest update of my AHP excel template, input sheets were modified to show the proposed ideal judgments for the three most inconsistent inputs, resulting in a lower consistency ratio CR.

Example

On the left side judgment A9, A7 and A6 are highlighted as inconsistent, CR is 32%. The consistent judgment is shown as A4, A9 and A3. After correction with the proposed intensities (right side) the consistency ratio decreases to 7% below the required threshold of 10%.

You might download the latest version from my AHP template download page.

AHP Online Calculator – Update 2013-12-20

In this latest version of the AHP online calculator I made some changes:

  • The three judgments with highest inconsistency will be highlighted with the last column showing the recommended judgment for lowest inconsistency
  • Selection of fundamental AHP or balanced Scale
  • Number of Criteria changed from 12 to 15 max.1)
  • Length of criteria names changed from 15 to max. 20 characters
  • Download of result (decision matrix, eigen vector, CR) as csv (comma separated values) instead of txt file

The .csv  file uses “,” as field separator and “.” as decimal symbol (unchanged). Depending on your operating system it will directly open in Excel.

1) Important Note: Though the maximum number of criteria is 15, you should always try to structure your decision problem in a way that the number of criteria is in the range Seven Plus or Minus Two.

;