Analytical Hierarchy Process

•• A
A systematic
systematic method
method forfor comparing
comparing aa list
list of
of
objectives
objectives or
or alternatives
alternatives
•• When
When used
used in
in the
the systems
systems engineering
engineering
process,
process, AHP
AHP can
can be
be aa powerful
powerful tool
tool for
for
comparing
comparing alternative
alternative design
design concepts
concepts
•• Reference:
Reference Ernest
Reference
Reference: Ernest H. Forman, Decision
H. Forman, Decision byby
Objectives
Objectives,,
http://mdm.gwu.edu/Forman/DBO.pdf
http://mdm.gwu.edu/Forman/DBO.pdf
 AHP

•• Assume
Assume that
that aa set
set of
of objectives
objectives has has been
been established
established
(VSD,
(VSD, OH),
OH), and
and that
that wewe areare trying
trying to
to establish
establish aa
normalized
normalized set
set of
of weights
weights to to be
be used
used when
when
comparing
comparing alternatives
alternatives usingusing these
these objectives.
objectives.
•• For
For simplicity,
simplicity, wewe assume
assume that
that there
there are
are 44
objectives:
objectives: O
O11,, O
O22,, O
O33,, and
and OO44..
 AHP

•• Form
Form aa pairwise
pairwise comparison
comparison matrixmatrix A A,, where
where
the
the number
number in the iithth row
in the and jjthth column
row and column gives
gives
the
the relative
relative importance
importance of of O
Oii as
as compared
compared with
with
O
Ojj
•• Use
Use aa 1–9
1–9 scale,
scale, with
with
–– aaijij =
= 11 ifif the
the two two objectives
objectives are
are equal
equal in
in importance
importance
–– aaijij =
= 33 ifif OOii isis weakly
weakly more
more important
important than
than OOjj
–– aaijij =
= 55 ifif OOii isis strongly
strongly more
more important
important than
than OOjj
–– aaijij =
= 77 ifif OOii isis very
very strongly
strongly more
more important
important than
than O Ojj
–– aaijij =
= 99 ifif OOii isis absolutely
absolutely more
more important
important than
than OOjj

–– aaijij =
= 1/3
1/3 ifif O
Ojj isis weakly
weakly more
more important
important than
than O
Oii
 AHP
•• Thus
Thus we
we might
might arrive
arrive at
at the
the following
following matrix:
matrix:
1 1 / 5 1 / 3 1 / 7 1.000 0.200 0.333 0.143
5 1 3 5  5.000 1.000 3.000 5.000
A=  =
3 1 / 3 1 3  3.000 0.333 1.000 3.000
   
 7 1 / 5 1 / 3 1  7.000 0.200 0.333 1.000 
•• To
To normalize
normalize the
the weights,
weights, compute
compute the
the sum
sum of
of each
each
column
column and
and then
then divide
divide each
each column
column by
by the
the
corresponding
corresponding sum
sum
•• Using
Using an
an overbar
overbar to
to denote
denote normalization,
normalization, we
we get:
get:
0.063 0.115 0.071 0.016
0.313 0.577 0.643 0.547
A= 
0.188 0.192 0.214 0.328
 
0.438 0.115 0.071 0.109
 AHP
0.063 0.115 0.071 0.016
0.313 0.577 0.643 0.547 
A= 
0.188 0.192 0.214 0.328
 
0.438 0.115 0.071 0.109
•• The
The numbers
numbers in in the
the second
second row
row are
are generally
generally larger
larger
than
than the
the rest
rest of
of the
the numbers,
numbers, except
except for
for the
the case
case of
of
column
column 11
•• This
This indicates
indicates some
some inconsistency
inconsistency in
in the
the comparisons
comparisons
used
used inin the
the original
original matrix
matrix
•• Ideally,
Ideally, the
the 44 normalized
normalized columns
columns would
would all all be
be
identical
identical ifif the
the pairwise
pairwise comparisons
comparisons werewere consistent
consistent
•• In
In practice,
practice, oneone can
can compute
compute aa consistency
consistency measure
measure
using
using the
the eigenvalues
eigenvalues ofof the
the normalized
normalized comparison
comparison
matrix.
matrix.
 AHP
•• The
The next
next step
step isis to
to compute
compute the
the average
average
values
values of
of each
each rowrow and
and use
use these
these as
as the
the
weights
weights in
in the
the Objective
Objective Hierarchy
Hierarchy
•• For
For this
this example,
example, the the weights
weights would
would be:
be:
w = [0.066 0.520 0.231 0.183]
T

4
•• Note
Note that
that by
by construction,
construction, ∑w
i =1
i = 1.

•• These
These weights
weights would
would bebe used
used in
in summing
summing
the
the measures
measures as
as required
required in
in the
the evaluation
evaluation
of
of the
the Objective
Objective Hierarchy.
Hierarchy.