A Multi criteria decision making support to software selection

Abstract

Decision analysis looks at the paradigm in which an individual decision maker or decision group contemplates a choice of action in an uncertain environment. The theory of decision analysis is designed to help the individual or decision group to make a choice among a set of pre specified alternatives. Selecting a software is a complex process involving multiple alternatives to choose from, multiple vendors to be considered and multiple criteria to be evaluated. Owing to the imprecise nature of software selection, a multi criteria decision making support was formulated, in which make a team of decision makers, identify the software project characteristics, evaluate software, derive the priorities for each alternative and make the final decision are the steps. This process was based on criteria got from literature review and refined using data from a survey of Ugandan IT managers and is the main contribution of the research. Findings indicated that product costs, training costs, vendor reputation, quality and ease of use are major issues considered in the decision making process for software selection. The multi criteria decision making support provides a framework to assist managers in analysing various software selection factors, evaluating software alternatives, and making final software selections.