A Modified AHP for Large-scale MCDM: a Case of Power Station Construction Project Selection

Abstract

This article proposes a novel technique to alter the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to deal with large-scale multi-criteria decision making. Since the AHP has been a fruitful tool for decades, it has been advised that up to seven aspects should be considered. However, realistically, real-world decision problems very often have more than that. We propose assigning a significant scale from 1 to 9, like a survey questionnaire; then, we present the relative criteria scoring and modify the way of constructing the relative criteria scoring matrix. It is called the large- scale AHP. To illustrate the performance of the novel method, we conducted the experimental study by working with a regional electricity provider. The problem was deciding on selecting the power station construction project with 10 choices and 7 criteria. The result was compared with the classical AHP with a clustering technique. The outcome showed that both approaches yielded the same decision and chose the same alternative A₈. Furthermore, both methods yielded the same order on weighted criteria. However, the new technique could save decision-making time by 77.08%.