A comprehensive 0–1 goal programming model for project selection

Effective information system (IS) project selection in health service institutions necessitates incorporating the many conflicting objectives of decision-makers into decision models. Multiple factors that impact the decision to select an appropriate IS project include decision-maker preferences and priorities (goals and objectives), benefits, costs (hardware, software, required manpower and other costs), project risk, required time of completion and for training, and the availability of other scarce resources. Existing methods of IS selection do not include all these criteria in one decision model. Among the many proposed methodologies of multicriteria decision making, goal programming is perhaps the most popular and widely used. In this paper, project selection models in other disciplines, such as R&D, capital budgeting, investment plans, etc., are synthesized to develop a project selection model for health service institutions that explicitly incorporates all of these factors. The decision model is formulated as a mixed-0–1 goal programming model which is validated by applying it to real-world IS project selection data. The main contribution is in problem identification and development of the mathematical model for project selection.