Article ID: | iaor20072999 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 13 |
Issue: | 4 |
Start Page Number: | 279 |
End Page Number: | 297 |
Publication Date: | Jul 2006 |
Journal: | International Transactions in Operational Research |
Authors: | Correia Paulo V.D., Costa Carlos A. Bana e, Fernandes Tnia G. |
Keywords: | decision theory: multiple criteria, allocation: resources |
Not-for-profit private organisations that provide social services to children, the elderly and the disabled apply for financial support to develop or to renew their social infrastructures, through the Portuguese Institute for Social Welfare. In the context of scarce financial resources, the Institute decision-makers felt the need to adopt an improved ‘rationality’ in resource allocation, in order to increase transparency and to ensure that the collective best use is made of a limited budget. This paper describes the socio-technical process followed in building a multicriteria value model, under a decision conferencing framework in which participation and interaction among decision-actors were key features in the development of the three main phases of problem structuring, evaluation and prioritisation.