A Topsis-Based Approach for Prioritized Aggregation in Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Problems

Aggregation in multi‐criteria decision‐making environments is a process of combining the values of a set of attributes into one representative value for the entire set of attributes. Many aggregation methods–ranging from the simple averaging approach to more sophisticated methods, such as ordered weighted averaging–have been applied in previous research. One challenge in aggregation arises in special cases of prioritized aggregation, wherein the prioritized relationships between attributes must be considered during aggregation. This paper presents a new approach to aggregating attributes with prioritized relationships. First, an overview of past research is conducted to identify different aggregation methods, classes and properties. Next, the concept of prioritized aggregation is explained in detail. A prioritized aggregation method utilizing the technique of order preference by similarity to ideal solution is then presented. Subsequently, the presented prioritized aggregation method is applied on an actual case study. According to the results, the aggregation method presented in this paper is, through the application of technique of order preference by similarity to ideal solution, capable of quantifying and considering the prioritized relationship between a set of attributes undergoing aggregation. Finally, conclusions are stated, and a discussion describing future work pertinent to this paper is presented.