Identifying, prioritizing, and using multiple objectives

Abstract

Analyzing decisions with multiple objectives requires thought about issues not relevant to single-objective decisions. The two key issues are identifying an appropriate set of objectives and prioritizing them. Both tasks may appear to be almost trivial: just write down your objectives and state your priorities. Experiments and experience indicate that this approach is inadequate for decisions worthy of thought. Identifying a complete set of independent objectives and prioritizing those objectives requires concepts, logical foundations, and thought-provoking procedures to create quality results. Those concepts, foundations, and procedures are presented and illustrated. Their use is described on two significant problems, allocating funds to alleviate different homeland security hazards and evaluating potential customers for American Express charge and credit cards.