AHP in Practice: Applications and Observations from a Management Consulting Perspective

Abstract

Over the last eight years, the Canadian management consulting firm of Woods Gordon has used the Analytic Hierarchy Process to help clients in the public and private sectors structure and solve complex, real-world decision problems. Many of the applications were costly projects that required detailed hierarchies with a large number of criteria and alternatives and that often involved a group of decision makers.In this paper, we review the use of the AΗΡ in a consulting environment and focus on the many practical considerations that users must address in order to facilitate a successful decisionmaking process. To provide some background on how the AHP works in practice, four applications are described in detail: a hospital’s building and renovation program, strategic planning for information systems needs, contractor selection, and the allocation of military maintenance work.