A Proposed FAHP-based Technology Selection and Specification Methodology

Chung Liu, Kin (2009) A Proposed FAHP-based Technology Selection and Specification Methodology. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

In recent decades, selecting technology has become more difficult than ever due to complexity and abundance of technological options, higher cost of technology development, and rapid diffusion of technologies (Shehabuddeen et at., 2006). There is a visible need to decision makers to adopt appropriate methods for technology selection (TS). Most of the proposed approaches in the literature treat TS as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. For example, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) (Saaty, 1980) was proposed for general MCDM problems and was proposed to address TS problems. However, the proposed MCDM methods in literature consider TS as a decision making process for support of project justification, and do not consider TS as a process within the system development life cycle (SDLC). In fact, both industrial practices and literature suggest that TS may happen in both or either 1) project justification stage (before SDLC begins), and 2) system design (an essential system development phase in SDLC). Project justification and system design have different concerns in TS problem. Project justification aims to make decision for strategic benefits, and system design aims to satisfy requirement specifications, although the specifications may also include some strategic requirements such as cost and development lead-time. There is lack of research attempt to incorporate requirement specifications into a TS problem. Furthermore, there are particular issues must be concerned in system design by TS, and these issues may not addressed by general MCDM problem. The research points out two system design issues: 1. a TS problem may require a solution composed by sub-solutions; and 2. there's an opportunity to improve efficiency by integrating TS with technology specifications (TSP) (a system design activity beside TS). These two issues present challenge to conventional MCDM approach. TS is a necessary process in system design in some IT projects, and thereby system designer faces two challenges as described above: 1) requirement specifications must be considered as TS criteria, and 2) system design issues must be addressed. As these two challenges are not addressed by literatures and are regarded as the gap, the research aims to bridge the gap by propose a new methodology for TS as well as TSP. The proposed methodology is based on FAHP (Fuzzy AHP), a MCDM approach, but has features to address above challenges. The ultimate objective of the proposed methodology is to achieve additional benefit - increased effectiveness and increased efficiency. The thesis presents not only the study of TS problem and relevant topics, and development of the proposed methodology, but also to validate the potential benefit.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	20 Oct 2023 09:24
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2023 09:48
DOI:	10.17638/03174383
Copyright Statement:	Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis and any accompanying data (where applicable) are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3174383