Hierarchical group decision-making approach for information technology project evaluation and prioritization

The purpose of this study is to define a novel hierarchical group decision-making (HGDM) problem. For this problem, a practical solution approach is proposed for information technology (IT) project evaluation and prioritization. HGDM is a decision-making problem with a large number of decision makers (DMs) or experts organized in a hierarchical structure. For this problem, a practical solution approach based on pairwise comparisons is developed. For evaluating the projects in organizations, specifically for the IT projects, a hierarchy of many DMs make project proposals and assess proposed projects using various sets of criteria. The proposed HGDM approach is applied to the evaluation and prioritization of IT projects. A problem with 22 DMs and experts in a three-level hierarchy, 29 criteria and 15 projects is solved using the proposed HGDM approach. The HGDM approach can deal with more complex real-life problems such as problems where more than 500 projects, 100 DMs and experts, and 100 criteria exist. The originality of the study is the introduction of HGDM in the group decision-making environment.