An Interactive Approach for Project Selection

Abstract

This paper describes an interactive method for presenting a sequence of feasible sets of indivisible projects to a decision-maker. For each set as a whole, the decision-maker evaluates its utilities with respect to each of several attributes; the utilities are then combined to give a single utility for the set.

A sequence of zero-one programmes is used to ensure that the only sets presented are those which are feasible and which are not contained in larger feasible sets. The sets are presented in descending order of size, and the presentation can be terminated by the decision-maker or by supplementary rules.

The method for presenting sets can be used in other contexts in which complete enumeration of possible sets would otherwise be required.