PREFDIS: a multicriteria decision support system for sorting decision problems

This paper, following the methodological framework of multicriteria decision aid (MCDA), presents the PREFDIS (PREFerence DIScrimination) multicriteria decision support system to study sorting decision problems. The main characteristic and a major advantage of the system is the incorporation into its model base of four MCDA methods originating from the preference-disaggregation approach, namely the UTADIS method (UTilités Additives DIScriminantes) and three of its variants, referred to as UTADIS I, UTADIS II and UTADIS III. Using these methods, the decision maker (DM) can develop interactively powerful additive utility models to sort a set of alternatives into two or more predefined classes as accurately as possible, based on different sorting techniques. Furthermore, the system provides enriched preference modeling capabilities, including the modeling of non-monotone preferences. The friendly window-based user interface of the system enables the decision maker/user to take full advantage of the capabilities of the system in order to make effective real-time decisions.