Evidence based decision analysis and support

The evidential reasoning (ER) approach was developed to support multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA). It is based on the Dampster´s combination rule for criteria aggregation and belief function for treating ignorance. In the original ER approach, however, alternative ranking depends on the accurate estimation of a value function, which may be difficult in certain decision environments. In this paper, the link and difference between the ER algorithm and Dampster´s combination rule are analysed first. A new alternative ranking method is then investigated as an integrated part of the enhanced ER approach.