ASSIGNMENT 2 – Group part						Date:
Report on 
_____ selection problem
	Instructions
•	Fill in the group information section. Select one of the group members to act as a facilitator. Facilitator leads the group discussion, ensures that all relevant issues are considered, and that all group members are heard equitably.
•	In the problem description you find optional decision problems. You can choose one of them or use your own example. Complete the title according to your selection.
•	Before every section detailed instructions are given. Read the instruction carefully and write brief answers in the answer sheets. If you are not familiar with the topics, read the suggested sections from the MCDA web site. 
•	In this assignment the use of the Web-HIPRE software is required. Create a new user account at the Web-HIPRE server and save the group model (and the individual models) on it. 
•	Fill in the user name and password for the Web-HIPRE model. List also individual file names and user names if they are not same as in the group model.
•	To copy a picture from Web-HIPRE, press Alt - Prt Sc and paste the figure into the document. To ensure a small file size, in Word select Tools-Options-Save and disable Fast saves. 
•	Web-HIPRE is available at the web site http://www.hipre.hut.fi. To create a new user account, click register and follow the instructions.

Group Number:
Facilitator:

Web-HIPRE:
User name: 
Password:

Group members name	Student number	Dep.	email	User name	File name	

						

						

The problem
•	In the following possible group decision-making problems are given. 
•	Use one of them as a starting point and write a brief problem description. You can also use your own example.

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1.	Choosing a place to go for clubbing with your friends. 
2.	Selecting a restaurant.
3.	Movie / theatre club has to decide on the next play they are going to…
4.	Student’s car club is about to invest in a new car, but they haven’t decided on the make yet…
5.	Skiing club is organising a trip to the Alps. The board has to decide on the skiing resort and they decided to use value tree analysis to support the decision...
6.	Photo club is about to buy a new camera and they have to decide on the model…

Decision context
Define the decision context. You may use the Internet to find information about relevant decision alternatives and their properties. 
•	In your group, discuss the different aspects concerning the decision context. Facilitator leads the conversation and summarises the results on the answer section below.
•	Some questions to be discussed: 
•	Who is the problem owner?
•	Are there other stakeholders?
•	What is the purpose of the analysis?
•	Are there time constraints?
•	What information is available?
•	What are the values related to the decision?
•	See the “Defining the decision context” section at the MCDA web site.

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Objectives
•	List all the objectives you find relevant.
•	First each group member writes a list of objectives after which the lists are discussed in group.
•	Facilitator may ask DM’s to take different perspectives. 
•	If cost were no concern…
•	How would you see the problem after five years?
•	At the end separate means form the fundamental objectives.
•	See the “Identifying and generating objectives” and “Separating means from fundamental objectives” in “Hierarchical modelling of objectives” section at the MCDA web site.

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Decision alternatives
•	First each group member writes a list of possible decision alternatives after which the lists are combined and discussed in group.
•	Again, facilitator may ask DM’s to take different perspectives, to remove constraints, or to use objectives to stimulate the identification of the decision alternatives. Also the Internet may be used as a source of information (write down the Internet addresses for later use). 
•	If necessary, the set of decision alternatives may be reduced (three to five alternatives suffices in most cases). The group has to agree on the final set of the decision alternatives. 
•	List the preliminary and final set of decision alternatives in the answer section below. Write a brief reasoning for the final set of the alternatives. List also the methods that were used to generate the decision alternatives (with comments concerning the usefulness).
•	See the “Identifying decision alternatives” section at the MCDA web site.

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Group hierarchy
•	Prior going on further to the group hierarchy section each group member should create own value tree model of the problem and complete the individual assignment paper (MCDA – assignment2-individual). 
•	After the individual models are completed, create a group hierarchy in which group member’s overall values are included as objectives. The individual value trees are combined with the group hierarchy by using Web-HIPRE’s group property. 
•	In a completed individual value tree model select group   publish/refresh.
•	In the group model select corresponding objective and priorities window  group. Insert user name and password. Click refresh to obtain the individual values.
•	Note: alternatives must be the same in each model! 
•	In the group model select Model – Element descriptions - Links and add links to the Internet sites describing the corresponding decision alternative. You may also use your own web site to describe the problem, attributes and objectives.
•	Give equal weights for each group member’s overall value.
•	Paste the objectives hierarchy into the answer section below. (See instructions on the first page). 
•	See the car selection case and “Group decision-making” section at the MCDA web site. 
•	See also http://www.hipre.hut.fi/WebHipre/Help-Group.html.

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The result
•	Paste composite priorities window from the completed group model into the answer section below. Analyse the results.
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Sensitivity analysis
•	In the Web-HIPRE select Sensitivity Analysis for the group model.
•	Paste the relevant figures in the answer section and analyse.
•	Is the model sensitive to changes in group members’ weights? 
•	Is the model sensitive to changes in objectives’ weights?
•	Select an objective to which individual preference models are sensitive. Increase the weight of the objective in every individual preference model and check for changes in final results in the group model.
•	Is there a need to refine the preference statements?
•	See the “Sensitivity analysis” section at the MCDA web site.

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Suggested solution and comments
•	What is your final solution proposal?
•	Write a brief conclusion about the analysis. 
•	How realistic was the analysis? 
•	Do you think that you could use the approach in some real problem of your own?
•	Did you get new insights in the problem you analysed?
•	How did you see the role of the facilitator? 
•	You can also comment the assignment and corresponding theory parts in general.

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