Impact of decision model structure on the selection of a telecommunications tower footing reinforcement alternative

Abstract

In recent years, we have been able to observe a dynamic development of MCDA (multi-criteria decision analysis) methods, which have become widely used in various sectors, including construction. These methods are characterised by simplicity and one of their key advantages is their simple modelling of non-linear dependencies within decision problems and their analysis under the conditions of incomplete, uncertain and hard-to-measure information. The universality and simple use of these methods does not, however, free the decision-maker from the necessity to adopt the proper approach to modelling and analysing specific decision problems. To highlight the fact that it is the character of the problem that should determine the selection of the method of analysing it and not the other way around, the authors assessed the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and the ANP (Analytic Network Process) method in terms of verifying the impact of the different decision model structures on analysis outcomes and analysed their sensitivity to input data changes. This analysis was based on the example of selecting a telecommunications tower footing reinforcement alternative. The findings confirmed the significant impact of decision model structure on the ranking of the analysed alternatives.