A fuzzy-based decision-making procedure for data warehouse system selection

The increase in the number of companies seeking data warehousing solutions, in order to gain significant business advantages, has created the need for a decision-aid approach in choosing appropriate data warehouse (DW) systems. Owing to the vague concepts frequently represented in decision environments, we have proposed a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making procedure, to facilitate data warehouse system selection, with consideration given to both technical and managerial criteria. The procedure can systematically construct the objectives of DW systems selection to support the business goals and requirements of an organization, and identify the appropriate attributes or criteria for evaluation. In the fuzzy-based method, the weight of each criterion and the rating of each alternative are described using linguistic terms, which can also be expressed as triangular fuzzy numbers. The fuzzy algorithm aggregated the decision-makers' preference rating for criteria, and the suitability of data warehouse alternatives versus the selection criteria, to calculate fuzzy appropriateness indices, through which, the most suitable data warehouse system was determined. A case study of a Bar Code Implementation Project for Agricultural Products in Taiwan was conducted to illustrate this method's effectiveness. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.