Marko Bohanec, Bojan Cestnik:
Decision Support
2020/21

Programme

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT3) / Informacijske in komunikacijske tehnologije (IKT3)

Course

Podpora pri odločanju / Decision Support

Schedule for 2020/21

In 2020/21, the course will be given through an introductory lecure and two consulatation sessions:

1. 03.11.2020: Marko Bohanec: Introduction to Decision Support.
2. 08.04.2020, 13:00-16:00 (Zoom):
   Marko Bohanec:
   • Introduction to the Course and Study Requirements,
   • An Overview of Decision Support (Quick recapitulation),
   • Brief Introduction to Decision Analysis.
3. 28.04.2021, 13:00-16:00 (Zoom):
   Marko Bohanec:
   • Decision Analysis: Multi-attribute models; Kepner-Tregoe, AHP, DEXi,
   • Practical assignments,
   • Overview of advanced topics (ICT3 only).

Individual Consultations

Additional individual consultations will take place throughout 2020/21. Please arrange the consultation individually through e-mail to Marko Bohanec.

Examinations and Practical Assignment Presentations

• 16.6.2021, (Zoom?):
  
      15:00-16:00 Written exam (ICT3 only)
      16:00-19:00 Individual presentations
  
      Submission deadline for finalized reports and models: 14.6.2021 14:00

Literature

Course Slides in English

1. Decision Support: Study Requirements and Procedure
2. Decision Support: An Overview
3. Decision Analysis: Decision tables, decision-making under uncertainty, decision trees, influence diagrams
4. Decision Analysis: Multi-attribute models; Kepner-Tregoe, AHP, DEXi
5. Advanced Topics: Classification of methods, aggregation and value functions, data mining and decision support, HINT

Required Reading

Slovene-speaking students

• Bohanec, M.: Odločanje in modeli (1. ponatis). DMFA - založništvo, 2012. [O knjigi...]

English-speaking students

Bohanec, M.: Decision Making: A Computer-Science and Information-Technology Viewpoint. Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 7(2), 22-37, 2009.

Bohanec, M., Rajkovič, V., Bratko, I., Zupan, B., Žnidaršič, M.: DEX methodology: Three decades of qualitative multi-attribute modelling. Informatica 37, 49-54, 2013.

Bohanec, M.: DEXi: Program for Multi-Attribute Decision Making, User's Manual, Version 5.00. IJS Report DP-11897, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, 2015.

Decision trees: a book chapter on decision trees

Multi-Attribute Decision Models: a book chapter on MCDA software

Method AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) and supporting software:
Students are requested to find the corresponding teaching materials on their own.

Applications: a paper describing a specific application (evaluating researchers)

Supplementary Reading

• Greco, S., Ehrgott, M., Figueira, J.: Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: State of the Art Surveys. Springer, 2016.
• Ishizaka, A., Nemery, P.: Multi-criteria Decision Analysis: Methods and Software. Wiley, 2013.
• Bouyssou, D., Marchant, T., Pirlot, M., Tsoukias, A., Vincke, P.: Evaluation and Decision Models with Multiple Criteria: Stepping Stones for the Analyst. International Series in Operations Research and Management Science, Volume 86. Boston: Springer, 2006.
• Web page: IJS Decision Support Resources
• Web page: Wikipedia: Decision making

Requirements and procedure

1. Practical assignment:
   • Each student is required to make their Practical Assignment and write a report.
   • The report, together with all developed decision models, must be sent by e-mail to marko.bohanec@ijs.si no later than the last Friday, 12:00 a.m., before the presentation/examination event.
     Sending reports for earlier previews is encouraged.
   • A final printed version of the report must be handed to Marko Bohanec at the presentation/examination event.
2. Examinations consist of two parts:
   1. A 60-minute Written Exam
   2. A 10-15 minute oral presentation and defense of each student's practical assignment (supported by slides)
3. For passing the examinations, both parts have to be evaluated positively. Each part contributes 50 % to the final evaluation.

Written Exam

Written exam takes 60 minutes. Questions address topics from the required literature, from both a theoretical and practical viewpoint. See DS_Exam_Example.pdf

For theoretical questions, see DS_Questions.pdf. For practical questions, you can expect typical model-development exercises from the literature.

Practical Assignment

There are three principal types of practical assignments; each student may freely choose one:

• Research: Take a research topic proposed by the professor; see the topics in DS_2021_Study.pdf.
• Applicative: Take a sufficiently complex real-life decision problem, familiar to you. Follow the typical stages of decision analysis and propose a solution. At least two decision models should be developed and compared in terms of used methods, model components and evaluation results. Analysis and interpretation of results are mandatory.
• Project: Any other topic, related to decision making and decision support, practical and/or theoretical, suggested by the student. Preferably, the results should contribute to some active research or development project.

The topic of each practical assignment should be pre-arranged in agreement with the professor.