The Governments' promotion and support of Best Value within the Social Housing Sector has been a prime catalyst in the move by Registered Social Landlord's [RSL's] away from the traditional culture of acceptance of the lowest bid towards consideration of both price and quality criteria as a basis for contractor selection. Manifestly this radical change in the way the sector procures its construction services has forced many of its stakeholders to undergo significant cultural and organisational changes within a relatively short period of time, and problems have developed during this transitional period that have affected the efficiency of the best value process. This research traced the root causes of these problems and its overarching aim was to develop an approach which will enable RSL's and their stakeholders to streamline the best value tender analysis procedure thereby allowing tenders to be dealt with effectively and efficiently whilst also creating a transparent and auditable decision making process. The approach has been established using a mixed methods research methodology utilising; case studies, surveys, rational decision analysis and system evaluation. The main output of the research is the development of a support tool known by the acronym OVID-BV which aids the multi objective decision making process. The underlying rationale for the support tool is based on the innovative use of uncertainty in decision making and the functionality of the tool uses a combination of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), multi attribute utility theory (MAUT) and whole life costing (WLC).

One of the petroleum industry?s goals is to reduce the environmental impact of oil and gas operations in environmentally sensitive areas. To achieve this, a number of Environmentally Friendly Drilling (EFD) technologies have been developed to varying degrees. For example, the use of an elevated platform as an alternative to the gravel pad is less intrusive and leads to a more environmentally friendly approach to drilling operations. Elevated drilling platforms will require the use of piles. Another alternative to the gravel pad is the use of composite mats. Since the demand of low impact technologies for drill site construction has rapidly increased, the parametric study for the feasibility of using pile foundations and composite mats is conducted in this research. Even though a number of EFD technologies have already been developed to varying degrees, few have been integrated into a field demonstrable drilling system (i.e., combination of technologies) compatible with ecologically sensitive areas. In general, it is difficult to select the best combination of EFD technologies for a given site because there are many possible combinations and many different evaluation criteria. The proposed technology evaluation method is based on a systems analysis that can be used for integrating current and new EFD technologies into an optimal EFD system. An optimization scheme is suggested based on a combination of multi-attribute utility theory and exhaustively enumerating all possible technology combinations to provide a quantitative rationale and suggest the best set of systems according to a set of criteria, with the relative importance of the different criteria defined by the decision-maker. In this research, the sensitivity of the optimal solution to the weight factors and the effects of the uncertainty of input scores are also discussed using a case study. An application of the proposed approach is described by conducting a case study in Green Lake at McFaddin, TX. The main purpose of this case study is to test the proposed technology evaluation protocol in a real site and then to refine the protocol. This research describes the results of the case study which provided a more logical and comprehensive approach that maximized the economic and environmental goals of both the landowner and the oil company leaseholder.

In this study, we address the long-term project pricing problem for a company that operates in the defense industry. The pricing problem is a bid project pricing problem which includes various technical and financial uncertainties, such as estimations of workhour content of the project and exchange &amp / inflation rates. We propose a Robust Optimization (RO) approach that can deal with the uncertainties during the project lifecycle through the identification of several discrete scenarios. The bid project&rsquo / s performance measures, other than the monetary measures, for R&amp / D projects are identified and the problem is formulated as a multi-attribute utility project pricing problem. In our RO approach, the bid pricing problem is decomposed into two parts which are v solved sequentially: the Penalty-Model, and the RO model. In the Penalty-Model, penalty costs for the possible violations in the company&rsquo / s workforce level due to the bid project&rsquo / s workhour requirements are determined. Then the RO model searches for the optimum bid price by considering the penalty cost from the Penalty-Model, the bid project&rsquo / s performance measures, the probability of winning the bid for a given bid price and the deviations in the bid project&rsquo / s cost. Especially for the R&amp / D type projects, the model tends to place lower bid prices in the expected value solutions in order to win the bid. Thus, due to the possible deviations in the project cost, R&amp / D projects have a high probability of suffering from a financial loss in the expected value solutions. However, the robust solutions provide results which are more aware of the deviations in the bid project&rsquo / s cost and thus eliminate the financial risks by making a tradeoff between the bid project&rsquo / s benefits, probability of winning the bid and the financial loss risk. Results for the probability of winning in the robust solutions are observed to be lower than the expected value solutions, whereas expected value solutions have higher probabilities of suffering from a financial loss.

Conventionally, the focus during supplier evaluation has been to assess cost, quality and delivery effectiveness due to their impact on profitability. In recent years, there has been increased emphasis on promoting more sustainable business practices that focus on reducing environmental impact and improve societal well-being, in addition to economic benefits. However, most of the existing supplier evaluation methods in literature as well as those used by leading companies fall short of comprehensively assessing suppliers from a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) perspective. TBL defined as holistically looking at the economic, environmental, and societal aspects of an entity. This paper presents a review and selection of metrics for economic, environmental and societal sustainability evaluation. In addition, this work proposes a methodology for combining the scores into a comprehensive score that can be used to compare two entities performance relative to the TBL.

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In what way does different stakeholders assess a decision and its consequences, and how do these assessments differ? When a company stands before a big decision, they need to consider aspects that are economic, ecologic and social. To make a good decision they need to consider the society and its different stakeholder groups. This study examined how different groups values and weights different criteria. The study has been done with the project Sundsvall logistics park as a case, with criteria related to that project. The goal of the study was to find a way to value and weight different criteria and then compare how the company and the stakeholders assesses these criteria. This has been done through interviews with relevant people that has got extra knowledge about the project Sundsvall logistics park, and through a survey that has been sent out to residents of Sundsvall. The informants and respondents got to assess values and weights to the criteria relative to an indirect alternative where the logistics park isn’t built. The data was then compiled using multi attribute utility theory as a tool to present the comparison. The result of the study suggests that the differences between the valuations and weightings of the criteria is partly due to an uncertainty in how the logistics park would affect the criteria, but that the biggest reason probably depends on what perspective the person is viewing the logistics park from. If the person is viewing the logistics park from an industrial perspective, the criteria related to industrial development is getting more important and is going to take up more room in the analysis. If the person is viewing the logistics park from an individual and social perspective, the criteria related to that is more important and takes up more room in the analysis. / På vilket sätt uppskattar olika intressenter ett beslut och dess konsekvenser, och hur skiljer sig dessa uppskattningar åt? När företag idag står inför stora beslut behöver de ta hänsyn till aspekter som är både ekonomiska, ekologiska och sociala. För att beslutet ska bli bra behöver de ta hänsyn till samhället och dess olika intressentgrupper. Denna studie är en undersökning av hur olika grupper värderar och viktar olika kriterier. Studien har utförts mot projektet Sundsvall Logistikpark med kriterier relaterade till projektet. Målet med studien har varit att hitta ett sätt att värdera och vikta olika kriterier för att sedan göra en jämförelse av hur företaget och intressenterna uppskattar dessa kriterier. För att göra detta har intervjuer utförts med personer som är extra insatta i projektet med Sundsvall logistikpark och en enkät skickats ut till boende i Sundsvall. Informanterna och respondenterna har fått uppskatta värden och vikter på kriterierna utifrån ett indirekt alternativ där logistikparken inte byggs. Datan har sedan sammanställts genom att använda multiattributsnyttoteori som verktyg för att presentera jämförelsen. Resultatet av undersökningen tyder på att de skillnader som finns i värderingar och viktningar av kriterierna dels beror på en viss osäkerhet angående hur logistikparken skulle kunna påverka de olika kriterierna och hur ett värde kan uppskattas på dessa, men att den största orsaken troligen beror på vilket perspektiv personen ser logistikparken på. Om personen ser på logistikparken från ett industriellt perspektiv blir kriterier som har med industriell utveckling att göra viktigare och tar större plats i analysen. Om personen ser på logistikparken från ett individuellt och socialt perspektiv blir sådana kriterier viktigare och tar större plats i analysen

Seismic rehabilitation of structural systems is an effective approach for reducing potential seismic losses such as social and economic losses. However, little or no effort has been made to develop a framework for making decisions on seismic rehabilitation of structural systems that systematically incorporates conflicting multiple criteria and uncertainties inherent in the seismic hazard and in the systems themselves. This study develops a decision support framework for seismic rehabilitation of structural systems incorporating uncertainties inherent in both the system and the seismic hazard, and demonstrates its application with detailed examples. The decision support framework developed utilizes the HAZUS method for a quick and extensive estimation of seismic losses associated with structural systems. The decision support framework allows consideration of multiple decision attributes associated with seismic losses, and multiple alternative seismic rehabilitation schemes represented by the objective performance level. Three multi-criteria decision models (MCDM) that are known to be effective for decision problems under uncertainty are employed and their applicability for decision analyses in seismic rehabilitation is investigated. These models are Equivalent Cost Analysis (ECA), Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT), and Joint Probability Decision Making (JPDM). Guidelines for selection of a MCDM that is appropriate for a given decision problem are provided to establish a flexible decision support system. The resulting decision support framework is applied to a test bed system that consists of six hospitals located in the Memphis, Tennessee, area to demonstrate its capabilities.

The purpose of this study was to develop a decision model for early-stage breast cancer patients. This model provides an opportunity for comparing two main treatment options, mastectomy and lumpectomy, with respect to quality of life by making use of Decision Theoretic Techniques. A Markov chain was constructed to project the clinical history of breast carcinoma following surgery. Then, health states used in the model were characterized by transition probabilities and utilities for quality of life. A Multi Attribute Utility Model was developed for outcome evaluation. This study was performed on the sample population of female university students, and utilities were elicited from these healthy volunteers. The results yielded by Multi Attribute Utility Model were validated by using Von Neumann-Morgenstern Standard Gamble technique. Finally, Monte Carlo Simulation was utilized in Treeage-Pro 2006 Suit software program in order to solve model and calculate expected utility value generated by each treatment option. The results showed that lumpectomy is more favorable for people who participated in this study. Sensitivity analysis on transition probabilities to local recurrence and salvaged states was performed and two threshold values were observed. Additionally, sensitivity analysis on utilities showed that the model was more sensitive to no evidence of disease state / however, was not sensitive to utilities of local recurrence and salvaged states.

In open office settings, auditory distractions coming from surrounding work environment are shown to be a considerable source of indirect costs to an organization, such as performance costs, behavioral costs, and healthcare costs, to name a few. These costs are substantial to affect the net productivity of an organization, where productivity is equal to revenue minus the costs. This research argues that the costs of auditory distractions should be estimated when evaluating the value of a workspace for an organization. However, since organizational decisions are generally guided by cost-benefit analysis and a precise dollar figure cannot be attached to the stated indirect costs because these are subjective in nature; therefore, these are generally ignored. Costs that are critical to sustainability and development of a business and the fact that cost-benefit approach is no longer appropriate for these decisions, a more robust decision-based approach to workspace selection is proposed. Decision-based approach is seen as an organized approach to select between workspace options under uncertainty and risk wherein the selected workspace is maximized in terms of some expected utility. Here utility is defined as the measurement of strength or intensity of a person's preferences. Decision-based approach include consideration of a multitude of environmental decision variables, objective or subjective, in a single equation and processing of the same in a limited amount of time with rationality and consistency. A multi-attribute workspace choice utility decision model is developed with the intent to facilitate systematic understanding and analysis of workspace alternatives for an organization. This research shows how the decision-making approach to workspace selection simplifies the problem by providing a structure that is easily comprehensible, and allows simultaneous processing of both, qualitative and quantitative conflicting objectives, through a single decision-making model. In doing so, this research firmly establishes the importance of workspace's adaptability to auditory distractions for office workers, particularly knowledge workers, who are constantly undertaking a range of complex tasks. The study holistically and systematically addresses the fundamental issue prevalent in state-of-the-art North American open plan office settings of substantiality of two extremely contrasting requirements, concentration and collaboration, in the same workspace and work environment at a given time.

There has been an increasing relevance of the cultural sector in the economic and social development of different countries. However, this sector continues without much input from multi-criteria decision-making (MDCM) techniques and sustainability analysis, which are widely used in other sectors. This paper proposes an MCDM model to assess the sustainability of a musical institution’s program. To define the parameters of the proposed model, qualitative interviews with relevant representatives of Catalan cultural institutions and highly recognized professionals in the sector were performed. The content of the 2015–2016 season of the ‘Palau de la Música Catalana’, a relevant Catalan musical institution located in Barcelona, was used as a case study to empirically test the method. The method allows the calculation of a season value index (SVI), which serves to make more sustainable decisions on musical season programs according to the established criteria. The sensitivity analysis carried out for different scenarios shows the robustness of the method. The research suggests that more complex decision settings, such as MCDM methods that are widely used in other sectors, can be easily applied to the sustainable management of any type of cultural institution. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this method was never applied to a cultural institution and with real data. / Universitat Oberta de Catalunya