The aim of this paper is to describe a Computer Priority Assessment (COMPASS) for appraisal of local authority highway schemes and to relate this practical problem to the theoretical multi-criteria decision making problems found in the literature. This computer based Priority Assessment Tool (PAT) combines: (a) best practice from the techniques studied in earlier phases of the project, with (b) insights from the theory and practice of multicriteria decision making about ways of displaying and aggregating the multiply-dimensioned characteristics of different alternatives. After briefly setting the context of the work, the paper has three main sections. The first explains the reasoning underlying the choice for the PAT of the variables used to characterise projects and discusses the selections of appropriate measurement scales. The second describes alternative ways of combining the different variable dimensions and of determining the weights to collapse a multidimensional project description into a single dimension for ranking. Finally, the computer implementation of the PAT is described, including the possibilities for sensitivity analysis and graphical display of output. Examples of its applications are incorporated.
Samenvatting