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Welcome to Epicenter Development Group's newsletter EPICentral. The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight fundamental ideas that have helped organizations develop and maintain great manufacturing and service operations. We hope that you find our EPICentral newsletter helpful and would welcome your comments on its content.
Making Difficult Decisions: The Weighted Criteria Decision Matrix
As business professionals, we are constantly being asked to make decisions. How much staffing will be required to meet our needs next year? What is the best investment for improving capacity? What new products or services should we be developing to best serve our customers? Some of these decisions are considered “no brainers” and can be quickly made. Others, however, are more complex and need careful review before a final decision can be made. One tool that can be used to help in the decision-making process is called the Weighted Criteria Decision Matrix (or Decision Matrix for short).
How it works:
Suppose you and your spouse have decided to go on a vacation. You have narrowed your options down to four destinations – Hawaii, Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, and a Caribbean Cruise. You both agree that all of your options are good. So how do you select the best one?
Using the Decision Matrix, you would:
1. List each of the options/alternatives to consider along the columns of your matrix.
2. Brainstorm and identify the top criteria for your evaluation and list them along the rows of your matrix. What are the important factors to consider when making the decision?
3. Assign a “Criteria Weight” to each criterion that you have listed. The most important criteria would get the higher “weighting” as jointly determined, in this case, by you and your wife.
4. For each alternative, assign a “score” based upon how well it satisfies the criteria (high score = highly satisfies criteria).
5. Multiply each score by its criteria weight and total the values for each alternative. This would be your “Weighted Score.”
6. The option with the highest weighted score would be considered the “best” alternative based upon your criteria weighting and scores. In our example, the Caribbean Cruise would be the best option.
Benefits of Using the Decision Matrix:
- It provides a framework for identifying the options to consider and important criteria for making a decision.
- It can be used by teams to reach consensus around decisions (using voting techniques).
- It allows people to make decisions using both quantitative (measurable) and qualitative (subjective) information.
- It documents the thinking that was used to make the final decision. What factors were considered? How well does the final selection meet the needs of the stakeholders? What would have to change to reach a different conclusion?
NEXT STEPS
If you would like more information about the Weighted Criteria Decision Matrix or other visual tools to help your team solve problems and design systems, please contact Bill Proctor at (216) 702-0952 or at wproctor@epicentergroup.com. We will also be reviewing this and other tools in some of Epicenter’s upcoming workshops.
Epicenter is in the process of developing a monthly 30-minute webinar that covers the highlighted newsletter tool. If you feel that you would be interested in participating in such a webinar, please send us an email of your interest at rmilicia@epicentergroup.com.
Mr. Proctor also speaks on a variety of problem-solving and system design topics that can help companies significantly increase the success and profitability of their businesses. If you are interested in having Bill speak at one of your upcoming meetings/events or would like more information on any of the speaking topics, please visit Speaker Services.
ABOUT EPICENTER DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Epicenter Development Group is an independently-owned engineering consulting firm located in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
 Epicenter Development Group is a unique consulting firm that seamlessly integrates the disciplines of Systems Engineering and Organizational Analysis & Development to create practical design solutions to your toughest challenges.
It is on the cutting edge of problem-solving solutions and the creator of a unique process called GreenRoom Engineering. This process adds greater value and cost savings for clients as compared to traditional engineering methods.
William Proctor, Epicenter's founder and president, has provided services around the country to more than 100 companies consisting of a variety of organizations; and Epicenter continues to grow as a resource for firms of all sizes.
To learn more about Epicenter Development Group, visit our homepage at www.epicentergroup.com.
NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTION
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This newsletter is developed and published by:
Epicenter Development Group, LLC
12111 Chippewa Road
Brecksville, OH 44141
216.702.0952
www.epicentergroup.com
wproctor@epicentergroup.com
Copyright 2006, Epicenter Development Group
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