A Multi-Criteria and Multi-Agent Framework for supporting complex decision-making processes

A framework for modeling multi-criteria and multi-agent decision making processes as a non-cooperative game including a phase for solving the game by using the concept of equilibrium solution is presented. In the presence of a non-singular solution, the framework includes a phase for refining the solution by the application of a social welfare function. The framework is named Multi-Criteria and Multi-Agent Framework. The framework makes possible the strategic performance in complex decision-making, creating transparency within the process of selecting alternatives that are under evaluation in a multi-criteria perspective by agents with heterogeneous preferences. This paper includes a simulation to demonstrate the applicability of the framework to a complex engineering problem such as the choice of a Wastewater Treatment Plant for a municipality. Convergence of choices of five experts that participated in the simulation was demonstrated by the application of the framework.