Implementation of a hybrid fuzzy system as a decision support process: A FAHP-FMCDM-FIS composition
Members of university commissions decide on an especial sort of students' requests, based on various criteria. Since these decisions may seriously affect the students' future life, it is necessary to pay precise attention to the decision-making process. However, many causes like lack of mental readiness, impact of irrelevant factors, change in views and limitation in concentration power of the commission members plus some other undistinguishable facts can affect the decision process leading to many ruinous problems. The paper aims simulation of a decision-making process which is used by management or consulting teams in order to solve this usual problem. As an especial case study, it focuses on the decisions made by members of university commissions on an especial sort of students' requests, who have faced problems with their education. After analyzing the decision process, we have designed a hybrid expert system that can regenerate the process. In this system, the criteria shape a fuzzy rule base with linguistic variables and the membership functions are adjusted by experts through interviews and/or questionnaire. Indeed, it is a composition of a fuzzy MCDM and a fuzzy inference system (FIS). Moreover, to differentiate between the criteria, we have attributed weightings to the criteria, which are computed using a fuzzy AHP method. Results show that the system output error in comparison to the historical data is less than 5%, and it can resemble the council's behavior. This supporting system can be applied to generate consistent outputs that contribute in convergence and unification of the decisions, and hence preventing false aftermaths. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
decision-making linguistic variables fuzzy inference system fuzzy modeling students especial cases council