Comparing pairs of criteria based on other criteria
Sometimes you need to prioritize the criteria for other criteria.
About this task
For example, imagine that you have a set of requirements to compare. You must prioritize these requirements according to their importance to three markets: the U.S., Asia, and Europe. These markets have two parameters, Growth and Size, which determine how important the market is, and the markets must be prioritized according to these parameters first. The importance of Growth and Size is determined by a set of stakeholders: the Executive Group, Developers, and Investors. To compare criteria in this situation, you make four prioritizations:
1 Prioritize the stakeholders; for example, which group, the Executive Group, Developers, or Investors, should you listen to the most?
2 For each of the stakeholders, prioritize the market parameters; for example, which is most important, Growth or Size, according to the Executive Group, Developers, and Investors, respectively?
3 Prioritize the markets; for example, which market has the highest growth potential and which market is the biggest?
4 Prioritize the requirements; for example, which requirement is most important on each market?
To compare pairs of criteria for other criteria
1 Add a Requirements module that contains requirements.
2 Click Modules > Criteria. On the Criteria page, add three folders: Markets, Market Parameters, and Stakeholders. Add corresponding criteria to these folders. For Markets, add U.S., Asia, and Europe. For Market Parameters, add Growth and Size. For Stakeholders, add Executive Group, Developers, and Investors.
3 Click the Settings icon , and then, from the Configure group, click Views. Add four views: Requirements, Markets, Market Parameters, and Stakeholders. Enable them for Display, Prioritization, and Visualize. Set the Requirements view to pull information from the Requirements module and the other three views by clicking Modules > Criteria.
4 Set the view rules for each view as follows:
▪ Requirements: Set Show elements whose to type is a folder and is to false.
▪ Markets: Set the value of Show elements whose to type is a folder and is to false, and Parent Folder is Markets.
▪ Market Parameters: Set the value of Show elements whose to type is a folder and is to false, and Parent Folder is Markets Parameters.
▪ Stakeholders: Set the value of Show elements whose field to type is a folder and is to false, and Parent Folder is Stakeholders.
5 For each view, there is a Criteria attribute. In the Requirements view, click Criteria View and then select Markets.
In the Markets view, click Criteria View and then click Market Parameters. In the Market Parameters view, click Criteria View and then select Stakeholders. You have now linked the elements in Requirements to Markets, the elements in Markets to Market Parameters, and the elements in Market Parameters to Stakeholders.
6 For each criteria, there is a Question attribute. Write a question for each criterion:
▪ Markets:
– U.S.: “Which requirement is the most important in the U.S. market?”
– Asia: “Which requirement is the most important in the Asian market?”
– Europe: “Which requirement is the most important in the European market?”
▪ Market Parameters:
– Growth: “Which market has the greatest growth potential?”
– Size: “Which market is the biggest?”
▪ Stakeholders:
– Executive Group: “Which market parameter is most important to the Executive Group?”
– Developers: “Which market parameter is most important to the Developers?”
– Investors: “Which market parameter is most important to Investors?”
7 Click Prioritize and select Stakeholders. Prioritize the stakeholders.
8 Click Prioritize and select Market Parameters. Prioritize the market parameters according to the three stakeholder criteria: Executive Group, Developers, and Investors.
9 Click Prioritize and select Markets. Prioritize the markets according to the two market parameters criteria: Growth and Size.
10 Click Prioritize and select Requirements. Prioritize the requirements according to the three markets criteria: U.S., Asia, and Europe.
The first prioritization has a major impact on the last prioritization. In this case, the stakeholders’ opinions have a great effect on the priority of the requirements. You can prioritize for more than four levels, but the more levels you prioritize, the more complicated the comparison becomes.
, and then, from the Configure group, click Views. Add four views: Requirements, Markets, Market Parameters, and Stakeholders. Enable them for Display, Prioritization, and Visualize. Set the Requirements view to pull information from the Requirements module and the other three views by clicking Modules > Criteria.
