Simultaneous Evaluation of Criteria and Alternatives
SECA (Simultaneous Evaluation of Criteria and Alternatives) is a ranking multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method introduced by Keshavarz Ghorabaee, M., Amiri, M., Zavadskas, E. K., Turskis, Z., Antucheviciene, J. in 2018. It turns a decision matrix of alternatives scored on multiple criteria into a structured, reproducible result.
Key highlights
- Follows a transparent, reproducible computational procedure that can be audited step by step.
- Handles multiple criteria of differing scales and units within a single decision matrix.
Intuition
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How it works
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When to use it
SECA derives criterion weights simultaneously with alternative appraisal — no weight elicitation from the decision-maker is needed. β controls the trade-off between maximising total appraisal (β→1) and minimising inter-alternative variance (β→0). β=0.5 is the recommended balanced default. The optimisation is non-linear (NLP) and requires a suitable solver.
Strengths & limitations
- Follows a transparent, reproducible computational procedure that can be audited step by step.
- Handles multiple criteria of differing scales and units within a single decision matrix.
- Assumes full compensation — a strong score on one criterion can offset a weak score on another.
Common pitfalls
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Sources
- 1.Keshavarz Ghorabaee, M., Amiri, M., Zavadskas, E. K., Turskis, Z., Antucheviciene, J. (2018). Simultaneous evaluation of criteria and alternatives (SECA) for multi-criteria decision-making. Informatica
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Cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 2). SECA. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/decision-making/seca