PROMETHEE II — Preference Ranking Organisation METHod for Enrichment of Evaluations
PROMETHEE (PROMETHEE II — Preference Ranking Organisation METHod for Enrichment of Evaluations) is a outranking multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method introduced by Brans, J. P., Vincke, Ph., Mareschal, B. in 1986. It turns a decision matrix of alternatives scored on multiple criteria into a structured, reproducible result.
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When to use it
φ(a) ∈ [−1, 1]. Higher net flow φ means stronger overall preference. φ⁺ measures how much a is preferred over all others (leaving flow); φ⁻ measures how much others are preferred over a (entering flow). PROMETHEE I (partial ranking) uses (φ⁺, φ⁻) and allows incomparability. PROMETHEE II (complete ranking) uses net flow φ alone. Choice of preference function type and thresholds strongly affects results — select them with care based on criterion nature.
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.
- May exhibit rank reversal when alternatives are added to or removed from the set.
Sources
- Brans, J. P., Vincke, Ph., Mareschal, B. (1986). How to select and how to rank projects: The PROMETHEE method. European Journal of Operational Research DOI: 10.1016/0377-2217(86)90044-5 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 2). PROMETHEE II — Preference Ranking Organisation METHod for Enrichment of Evaluations. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/decision-making/promethee
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