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.
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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.
Sources
- 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 DOI: 10.15388/Informatica.2018.167 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 2). Simultaneous Evaluation of Criteria and Alternatives. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/decision-making/seca
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