European Journal of Operational Research 50 (1991) 179-187 179 North-Holland Theory and Methodology Selecting a text-processing system as a qualitative multiple criteria problem * Leena Tanner Helsinki School of Economics, Runeberginkatu 14-16, SF-O0100 Helsinki, Finland Abstract: The Association of Finnish Cities (AFC), an advisory organization for all cities and townships in Finland, had been approached by several cities to recommend a suitable text-processing system. The purpose of this study was to assist the AFC to make a general recommendation for text-processing systems most suitable for Finnish cities. The problem incorporates qualitative and interdependent criteria; we have solved it using Korhonen's hierarchical interactive method published in EJOR, 1986. Keywords: Multiple criteria decision making, qualitative decision problems, subjective evaluations, text- processing 1. Introduction The field of office automation has developed rapidly. In the 1980s text-processing systems have become very popular in the administration of Fin- nish cities. By the beginning of 1985, fifteen dif- ferent computer hardware suppliers had sold equipment to 72 Finnish cities. Because of the large variety of systems available, it is not easy for a city administrator to decide which text- processing system to acquire. In 1985, the Associa- tion of Finnish Cities (AFC), an advisory organi- zation for all cities and townships in Finland, was approached by several cities to provide recom- mendations regarding the best or the most suitable text-processing system for them. The AFC decided to make a ranking of the systems currently in use in Finnish cities. In order to develop a general * Communicated by Jyrki Wallenius. Received June 1989 recommendation for systems most suitable for Finnish cities, the AFC collected information on the properties of these systems and their impact on the productivity of the office workers. Accord- ingly, the development department of the AFC sent a questionnaire to several cities. Our role was to assist the AFC to develop a general recommendation concerning the text- processing systems most suitable for Finnish ci- ties. We solved the problem by 'a hierarchical interactive method for ranking alternatives with multiple qualitative criteria' (Korhonen, 1986). This paper consists of six sections and two appendices. In Section 2 we describe the problem. Korhonen's method is briefly reviewed in Section 3. We present the analysis and the results of the study in Sections 4 and 5, respectively. Section 6 concludes the paper. In the first appendix we describe the structure of the hierarchy and in the second appendix we present a summary of the rankings of the systems. 0377-2217/91/$03.50 © 1991 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)