American Journal of Software Engineering and Applications 2014; 3(6): 83-89 Published online December 18, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajsea) doi: 10.11648/j.ajsea.20140306.13 ISSN: 2327-2473 (Print); ISSN: 2327-249X (Online) Open source software selection using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) Yusmadi Yah Jusoh 1, * , Khadijah Chamili 2 , Noraini Che Pa 1 , Jamaiah H. Yahaya 3 1 Dept. of Software Engineering and Information Systems, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia 2 Centre of Information Technology, USIM, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia 3 School of Computer Science, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, National University of Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia Email address: yusmadi@upm.edu.my (Y. Y. Jusoh), khadijah@usim.edu.my (K. Chamili), norainip@upm.edu.my (N. C. Pa), jhy@ftsm.ukm.my (J. H. Yahaya) To cite this article: Yusmadi Yah Jusoh, Khadijah Chamili, Noraini Che Pa, Jamaiah H. Yahaya. Open Source Software Selection Using an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). American Journal of Software Engineering and Applications. Vol. 3, No. 6, 2014, pp. 83-89. doi: 10.11648/j.ajsea.20140306.13 Abstract: There are many potential and good open source software (OSS) products available on the market with a free license. However, with various choices, the adoption rate is still low among potential users because there is not an agreed acceptable set of criteria to evaluate and select various OSS. The criteria of selection may differ between the stakeholders within the organisations. There is a tendency that the user may have a biased perception of an OSS’s characteristics or capabilities for solving problems when selecting OSS products. Other restrictions are caused by inadequate documentation and user manuals, and immature products. Therefore, the users need to consider how to improve their decision making when selecting the most suitable OSS products. In this paper, the background research on the proposed OSS adoption and criteria of selection are discussed and explored. Then the research methodology, processes and implementation of the My Open Source Software Toolkit (MyOSST) v1.0 are covered. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was applied on the selection process and for the purpose of assisting the potential user to decide on the OSS products based on their preferred selection criteria. MyOSST v1.0 was tested and validated by IT professionals in one of the Malaysian universities. The results show that the tool is capable of assisting the decision making process for selecting an appropriate OSS product. Keywords: Open Source Software Selection, Selection Criteria, Analytical Hierarchy Process 1. Introduction The adoption of open source software (OSS) is still growing all over the world, including within businesses, non-profits and public sector agencies because of the financial benefits. The criteria of selection may differ between the stakeholders within the organizations. Therefore, there is a tendency for the user to have a biased perception of an OSS’s characteristics or capabilities for solving problems when selecting OSS products. The OSS adoption rate in Malaysian public sector agencies was still low up until end of 2010 [1]. Therefore, the next step is to apply the suggested selection criteria to understand what is the best dimension to contribute to Malaysian public sector agencies in order to encourage the adoption and implementation of OSS products in their agencies [2] [3]. In other words, the proposed selection criteria may help to identify the characteristics to be considered by the users when adopting the OSS product. Hence, conducting a survey may give support to the identification of the main characteristics for the proposed OSS adoption model. In our previous study, we identified all the possible OSS characteristics which referred to the ISO standard for comparison, better understanding and future enhancement purposes. We also proposed an additional quality characteristic which is the internal constraint to be included when agencies make decisions concerning OSS adoption. With these hierarchical characteristics of OSS, the selection criteria might benefit users by building confidence in OSS product adoption in the future [4]. Recently, there have been many potential and good OSS