The Analytic Network Process

The Analytic Network Process (ANP) is a generalization of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The basic structure is an influence network of clusters and nodes contained within the clusters. Priorities are established in the same way they are in the AHP using pairwise comparisons and judgment. Many decision problems cannot be structured hierarchically because they involve the interaction and dependence of higher-level elements in a hierarchy on lower-level elements. Not only does the importance of the criteria determine the importance of the alternatives as in a hierarchy, but also the importance of the alternatives themselves determines the importance of the criteria. Feedback enables us to factor the future into the present to determine what we have to do to attain a desired future. To illustrate ANP, one example is also presented.