A decision model for purchasing the highest value printer for home use for the least cost

Students have a wide selection of printers to choose from, with a variety of technologies and features making a purchasing decision difficult. Using our group members as experts, and scope focused on multifunction, or ldquoall-in-onerdquo, printers to provide a single solution for all of our printing, copying, and scanning needs. Multifunction printers have become more popular and affordable. This paper presents six criteria expert users of all-in-one printers, have identified as critical in purchasing an all-in-one printer for student home use. These six criteria were applied to an HDM (hierarchical decision model), a decision making tool for addressing this problem. A review of related literature and studies provided background information on hierarchical decision making. Pairwise Comparisons and the Pairwise Comparison Method (PCM) were used to analyze the numerical rankings for each criterion given by each expert. By referencing the hierarchical decision making model and the results gathered from Pairwise Comparisons, a prospective printer buyer could optimise their selection of a printer for student home use. The paper concludes with sensitivity analysis and recommendations for purchasing a multifunctional printer for student home use, based on the HDM presented in the study. The results and analysis demonstrated that HP PhotoSmart C4580 is the most important alternative that meets the problem objective ldquohighest value all in one printerrdquo between $100 and $200.