An application of clustering R&D projects by using the analytic hierarchy process

Abstract

Due to imprecision or uncertainty that is inherent in the design process, the management of research and development projects is very challenging. With the growing complexity of the design process and need for different specializations, it is getting even more tougher. Especially, in an organization where tens of hightech, military R&D projects are carried out concurrently, management should be supported with the state-of-the-art decision and operations research methods. In this thesis, we consider an application of the classification of R&D projects. More specifically, the problem discussed in this study is grouping N different projects into groups based on a predetermined set of features. Since some features are fuzzy, expert knowledge is needed to quantify the features. In order to quantify the features successfully, Analytic Hierarchy Process is used. Finally, by using various clustering algorithms the projects are clustered.