Assessment and selection of cloud service providers for hosting web applications by applying the MADM approach

Abstract

The goal of the research is to propose the methodology for the effective assessment and selection of cloud service providers for hosting web applications by applying a multi-attribute decision-making approach. In the course of achieving the goal of the research, the methodology is divided into two parts. The first part involves setting attribute weights for evaluating potential cloud platforms as a group decision-making task. The BWM (Best-Worst Method) is applied at the individual decision-maker level to determine the weight vector, followed by aggregation using the quadratic mean operator, assuming equal importance of all decision-makers. The normalized attribute vector is obtained through linear normalization. The second part proposes an application of TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for Interactive and Multicriteria Decision Making) MADM methods. The method is modified by employing an alternative normalization procedure compared to the conventional method. The weighted normalized decision matrices are constructed using the exponentiation principle instead of the traditional product principle. Finally, based on suggestions from relevant literature, the cloud platform priorities obtained are compared. The proposed model is illustrated with examples from a real supply chain in the information technology domain.