摘要：A decision to select a Cloud Services Provider (CSP), taking into account the user requirements is a multi-criteria problem. The Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods can be of real help in solving this problem. The most critical input of MCDM methods is the assignment of criteria weights. This paper provides a synthesis of criteria weighting methods and proposed a new Group Decision Support approach for Quality of Service (QoS) criteria analysis and weighting. The approach is based on a hybrid method which is a combination of a subjective weighting method – Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method and an objective weighting method – Shannon method. Based on cloud experts’ evaluation of influential relationships between the criteria, the first QoS criteria weights are calculated with DEMATEL method. Then, based on the decision matrix of CSPs evaluated by QoS criteria, the QoS criteria weights are calculated with Shannon method. The final weights of QoS criteria, a combination of DEMATEL weights and Shannon weights, are obtained. The Group Decision Support approach proposed is applied in a case study. An analysis of causal relations and the degree of influence between QoS criteria based on cloud computing experts’ evaluation and DEMATEL method is presented.
关键词：Criteria weighting methods; Cloud Computing; Quality of Service criteria; Group Decision Support; DEMATEL method; Shannon method.
