The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a process that uses hierarchical decomposition to deal with complex information in multicriterion decision making, such as information technology vendor and product evaluation. It consists of three steps:

Developing the hierarchy of attributes germane to the selection of the IT vendor.

Identifying the relative importance of the attributes.

Scoring the alternatives’ relative performance on each element of the hierarchy.

Developed by Thomas Saaty while he was teaching at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, the AHP is recognized as the leading theory in multicriterion decision making.