Method and system for network-based decision processing and for matching requests for proposals to responses

摘要

A method of assisting a user over a network (120) that enables users to evaluate various products and services (135) (collectively "products") is provided. The products are described in one or more dynamically generated data table accessible through the network. In a preferred embodiment, a user provides over the network filtering decisions that enable the system to filter product records to identify a subset of relevant products. In addition, the user preferably performs graphical pairwise comparisons of the characteristics of the desired product to indicate the relative importance of such characteristics creating a unique user profile or a user may choose a predefined profile which corresponds to their user group. The data generated as a result of the pairwise comparisons is converted into weights by applying an analytic hierarchy process to create an accurate user profile which is used to rank a set of alternatives. The system applies the profile to perform synthesis to rank the products with respect to the user's wants and needs.