V•I•S•A was developed to fulfil the need for large organisations to have a rational way to compare alternatives when you can’t break everything down to one simple “profit” figure – for example when choosing development projects where the pay-off comes in revenue, but also chance of achieving longer term objectives.

In particular it handled the mathematical errors that occur if you simply rank the alternatives on different criteria and then try to weight the criteria.

V•I•S•A version 1 and 2 were implemented for DOS, proved the technology and established a loyal user base (especially in military and large companies in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries).

V•I•S•A for Windows was released in 1994 (Versions 3 to 6) and it is these versions that created widespread use of the product. Its very user friendly interface (dragging to set score and weights in a way that lets you see the dynamic impact on the how the alternatives stack up against each other).

V•I•S•A version 7 (2008) is implemented for the web, although it can still be run on a single PC (without an internet connection) if required. The web technology means that very large scale decision participation becomes possible for anyone with a PC and an internet connection (no downloads or installs required). And V•I•S•A is still just as user friendly as with the Windows desktop version.