Platform for multicriteria assessment of sustainability
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MCA tools
DEXi tools

DEXi type tools

DEXi is a computer programme for multi-criteria decision-making (Figure 1) developed by Marko Bohanec.
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Modèle DEXiFruits sous DEXi

Figure 1: Screenshot of the MASC model opened in DEXi software

This software is designed for the interactive development of qualitative decision models and the evaluation of options. It is useful in complex decision-making tasks, where it is necessary to select a particular option from a set of possible options in order to satisfy the decision-maker's objectives and preferences.

DEXi enables multi-criteria decision trees to be designed in a transparent and participative way, with weightings to take into account the expertise and/or preferences of stakeholders. As the models are qualitative, they can be used ex post (diagnosis of situations) or ex ante (choice between several options, in particular between several innovations).
These trees are hierarchical structures which represent the decomposition of the decision problem into sub-problems, which are less complex and therefore less difficult to solve than the complete problem. Each sub-problem is then represented by an evaluation criterion or input criterion (‘leaf of the tree’) given a qualitative value (of the ‘low’, “medium” or ‘high’ type). However, some input criteria are quantitative (e.g. yield) and the classes for these quantitative criteria can be defined using threshold values (Figure 2). The IZI-EVAL tool can be used to generate these threshold values (based on Agrosyst data).

Correspondence between classes (qualitative) and thresholds (quantitative)
Example of correspondence between classes (qualitative) and thresholds (quantitative) for an input criteriones seuils (quantitatifs) pour un critère d'entrée

Figure 2: Discretization of quantitative results into qualitative classes (Source: DEXifruits user guide)

Aggregated criteria (nodes of the tree), located upstream of these input criteria, gradually combine the information contained in the lower-level criteria on which they depend, according to a weighting reflecting their importance, until they reach a single evaluation criterion enabling a synthetic judgement to be made. Aggregations are carried out for each criterion using "utility functions", which take the form of tables filled in by experts using qualitative reasoning of the "if-then" type, such as:
IF <criterion 1 is very low> AND IF <criterion 2 is low to medium> THEN <aggregated criterion is very low>
When they are used in several places in the same tree, the criteria (input or aggregated) are said to be "linked".

DEXi has been used, among other things, in the fields of pharmacy and medicine and, since the early 2000s, to build models and decision-making tools for agricultural issues: assessing the sustainability of innovative systems in different production sectors, designing meadows with varied flora, estimating the biotic pressure on a crop, choosing tillage strategies, etc.

There are models and tools that are used in ex ante or a priori evaluation to assist in the design of systems before they are implemented. These include the DEXiPM arable crop and DEXiAF tools..
There are models and tools that are used a posteriori to evaluate existing systems, such as MASC and DEXiFruits.
Some tools and models can be used both ex ante and ex post.

The IZI-Eval tool can be used to perform statistical analyses to assess the sensitivity of DEXi models to input criteria. This makes it possible to optimise their structuring and determine the level of precision required for the input data.

For further information and downloads

In this folder

The IZIEval interface

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An application to help evaluate cropping systems using DEXi models

Modification date: 09 March 2026 | Publication date: 24 April 2025 | By: Means