Multiple-Criteria Heuristic Rating Estimation

One of the most widespread multi-criteria decision-making methods is the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). AHP successfully combines the pairwise comparisons method and the hierarchical approach. It allows the decision-maker to set priorities for all ranked alternatives. But what if, for some of them, their ranking value is known (e.g., it can be determined differently)? The Heuristic Rating Estimation (HRE) method proposed in 2014 tried to bring the answer to this question. However, the considerations were limited to a model only considering a few criteria. This work analyzes how HRE can be used as part of the AHP hierarchical framework. The theoretical considerations are accompanied by illustrative examples showing HRE as a multiple-criteria decision-making method.