Advances in information system technology have had a huge impact on the evolution of industrial process integration. As a result of such technological advances, the intervening departments of the industrial process can now work in tight coordination to optimize the chain-wide performance. A basic enabler for tight coordination is information sharing, which has been greatly facilitated by the advances in information technology. Thus a project is currently being developed in a multinational company with the core goal of building/designing a multicriteria model to assess vendor’s proposals with regard to an information sharing system/platform to be implemented internally in the company. To select the best proposal it is important to analyze the best practices and the critical success factors for large scale processes improvements. It should be noted that the present project also aims to reconcile the most diverse levels of knowledge regarding information sharing systems among participants.

In order to assess this multicriteria decision making process a series of surveys will be carried out, implementing a web-based Delphi process with the aid of the Welphi app. The project envisions the employment of three different Delphi processes in two distinct phases. The first Delphi will be carried out in the structuring phase of the model building. It aims to set the list of criteria, and respective performance descriptors, which will be considered throughout the modeling process. The last two Delphi processes will concern the evaluation phase of the model building. In this particular stage the two distinct Delphi processes are meant to define the criteria weights, through the collection of qualitative weighting judgments on the criteria, and to determine the shape of the value function on each criterion. All of this will be done resorting to the Welphi app.

These web-based Delphi processes will be carried out as it follows. Three sequential rounds will take place, per Delphi, in which the selected and invited panel of participants will be presented with a first survey in what is called the first round. Results will be collected and processed automatically through the Welphi app, which also serves the inquiries to the participants. After the collection and processing of the results the panel is introduced to the second round of the process where it is confronted with the summary statistic outcomes of the first round provided by Welphi. At this point, participants are allowed to change their answer or maintain it as a consequence of the latest information input. Once the second round is over the results are processed again and the third and final round is launched in order to validate the results from the second round.

While Welphi poses a wide range of advantages the one that benefits this particular project the most is the anonymity feature. Since the project is taking place in a company with a very strict hierarchy the main goal is to get real and meaningful feedback without the influence of superiors in order to consider all possibilities and opinions and obtain the must accurate assessment possible.