The csv file has to be formatted as follows:

1. The first row has to contain the following entries:
    a) First and second cell arbitrary, from the third cell on, list the alternatives

2. All other rows must include the following for each criterion:
    a) First column: criterion name
    b) Second column: either "+" or "-", indicating if the criterion needs to be maximized or minimized
    c) Other columns: values of the alternative for the criteria

3. Here is a sample file for the André and Angelique: Buying Their Dream Home problem.  This sample CSV file could be downloaded from: http://tavana.us/poitiers.csv 

Criteria			P/N	Naintre	Poitiers Centre	Saint Benoit	Saint Cyprien	Biard
Real Estate Tax Rate		-	1.50%	2.00%		1.80%		2.10%		1.30%
Square Meters			+	300	250		200		200		350
Price				-	150000	350000		180000		165000		210000
Resale Market Forecast		+	-5.00%	2.00%		-1.00%		-4.00%		-2.00%
Community size (population)	-	20000	15000		5000		8500		19000
Number of Retail outlets	+	250	100		225		215		310
Distance to work (KM)		-	20	5		19		9		11
Number of schools		+	2	1		3		2		3
Crime rate 			-	0.70%	0.10%		NA		0.40%		0.20%

4. Make sure that every row has the same number of columns

5. Empty cells and cells with text for value only (i.e. NA) will be ignored

6. Dollar or Euro signs next to numbers will be ignored

7. If you use % sign in the cells be consistent and use it for the entire row because the program ignored % signs because those numbers are already normalized

8. Make sure cells do not contain commas (i.e. thousands separator)

9. Make sure cells do not contain a linebreak.