Abstract In many situations a decision maker (DM) would like to grade a component, or rank several components of the same type. Often a component type has many features, which are deemed as valuable by the DM. Other vital features are not known by the DM but are needed for the component to function. However, it should be possible to guide the DM to find the desired business solution, without putting a requirement of detailed knowledge of the component type on the DM. We propose a framework for component selection with the help of fuzzy decision making. The work is based on algorithms from fuzzy decision making, which we have adapted or extended. The framework was validated by practitioners, which found the framework useful.