Explicitly Represent Each Stakeholder's Position more »
Supply each stakeholder representative or evaluator with their own DecisionPad matrix. Since all the stakeholders views are compared
within the same alternative/criterion framework any issues become clearer, specific and relevant.
Evaluators can enter their own views using any web browser by connecting to Apian's "balloting" cloud server
to which you have uploaded their ballots.
When the ballots are downloaded into DecisionPad it will add a third-dimension to the matrix. There will be an alternatives-by-criteria
sheet for each evaluator, plus a summary which averages the viewpoints. You can also look at alternatives versus evaluators for
each criterion, or criteria versus evaluators for each alternative to gain insight. Participants in the decision need not try to
keep track in their heads of who liked what for which reasons -- its all recorded in front of them.
Now, with full visibility of where the agreements and differences are, you can work through to a decision logically. Actually you may find
that a good compromise emerges fairly naturally, but if it does not the discussion can be kept at the level of relevant objectives,
requirements and ratings to minimize the impact of personalities.
Mathematically Rigorous Analysis of Complex Decisions more »
DecisionPad uses the mathematically-rigorous Multivariate Utility Analysis methodology. The approach has proven popular under many names,
such as QFD – Quality Functional Deployment.
DecisionPad presents this method in way that is easily understood by non-specialists, and yet, is powerful enough to crunch the data for
hundreds of Alternatives and Criteria, combining subjective and objective data and factoring in any uncertainties.
Focus on the Most Important Elements of a Decision more »
Nothing has as much potential for lost productivity as a meeting. With complex decisions, it helps to determine which elements have the
strongest affect on the outcome and which would not.
- Each cell in the worksheet has an impact indicator showing how it affects the decision. There are four levels, showing things that
have small/large positive impact on a ranking, and small/large negative impact. If there’s no indicator arrow, then the impact
is minimal and does not merit lengthy discussion.
- Sensitivity Analysis: try hypotheticals and get instant feedback. Every time you make a change in the evaluation of a criteria
or the weighting, DecisionPad instantly updates the rankings. It displays both the current ranking and the previous ranking,
using sparks graphs for easy comprehension by all meeting attendees. If discussion is bogging down in a “good” vs.
“very good” debate, switch the value. Everyone can see what happens – either your 2nd place contender 1
has a shot at 1st or it doesn’t. This will keep your meeting focused and effective.
- Uncertainty need not delay the decision. Many managers can be afraid to commit to a course of action when they don’t
have “all the information.” DecisionPad allows you to see what missing information could change a result,
and what won’t. Rankings are given as a range of values, and it’s instantly apparent when there’s
possible overlap. Once you can illustrate and document that the frontrunner is still the winner no matter what the missing values are,
you can stop collecting data and move on to implementation.
- Must-Have levels can be set for a criterion, such as the minimum square feet of office space. DecisionPad will disqualify any
undersized alternatives from the ranking, but will still display their scores. This allows you to re-open discussion on the
requirement if an otherwise winning deal might be fixed, perhaps by adding some off-site space.
Not Every Scale is a Straight Line more »
DecisionPad handles non-linear and non-monotonic utility functions with ease.
- Non-linear functions allow you to do risk-aversion analysis. Many times our sense of the value of a rating will not take an even slope,
where a ranking of 1-5 gives something a value of 1-5 for analysis. We might instead feel that the values should be
1, 1.2, 1.9, 2.8, and 5 – a steep curve heavily weighted towards the best value standing apart from the pack.
- Non-monotonic functions are also known as “mid-point best” or “Goldilocks” criteria; when extremes are undesirable. 1
DecisionPad allows the creation of non-monotonic functions and calculates their effect on the overall decision.
Follow Your Own Path more »
The “tree/hierarchy” method of analyzing decisions is respected in academic circles, but these deep trees do not
always provide people with clarity into the decision process and can be hard for non-academics to relate to.
DecisionPad provides a decision matrix worksheet that allows you to see many of the alternatives and criteria on a single screen.
This is intuitive for most users and lets you see the entire decision at once, or focus on individual aspects without going down
a rabbit warren of branches.
It turns out the two methods are largely different ways of presenting the same underlying mathematics, so if you prefer a
tree/hierarchy layout, DecisionPad still makes that available to you by grouping the criteria into an outline multilevel structure
as deep as you like. You can elect to set weights and subjective ratings by pairwise comparisions if you wish,
with or without the grouping.
Different working methods are also supported in other areas of DecisionPad. For example, some decision managers prefer
random pair-wise comparisons to set relative weights. Others prefer to use sliders, words (e.g. high to low) or numeric values.
DecisionPad provides the ability to use any of these interchangeably.
Instead of imposing our favorite approaches, we’ve given options. Sliders, buttons, pairs, words, trees, matrices,
and all of it sortable and manually editable.
Effective for Buy-In, Approval and Long-Term Documentation more »
Our software developers took the extra time necessary to make DecisionPad transparent and interactive which adds to its credibility
as a decision facilitator. People new to it will make some simple changes and when the results go the way they expect,
they will respect the results even when decisions are more complicated. Other software packages can be “black-boxes”
which make people nervous.
In addition to the Matrix/Worksheet view, several customizable reports or “Views” are available to break out
different elements of your project for analysis, to share with others in your organization, or to file away for when the decision
is audited later.
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If you want to show a vendor or employee how they were rated without revealing confidential
information about others, select the alias option for a report or matrix. The names will be replaced
by unique codes assigned by DecisionPad when the alternative was created.
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The arrows indicate which cells, for the specified weights and values, have the greatest positive or negative impact on
the decision ranking for that alternative. DecisionPad scans all the cells, plots the distribution internally and
marks the third with the biggest influence -- one more tool to avoid wasting time on the inconsequential.
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Simply select the criteria you want particular people to evaluate, and DecisionPad will prepare ballots
like this to be accessed by participants for sending input. Participants log into a secure cloud site with any web browser
to make their own entries, which could be in preparation for a meeting or perhaps during one.
Shown here is a criteria weight setting ballot, set by dragging the sliders back and forth.
Evaluators can sort the items and adjust to get the order and profile right. They can attach
notes to values if you enabled that option.
Explanatory notes that you have attached to alternatives, criteria and scales can be available
to the participants, along with overall notes on the decision process and objectives. The documentation
you would would create for the files serves double duty to inform collaborators. Participants, in turn,
can add notes on their entries.
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DecisionPad will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a product evaluation matrix. The analysis math
behind the scenes is sophisticated, but the presentation is approachable to encourage participation and understanding.
No advanced degrees required to make effective use of this powerful business analytical tool.
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When there are multiple evaluators participating in the decision you can quickly send initial invitations, then
monitor their web balloting and send reminders when deadlines approach.
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The JumpStart wizard can be a great tool for developing the first draft of a decision matrix.
You first pick from the typical categories of decisions like purchasing or employee rating so JumpStart
can make meaningful suggestions. Next it steps you through ideas for criteria like a good brainstorming
session facilitator, then it guides you through the rest of the matrix setup.
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Scales are how you express how valuable a given criteria or rating is for you on this decision. It is the
mechanism for getting the "apples and oranges" of most decisions mapped onto a common
scoring system for evaluation.
Sixteen built-in scales handle the common cases like excellence or a high-best number. However it is
easy to add custom scales so you can express the ratings in terms specific to the decision, an improvement
over generic scales when communicating with others. Here we added a pages-per-minute (PPM) number scale
and an ease-of-use word scale.
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When stakeholder groups with distinct needs must share a common decision, it is a big
help to make their views explicitly visible. Areas of agreement will appear that can quickly be
acknowledged so the time can be productively spent exploring any mismatches. Clear visibility can
sometimes inspire a new alternative that satisfies all. At other times a compromise
may become apparent that everyone can buy into.
In any case collaboration can deal with the same specific relevant criteria rather than personalities.
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Scientists have learned that the human brain can handle about 7 items at one time. It's how we are wired. More items causes us
to lose track. Since a complex decision usually has a dozen or more criteria and/or alternatives, this human
limitation really complicates meetings because each person is trying to cope with overload in their own way,
while trying to communicate with other overloaded people.
It is essential to divide-and-conquer the problem in an orderly shared way.
DecisionPad has a flexible outline structure to group and nest criteria;
it is easy to keep every group at or under the "7 item attention span" limit. Thus when the meeting
is setting criteria weights you do it together for a handful of logically related items. When you are done with one group
the matrix keeps the result while you move on to the next grouping, so nothing is lost, minimizing rehashing.
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The utility of something is not always a straight-line relationship to the numbers. This shows an example of risk aversion, where
a dollar of profit is a lot more valuable than a dollar of loss because of the risks undertaking a large investment.
At other times the best utility is in the middle of a range, like Goldilocks’ porridge, so you want the scale
to show high scores in the middle and lower at the extremes.
DecisionPad's custom scales make it easy to say exactly what you mean.
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The outline view makes it easy to organize and edit the elements of the decision. You can double-click to
edit an item or drag with the mouse to change the order.
If you select a cell in the matrix, the square markers get colored outlines for the cell's components, like the
criterion, scale and alternative here. Or if you select an alternative or criterion a large matrix it will scroll
that one into view.
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The pairs weighting option presents criteria two at time to set their relative importance, an easy way to
develop a set of weights -- especially in a meeting. Once DecisionPad has enough pairs it can assemble the
complete weight set for review and fine tuning.
Pairs can also be used for subjective ratings between alternatives within a criterion.
In DecisionPad, paired settings are one of several options for setting weights and ratings, unlike
programs where paired settings are the only method. Each of the DecisionPad methods has its fans
and uses; it's your choice.
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You can create report or matrix views as needed to make specific points to aid collaboration,
approval or documentation.
- Graphical reports are available for the Scores, Values and Weights you are utilizing in your project
- Notes Report shows the ones you select, conveniently organized into outline tree order
- Weight Sensitivity Report automatically moves each weight over a range and shows what effect that would have
on the top 3 rankings, in tabular and spark graph form
- Experiments Report lets you establish a baseline and then collect snapshots of the scoring as you make
what-if changes, with automatic tracking of what the changes were along the way
- Scatterplots can show the scored values of pairs of evaluators, criteria or total scores to look for win-win
alternatives or new possible combinations
- Individual Alternatives Report shows the ranking, rating and notes (selectable) for each alternative,
such as employee or vendor ratings
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By plotting the scores of alternatives for one stakeholder or evaluator versus another, it is easier
to visualize potential compromises. In this example the alternative marked by the plus sign is
slightly better than one square for the legal department, but for Finance the square is the clear
best choice. The square pushes out to the upper-left, an indication that it would be a fine compromise.
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This is the result of screening resumes, a list of score bar graphs in ranked order. The narrow bars have complete
information, hence a single scored value. The wider bars have a question mark unresolved from the resume, so what is
shown is the range of possible scores given all the other information available. Since we were looking for the best
half-dozen for interviews we could see by the overlaps who the potential winner might be.
The red bars were disqualified by a "must-have" value. Since we had enough candidates
we could ignore them, but we could instead reconsider the requirement if someone popped up as a potential
winner otherwise.
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A big time-saver is the ability to leave one or more question marks in the matrix in case the decision can be
made without resolving them. DecisionPad shows the range of possible scores given the rest of
what you know. If the bars do not overlap the best one, then the questions are not worth the research effort or
discussion time to resolve them.
In this score graph, the second alternative's score range does not overlap the first alternative so it
cannot win regardless of how the question is settled. On the other hand, the third alternative could
be a bit better which might be worth resolving (depending on how much that "bit" is worth to you).
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Notes can be attached to alternatives, criteria, scales or evaluators to define them. Notes can also be
attached to weights and ratings in the matrix for commentary on sources or discussion points.
Overall notes let you explain the decision objectives or identify who was involved. The little
note symbol on a matrix cell lets you know where notes are attached.
By keeping notes along the way, an issue need only be brought up and discussed once instead of being
revisited in meeting after meeting.
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The default weighting method is to use percentages with 0-to-10 scores, a natural approach that suits many situations.
However your organization may have a scoring or points system that everyone is used to -- if so use it!
One less thing to explain.
All of the methods are mathematically equivalent and will produce the same ranking, but one may appeal to
your audience more than another.
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Generally the weights are the most controversial aspects of a decision. Weights specify the relative importance of
the criteria. Even after a consensus is reached the natural question remains "what if that one changes",
a common way for approval processes to get derailed.
You can change weights by hand to see what happens, but the Weight Sensitivity report will do it for you
systematically. It adjusts the weight of each criterion over a range and computes the new ranking, presenting the results
in little graphs called sparks like the ones above. The current weight is labeled "At" in the spark.
It shows whether changing the current weight a little will change the ranking, or if a big weight change is required.
This is not the only way to look at the sensitivity but it does provide a quick way to isolate the items worth discussing.
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The sliders set the relative importance or weights between these criteria in a way that anyone can visualize.
Just drag them back and forth. Generally people will set them roughly (or perhaps use the pairwise option first)
then press one of the sort buttons that instantly reorders the criteria. Now they can see whether they are
in the right order of importance with the right profile, and adjust-sort-adjust-etc utill they are.
You can see how this meets the "7 item attention span" issue: you set the weights within each group of
related criteria independently, so the participants need not keep the whole matrix in their heads at once.
This same screen is available to set subjective ratings across alternatives. Even though there may be many more
than 7 alternatives, you can rate them for one criteria at a time and use the sort feature to work in subsets.
Imagine ranking performance on a criterion like handling details or creativiy. You can arrange people who have similar abilities
in a region and then move down the list to pick up a different span. Again the key is getting people's ability
in the right order.
DecisionPad is easy to explain, analytically powerful, and gives you the flexibility to collect and analyze data in the ways that work for you.
Compare it to other appproaches at Why DecisionPad?
or get the nitty-gritty specs at Specification Details.
