Logical Decisions - Classweb

Identifying and Defining Alternatives in LDW
Initially, an LDW alternative is just a name, limited to 255
characters, and optionally an ID number or a comment. The real
definition of an alternative is its levels on the evaluation
measures.
You define the levels in LDW's Matrix View. LDW options let
you define measure levels with probabilities or with measure
categories. If you have many alternatives you my find it easiest to
define them outside LDW and to use the File::Import option to
load them into LDW.
You can read more about how to define alternatives on page 6-14.
You can read about defining levels with probabilities on page 6-21
and about defining levels with measure categories on page 6-30.
The File::Import option is discussed on page 8-64.
Identifying Goals and Objectives
Goals and objectives are the qualitative considerations that
influence the desirability of the alternatives. For example, in
choosing a car the highest level goal might be "choose the best
car." Underneath this broad goal might be dozens of subsidiary
concerns, such as "minimize the price of the car," "maximize
power," "maximize fuel economy," and "maximize rear seat
legroom." Some of these concerns may overlap, some may be
conflicting and some may be unimportant when compared to the
other concerns. LDW uses a Goals Hierarchy to help you
organize the goals and objectives for an analysis.
Developing a Goals Hierarchy
A goals hierarchy is like an organization chart. It starts with the
most general goals at the top and breaks these general goals down
into more specific sub-goals. In the truck example from the
Tutorial, the general goal of "choose the best truck" might be
expanded into "minimize cost," "maximize quality," and
"maximize features." You might break the "maximize features"
objective down further into "maximize performance" and
"maximize comfort."
Figure 9-1 shows how the top portion of a goals hierarchy for
buying a truck might look. The process of dividing general goals
9-6 Section 9 -- In Depth