Decision Making Software Analysis and Discussion - Essay Example

RUNNING HEAD: DECISION MAKING SOFTWARE DISCUSSION Decision Making Software Analysis and Discussion Decision Making Software Analysis and Discussion Making decisions is something we all do constantly even without consciously being aware of doing so. However, at times humans allow their own biases, preferences, and preconceptions cloud their judgment. At other times complex problems can require complex solutions that may entail expending more time than we have available. The development of decision making software, therefore, can be an invaluable tool to utilize.

In researching the various products available, I examined various products and chose to analysis Visual Decision and their Decision Lab product. Their software, Decision Lab 2000, "is a multi-criteria analysis and decision-making software" ("Decision lab" 2004); further the software offers the flexibility of various applications in reaching complex decisions. It allows the user to input various possible scenarios to arrive at the best possible solution for each particular situation. Decision Lab allows for the complex computation of figures and further allows for organization of data into meaningful tables and charts.

Several other possible applications include: entering multiple sides of an issue or points of view for a particular situation to arrive at best case outcomes; to input data relative to assumptions or hypotheses to understand needed actions and guidelines; input data to determine the most sensible steps to take; and to perform extensive statistical data manipulation with relative ease. Visual Decision recommends the product for a wide range of applications including strategic planning, financial analysis and credit analysis.

The software was designed for use with Windows which has universal appeal and application potential since it can customized for multi use integration. Additionally, the software itself is not cumbersome to use and was designed in similar fashion as MS Excel which is widely used. This reduces the time to necessary to learn new software application.Decision lab is based on the PROMETHEE and GAIA methodology. According to the company PROMTHEE "these classifications allow to consider the perceptions and priorities of the decision-makers, without sacrificing for the rationality and the reliability of the analysis.

("Decision lab" 2004). The GAIA method further "is a graphic representation of the decision problem that offers a global sight of conflicts enters criteria, characteristics of actions and level-headedness of criteria ("Decision lab" 2004).When discussing the effectiveness of the software at the Canadian Space Agency it was stated "Operational Research was based on a postulate of optimum research. However, decision problems arising from real-life situations cannot be optimized under every aspect.

In these situations, the multi-criteria approach helps decision-makers to identify the best compromise alternatives and to justify the best choice" ("Mission" 2006)Through reviewing the data on this software it would be helpful in analyzing complex data and arriving at possible solutions. For data replication of this type I would most certainly use such a program. It would assist in the better understanding of the steps involved in decision making and could be a valuable learning tool. However, in particular, when discussed in the framework of consensus and problem solving dealing with non empirical data, I question whether the best possible solution can be reached using software as opposed to the interaction of the humans.

Often the synergistic energy created while discussing possible solutions yields far better results that can be achieved individually and that, as of yet at least, is not something that can be replicated by software.References"Decision lab." (2004). Visual Decision Website. Retrieved February 6, 2006, from http://www.visualdecision.com/dlab.htm"Mission." (2006). Canadian Space Agency Website. Retrieved February 6, 2006, from http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/default.asp