Analytics Magazine Analytics Magazine, November/December 2014 | Page 63

I touched on how decision analysts have a wide range of software tools available to support their mission “[to evaluate] complex alternatives in the light of uncertainty, value preferences and risk preferences,” as Dennis Buede defined it in the first survey 21 years ago. [1] This year’s list of decision analysis software packages reinforces how decision tools continue to evolve and provide analysts with more and more horsepower to transform the increasingly vast amounts of available information into decision advantage. The Survey In terms of its approach and collection methods, this year’s survey did not stray from previous iterations. An online questionnaire was provided to vendors based a na l y t i c s Survey directory & data To view the directory of decision analysis software vendors, software products and survey results, click here. on previous participation or the staff’s knowledge of a new product. Vendors who did not receive the original questionnaire can still provide their software’s information to the survey results online by contacting Patton McGinley (patton@ lionhrtpub.com). Just as in 2012 and previous years, this publication provides the vendor responses verbatim and does not intend for the results to imply quality or cost effectiveness. Rather, the list serves to raise awareness of the variety of tools available. n o v e m b e r / d e c e m b e r 2 014 | 63