12.5.1 Issues Associated with Toolkit Requirements
It is anticipated that most decision makers will be users rather than producers of data. Therefore, data mining and advanced visualization, all facilitated with Web-based collaborative accessibility, are key components of the
decision maker’s toolkit. Some managers will be interested in using modeling tools, and, for certain place-based decisions, these managers would be
able to execute these models through connections to the modeler’s toolkit.
These models and tools must be cast in a fashion that facilitates their use
as a part of the decision-making process.
12.5.2 Elements of the Decision Model
The decision maker’s toolkit must be a part of the overall decision-making
process. Five major elements are associated with the representation of the
generalized environmental management decision process:
• Statement of management objectives
• Delineation of management alternatives
• Expression of the physical, biochemical, ecological, and/or socioeconomic
states (existing or likely) of a given site or sites
• Evaluation of and learning from possible outcomes from different
management alternatives
• Estimation of the utility (relative worth) of these possible outcomes
relative to the stated management objectives
Case et al. (2000) present an analogous decision process with the following
elements:
• Recognition of problem or opportunity—Raising an issue in the formal
decision-making contest
• Process mapping—Deciding how an issue will be resolved and who will
decide
• Problem framing—Describing the problem to be solved or the opportunity to be captured
• Defining goals and criteria—Selecting indicators and measures that
guide decision making in terms of what is sought and how success will be
measured
• Intelligence gathering—Collecting and integrating information that will
support problem framing and evaluation of the utility of alternatives
• Evaluating and choosing alternatives—Comparing alternative courses of
action on multiple, and often competing, criteria
• Learning from outcomes—Using the experience gained to refine management, goals, criteria, and the decision process
Note that, although these elements are shown in a linear order, they actually represent a continuum that cycles through multiple times. Further, one
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It is anticipated that most decision makers will be users rather than producers of data. Therefore, data mining and advanced visualization, all facilitated with Web-based collaborative accessibility, are key components of the
decision maker’s toolkit. Some managers will be interested in using modeling tools, and, for certain place-based decisions, these managers would be
able to execute these models through connections to the modeler’s toolkit.
These models and tools must be cast in a fashion that facilitates their use
as a part of the decision-making process.
12.5.2 Elements of the Decision Model
The decision maker’s toolkit must be a part of the overall decision-making
process. Five major elements are associated with the representation of the
generalized environmental management decision process:
• Statement of management objectives
• Delineation of management alternatives
• Expression of the physical, biochemical, ecological, and/or socioeconomic
states (existing or likely) of a given site or sites
• Evaluation of and learning from possible outcomes from different
management alternatives
• Estimation of the utility (relative worth) of these possible outcomes
relative to the stated management objectives
Case et al. (2000) present an analogous decision process with the following
elements:
• Recognition of problem or opportunity—Raising an issue in the formal
decision-making contest
• Process mapping—Deciding how an issue will be resolved and who will
decide
• Problem framing—Describing the problem to be solved or the opportunity to be captured
• Defining goals and criteria—Selecting indicators and measures that
guide decision making in terms of what is sought and how success will be
measured
• Intelligence gathering—Collecting and integrating information that will
support problem framing and evaluation of the utility of alternatives
• Evaluating and choosing alternatives—Comparing alternative courses of
action on multiple, and often competing, criteria
• Learning from outcomes—Using the experience gained to refine management, goals, criteria, and the decision process
Note that, although these elements are shown in a linear order, they actually represent a continuum that cycles through multiple times. Further, one
236
Jeffery P. Holland et al.