Explain what a decision model is and list the three types of

Explain what a decision model is and list the three types of inputs common to decision models.

Solution

The Decision Model is an intellectual template for perceiving, organizing, and managing the business logic behind a business decision. It is a new way of looking at Business Logic. Business logic is what drives the decisions in our business. Instead of trying to manage the logic one business rule at a time, the Decision Model groups the rules into their natural logical groups to create the structure that make the model so simple to understand, communicate and manage.

The Decision Model is not simply a list of business rules or business statements. Rather, it is a model representing a structural design of the logic embodied by those statements. As a model of business logic, the Decision Model is a unique representation of business logic, unlike other representations. For example, it is, by deliberate intent, not a model of how that business logic relates to processes, use cases, information, or software models. It is not a notation added to data models, fact models, process models, or any other kind of model. Instead, it is an independent representation of business logic based on the premise that business logic has its own existence, independent of how it is executed, where in the business it is executed, and whether or not its execution is implemented in automated systems. The Decision Model can be anchored to any and all other kinds of models, but maintained independently of them.

Decision Model is distinct in its representation of business logic because a Decision Model aims to be:

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The three types of inputs common to decision models are -

1) The constraints - Every decision model is based on \'if\' and \'then\' statement. And these two words come from the constraints defined by the requirement.

2) Alternatives - A decision model must have an alternative for each step, may be economical or profitable or may be not. But in order to make a decision, one must have alternatives.

3) The objective - This is the main requirement of the decision model. We need an objective which has to be optimized using the constraints and the alternatives to come to a conclusion.