Decision-support

Discussion

Robert Steele:

Decision-Support, also known in professional circles as Intelligence, with sub-sets by community, e.g. secret intelligence, military intelligence, commercial intelligence, energy intelligence, is a process consisting of the following functions:

Requirements Definition

• What does the "decider" (person or group] need to know?
• When do they need to know?
• In what form do they need to be informed?
• What is the context within which they will use the decision-support being provided?

Collection Management & Collection

• Where can we FIND this information at low cost within our own knowledge bases?
• Where can we GET this information from an ally or acquaintance at low cost?
• Where can we BUY this information at low to medium cost within our time and security parameters?
• How can we TASK a specific party to collect this information at a relatively high cost within our time and security parameters?

Processing

• Machine-speed processing of large streams of digital information
• Human processing of large quantities of analog information
• Machine analytics
• Human analytics
• Group analytics
• Visualization & presentation

Feed-Back

• Does the intelligence (decision-support) fully satisfy the original requirement?
• If not, why not and what more can be done to satisfy the original requirement?
• What new requirements are inspired by the delivery of the decision-support in the context of changing circumstances?

Repeat the cycle....