Facilitating Multi-Criteria Analysis - with Collaboration Software - Part 2

Facilitating Multi-Criteria Analysis - with Collaboration Software - Part 2

In releasing this movie (Part 2) I hope to open the eyes of some to the possibility of making better-informed group decisions using collaborative software. This is me (Paul Collins, Chicago, IL) facilitating, in what is a 10-minute super condensed version of the 1-hour session I conducted as part of my certification process in March 1999.




Multi-Criteria Analysis (a.k.a. Multi-Rating) is the rating of a list of ideas against two or more evaluation criteria. The criteria used in this session are un-weighted (equal), so no criterion is more important than another one.

Part 2 of this movie doesn't show the gathering, analyzing, reducing and rating the list of ideas, but rather it focuses on (1) defining the evaluation criteria, and of (2) reviewing and discussing the evaluation results in a way that will help the group make the best possible decisions.

Sample Alternatives: Your ten favorite restaurants
Sample Criteria: Taste, Nutritional Value, Cost, Speed of Service

Group decision support systems (GDSS) software, (a.k.a. electronic meeting systems, EMS) have been available commercially since 1990 and assist groups in the gathering and sharing of information, the understanding, analysis, categorization and evaluation of information, and ultimately in solving problems, developing plans and in making better-informed decisions.

Early software ran in fixed meeting rooms on DOS-based PCs connected by LANs. As computers became more powerful and compact, portable decision centers could be setup anywhere with a network of notebook PCs. Today, the internet more options as collaborative group decision software can support not only face-to-face meetings, but also virtual meetings where participants can conduct meetings synchronously (at the same time, from different places) and asynchronously (from any time, at any place).

The subject for this movie is business planning for the fictitious company Fagin Enterprises, Inc. Fagin is the successor to the gang of pickpockets, thieves and robbers mentored and trained by Fagin, the infamous character created by Charles Dickens who appears in Oliver Twist and Great Expectations. Fagin wishes to re-focus its business on burglary hence the new slogan Burglary Is Our Business.

The company wants to shed all business where there is high risk of injury to employees in order to reduce work-related injuries, workers compensation claims and lawsuits. In addition, employees caught in the act will face lesser charges as therell be no need for weapons, assaults, etc. These changes will also lower Fagins legal costs and reduce employee down time as caught employees will spend less time in court and convicted ones will spend less time in prison.

More info at: www.jordan-webb.net

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