The analysis manager is a DSS component designed to facilitate dialog among stake holders to priorities and select the best scenario(s). The analysis manager has two basic functionalities; the Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) and the Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). The MCA prioritizing alternatives based on a set of criteria as defined by the stakeholders. The CBA is dedicated to analyze the economic viability of a project by taking the benefits of the project from scenario simulations and costs of the project from the infrastructures considered in the simulation and their effects on, for example, the environment and society. The analyses are presented as preconfigured spreadsheets that offer required functionality and logic to carry out the MCA and CBA typical workflows.
Analysis Manager Components
Each manager in the DSS has four user interface components. These components are used to carry out operations on objects related the concerned manager. In this case, the Analysis Manager is composed of (See Figure 1):
1. An explorer, in which analyses are organized in user defined groups.
2. The data view where the various widows such as MCA or CBA setups, sessions and comparisons are displayed.
3. The 'Tools' explorer in which the tools related to CBA and MCA are displayed and accessed.
4. Properties window, in which the properties of the selected object are displayed.
Figure 1: 'Analysis' manager components
Within the 'Analysis' manager, analyses consist of:
1. Setups (where basic parameters of the analyses are defined)
2. Sessions (where actual analyses are carried out often by varying values of selected parameters)
3. Comparisons (where several analyses results analysis sessions can be compared).