Decision analysis (DA) is the discipline comprising the philosophy, theory, methodology, and professional practice necessary to address important This article is in need of attention. Please improve it in any way you see fit. This article or section should be merged with Decision_making. A decision is the commitment to irrevocably allocate valuable resources. A decision is a commitment to act. Action is therefore the irrevocable allocation of valuable... decisions in a formal manner. Decision analysis includes many procedures, methods, and tools for identifying, clearly representing, and formally assessing the important aspects of a decision situation, for computing the recommended course of action by applying the maximum expected utility An action axiom is an axiom that embodies a criterion for recommending action. Action axioms are of the form IF a condition holds, THEN the following should be done. Decision theory and, hence, decision analysis are based on the maximum expected utility (MEU) action axiom. In general, the principle for... action axiom to a well-formed representation of the decision, and for translating the formal representation of a decision and its corresponding recommendation into insight for the decision-maker and other decision participants.

The term decision analysis was coined in 1964 by Ronald A. Howard has been a professor at Stanford University since 1965. In 1964 He defined the profession of decision analysis, and since then has been developing the field as professor in the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems (now the Department of Management Science and Engineering) in the School of... Ronald A. Howard, who since then, as a professor at Die Luft der Freiheit weht. (The wind of freedom blows.) For other meanings of Stanford, see Stanford (disambiguation). The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University, is a privately funded university in Stanford, California. It is located approximately 35 miles southeast of San Francisco, in an unincorporated part... Stanford University, has been instrumental in developing much of the practice and professional application of DA.

Bibliography

• Clemen, Robert, Making Hard Decisions: An Introduction to Decision Analysis, 2^nd edition (1996), Belmont CA: Duxbury Press, 1996.
• Goodwin, P., and G. Wright, Decision Analysis for Management Judgment, 3^rd edition (2004). Wiley, Chichester. ISBN 0-470-86108-8
• Holtzman, Samuel, Intelligent Decision Systems (1989), Addison-Wesley.
• Howard, R.A., and J.E. Matheson (editors), Readings on the Principles and Applications of Decision Analysis, 2 volumes (1984), Menlo Park CA: Strategic Decisions Group.
• Raiffa, Howard, Decision Analysis: Introductory Readings on Choices Under Uncertainty (1997). McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-07-052579-X
• Smith, J.Q., Decision Analysis: A Bayesian Approach (1988), Chapman and Hall. ISBN 0-412-27520-1
• Matheson, David, and Matheson, Jim, The Smart Organization: Creating Value through Strategic R&D (1998). Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 0-87584-765-X
• Hammond, J.S. and Keeney, R.L. and Raiffa, H., Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions (1999). Harvard Business School Press
• Keeney, R.L.,Value-focused thinking -- A Path to Creative Decisionmaking (1992). Harvard University Press

See also

• The decision analysis (DA) cycle is the top-level procedure for carrying out a decision analysis. The traditional cycle consists of four phases: basis development determinisitic sensitivity analysis probabilistic analysis basis appraisal. A revised form of the cycle consists of an attention-focusing method followed by a decision method, each... Decision analysis cycle
• A decision method is an axiomatic system that contains at least one action axiom. Formulation is the first and often most challenging stage in using formal decision methods (and in decision analysis in particular). The objective of the formulation stage is to develop a formal model of the given decision... Decision model
• Decision theory is an interdisciplinary area of study, related to and of interest to practitioners in mathematics, statistics, economics, philosophy, management and psychology. It is concerned with the optimal decisions to be taken under particular circumstances. Normative and descriptive decision theory Most of decision theory is normative or prescriptive, i... Decision theory
• In decision analysis, an influence diagram (ID) (also called a relevance diagram) is a graphical and mathematical representation of probabilistic inference and decision problems. IDs are a generalization of decision trees. An ID is a directed acyclic graph with two types of node — decision node and chance node —... Influence diagram
• Maximum expected utility
• Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is a procedure aimed at supporting decision maker(s) whose problem involves numerous and conflicting evaluations. MCDA aims at highlighting these conflicts and deriving a way to come to a compromise in a transparent process. For example, European Parliament may apply MCDA to arrive on... Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)