Decision Network: a planning tool for making multiple, linked decisions

Few techniques exist specifically for planning analysis. Commonly used decision techniques focus on different, partial aspects of coordinating decisions. The garbage-can model focuses on the context in which decisions emerge to explain descriptively how organizational choices are made; the strategic choice approach focuses on the relationship between decisions from which rational actions can be taken; and the decision tree focuses on the causal sequence of decisions from which the optimal path of a plan can be derived. Drawing on the theoretical foundation of these three commonly used techniques, we introduce the conceptual framework of a tool for planning analysis, namely Decision Network, that addresses context, relationship, and sequence of decisions, with a numerical example demonstrating how the decision problem can be formulated and solved. Decision Network can be used by decision makers who are faced with more than one decision in order to make plans. Much can be built on this tool to address spatial issues.