Frequently Asked Questions

What computing platforms does Decision Advisor run on?
Decision Advisor runs on Windows platforms.

Technical Frequently Asked Questions

How can I include the influence diagram or any of the graphs in my presentations?
There are several ways to get pictures out of Decision Advisor.

1. Use copy/paste to paste bitmaps of the influence diagram or graph
2. Use File/Export As/Picture (or File/Export/File) to create a Windows metafile. This allows you to paste the graphic into a presentation and do some additional formatting.
3. For graphs, using File/Export/To Excel will create an Excel chart equivalent to the graph in Decision Advisor. This menu option exists for the Tornado chart and the Cumulative Probability chart.

When I click the button to open the Excel file, nothing happens or the computer hangs. What’s going on?
This can happen when Excel is not installed on the computer or if the Excel security setting is set to ‘Very High’ or ‘High’ security which prevents unsigned macros from running. Changing the security setting to ‘Medium’ will cause Excel to prompt you with a security warning and will give you the option to ‘Enable Macros’ when they attempt to run. This allows Decision Advisor to run the Excel macros without posing a security risk for you.

The project’s expected value doesn’t match up with the base case value on the Tornado diagram. Why not?
The base case value on the Tornado Diagram is a calculation when all the uncertainties are set to their base (or medium) value. The expected value that is calculated with a probabilistic analysis is probability weighted average after all scenarios of all selected uncertainties is run.

I already have an Excel spreadsheet; can I use it in my analysis?
You may use existing Excel spreadsheets linking them up with an influence diagram. Refer to the Advanced Users Guide for a detailed explanation on how to use them.