You need to create an account with a login to save and retrieve your matrices. This also protects your privacy. To create an account for the first time click on Register

And fill out the registration form.

When returning the next time go to and type in your E-Mail address and Password and press Login.

Any previous decision matrices will be shown. You can edit, copy or delete any matrix.

You can also search the e-library to find examples other users have agreed to share anonymously. Simply type some keywords and relevant matrices will appear.

This is a description of the decision you wish to make. The wording is important because it helps define what are the critical factors that should be considered. It is also used in the search function for the decision matrix library. Some handy hints:

• Don’t try and make the decision too broad. The more specific the better e.g. Do I control weeds? compared with Do I control weeds in this paddock?
• Don’t try and wrap multiple decisions into one. e.g. Do I sell animals and which ones? Would be better split into two decisions; Do I sell animals? and then if yes, Which animals do I sell?

The timing of the decision is optional but can sometimes be useful for recurring decisions.

Rarely are there only one or two things to consider in a complex decision. This step enables you to identify what you believe are critical factors that should be considered in the decision. Some handy hints:

• Keep the descriptions ‘high level’ e.g. seasonal forecast, current prices, return on investment etc. Specifics are added at the next step.
• Involve others. Asking people with different perspectives can often surface critical consideration you may not have thought of. Depending on the decision, input from family members, employees, advisors and accountants can broaden what to include.
• Consult the decision library. Someone else may have also tackled this decision and their list of critical considerations may be useful.

Type in a critical factor and press

There is an edit and delete button should you wish to modify or remove consideration.

There is a suggestion to enter at least three considerations. The reason for this is if only one or two considerations are required, then the decision can probably be determined without needing a matrix.

Once finish adding considerations press

This step adds further detail to the considerations.

With most considerations there are points where you think differently about their importance in the decision. It might be when something is considered easy rather than hard, or if it is above average or below average, or if the return is above or below a certain value. These are ‘tipping points’, when your thinking about a consideration changes.

Consider an example where the seasonal forecast is a critical consideration in the decision. You might think differently about the decision if the forecast is for an above average rainfall compared to a below average rainfall. You may want to be more precise by increasing the number of ‘tipping points’ or be more specific in the description. This might mean describing three conditions as decile 8 rainfall or above, decile 7 to 3 rainfall or decile 2 or below rainfall.

There is no right way of describing these ‘tipping points’, use what works best for you.

The Decision Wizard takes each consideration in turn, starting with the first consideration you listed. To assist in defining the ‘tipping points’, you are initially asked to describe the most supportive description for that consideration. If this were to occur, it would definitely support a positive response to the decision. Type in your answer and press.

The Decision Wizard then asks for the strongest description that opposes the decision. If this were to occur, it would not support the decision. Type in your answer and press.

A minimum of two condition descriptions are required. These conditions ‘bookend’ the possible responses.

If more descriptions are required between the most supportive and the description that opposes the decision, then press Otherwise press

While you may have listed several considerations, some considerations may be more important than others.  Therefore weighting or value needs to be assigned to reflect the different levels of importance.

At this step the Decision Wizard does a number of things. It:

• lists the most supportive descriptions to all the considerations you identified.
• has the capacity to move the order of the consideration by using the
  
• indicates a minimum value than can be entered for each consideration (NB:  The minimum values indicated reflect the number of conditions within each consideration minus 1). 

Some handy hints:

• rank these considerations by using the up/down arrows.  This makes it easier to assign the scores relative to each other as you go from highest to lowest.
• more than one consideration can be assigned the same weighting or value if you deem they are both of equal importance.

Fill in values for the other ranked considerations relative to the maximum value, but no lower than the minimum value.

Then press

The Decision Wizard will fill in all the strongest description that opposes the decision by giving them a value of zero (0). If the consideration has only two conditions, the task is complete.  If there are additional considerations between the most supportive description and strongest description that opposes the decision, then complete these values. Some handy hints:

• The intermediary values do not have to be halfway between the most supportive and strongly opposing values.  You can ‘skew’ the conditions to be closer to or further away from the most supportive and strongly opposing values.
• If you are uncomfortable with any of the weightings (apart from the strongest description that opposes the decision which is locked at zero), these can be changed. 

When all values have been assigned, press

This step defines the decision.  It needs to be clearly described.  Poorly worded or ambiguous statements are not helpful. 

To assist in developing these decision statements, the Decision Wizard firstly lists all the best or most favourable conditions as a prompt.

Write the decision you would make if all the responses were the most supportive descriptions. Then press

The Decision Wizard will then list all the strongest descriptions that opposes the decision as a prompt.

Write the decision you would make then press

A minimum of two decision descriptions are required.  These descriptions ‘bookend’ the possible decisions.

There may be time when the decision isn’t black and white, there may be some ‘grey’.  If there are intermediary decisions between the two defined, then press the button and complete any further decision descriptions.  If completed press, No I’m done.

Some handy hints:

• Reading all the most supportive descriptions and strongest descriptions that opposes the decision aloud and then asking yourself  “If this was the case, what decision would I make?” can help to make the decision clearer.
• Avoid making too many intermediary decisions as this makes it harder to define the decision score.  It also makes the decision harder because you are giving yourself too many choices.  Clear choices makes decision making easier. 

 When all decision descriptions have been completed, press

No decision is risk free. However the level of risk you may wish to accept is personal. It will change depending on your personality, circumstances and even the type of decision you are making e.g. production or marketing risks may be considered differently to the risk around personal decisions. A person will a low risk tolerance may want to have more consideration in the positive before they would make a certain decision. A person with a greater tolerance to risk may make the same decision but with less conditions in the positive.

The Decision Wizard incorporates risk into your decision making. Simply select if you have a high, moderate or low tolerance to risk.

The Decision Wizard combines your risk tolerance and the maximum score possible to provide suggested decision scores. These decision scores are a guide only, but can be useful to commence the scenario testing.

Choose the risk approach that best suits you, then press

It is likely the numbers in the decision matrix will need ‘tweaking’.  The suggested way to do this is to run some scenarios, where you score each of the considerations, add all the scores together and then compare to the decision description.

The Decision Wizard provides a column to type in your scores for each of the critical considerations and compare this to the decision score.

If the suggested decision is implausible or doesn’t sit comfortably with you, then you need to either:

• Revise the decisions scores
• Revise the values assigned to the individual conditions
• Change both
• Question why, as it is possible you have missed an important consideration  

These values can be adjusted within the matrix.  New considerations can be added by going back to step 2 (define a decision – considerations).

If you are uncomfortable with the decision scores, click on the button. This will allow you to change the pre-populated values (these values are automatically calculated from the level of risk you chose and the maximum score). Change these values and press

Some handy hints:

• It can be useful in reflecting on past experiences in undertaking the scenario testing, because you know in hindsight what the right decision should have been.  Complete the decision matrix based on the knowledge you would have had at the time that decision needed to be made.  Would the score have helped confirm the decision you made or led to a different decision?
• You may have struggled to know what score to give some considerations, through a lack of information or knowledge. Recognising these deficiencies can help focus on what information or skill you need to make a more informed decision in the future e.g. If having more than 1500 kg/ha of feed available was a tipping point you had described, then do you need to improve your estimate of feed on offer (as this is important information in choosing the right consideration).
• Reflect on the scores you assigned to each consideration.  If you wanted more certainty around a decision, are there any actions you could put in place that would enable you to strengthen or elevate the score you had given?  

Saving and printing

The Decision Wizard enables you to save the decision matrix to your private folder on the system.  Matrices will be saved as the decision description and will then appear on the decisions page next time you log into the Decision Wizard.

The matrix can also be printed as a hard copy or exported as a PDF.