How to Conduct an Option Analysis and Make a Decision
Director Russo has asked you to review the proposals and make a recommendation to combat Ug99. You will need to read the proposals and do the research necessary to understand them in great detail before you can do your analysis and make a recommendation.
This step-by- step will guide you through the process of completing the Option Analysis Template and updating your outline.
Revise your work plan
Review the email from Director Russo. Make sure you understand your goal in this task. If you have any questions, please discuss them with your mentor.
Together with your team, review the feedback your mentor gave you on your work plan. Each time you begin new task you will have an opportunity to review and update your work plan. You should revisit the remaining stages of the work plan and determine what changes need to be made.
Review the materials for this task, 2.3: Conduct Option Analysis. Pay special attention to this step-by-step. Keep in mind that while it gives you the steps necessary to complete this task, you may organize your team to in any way you choose. As you review the materials determine what new information they provide to help you better define your work plan. It might be helpful to consider the following questions:
Are there tasks/subtasks in your work plan that need to be added, revised or deleted?
Tip: Keep in mind that some tasks may be interdependent. This may affect your planning and the timeframe in which you must complete those tasks.
Have there been any deadline changes since the project began? Consider if you have more or less time to complete each task.
How does the addition or deletion of tasks/subtasks affect the amount of time to complete other tasks/subtasks?
Have there been any changes to your team that would effect who does what and how long it will take?
Do you need to reassign who's responsible for a task or the number of teammates assigned to a task based on the work to be done and how long you have to do it?
Update your work plan and distribute new copies to members of your team.
Understand the Proposals
Individually read the proposals.
At this stage, you may not understand everything you read. In fact, you may need to read each proposal more than once before you understand what is being proposed. As you read, you should mark passages and terms that you don't understand. These will become the starting points for your research.
As you work on your own, do your best to understand the main ideas that are being discussed. You will have an opportunity to thoroughly research and discuss the proposals with your team.
Take notes on each proposal. As you read, you should note what each proposal is suggesting as well as document any information you don't understand so you bring it up with your team and research it later.
After reading the proposals, come back together as a team and discuss each proposal and the questions you still have.
Working through one proposal at a time, discuss what the proposal is suggesting as well as anything you didn't understand about that proposal.
Determine what topics and issues from each proposal will need to be researched.
You may find it helpful to refer to the Conducting Research Skill Tutorial
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specifically "Part 2: Making a Research Plan" for tips on how to best organize this task.
Conduct your research.
In your research, you will want to get at the heart of the proposals by thinking about the following:
What does the proposal recommend?
Why does a proposal suggest a certain solution? Why does the proposal's author believe that the solution will work?
What evidence supports the solution's potential effectiveness? For example, has there been proven success with this solution in a similar case or problem?
How does the proposed solution work? You will need to research the underlying science that supports each proposal. You want to have a good understanding of how this works because you can't recommend something you don't understand.
How long will it take for the solution to take effect so that Ug99 will no longer affect wheat?
What resources are needed to implement the solution, i.e. costs and human resources?
Review the links available on the Resources page. You will notice information about Ug99 and research specifically pertaining to solutions suggested in each proposal. As time allows, you may also want to go to the Internet and conduct your own research.
Meet together as a team and share your research with each other. You will want to make sure that all your questions, as well as those outlined in step four have been addressed before you start your analysis.
If questions remain or come about from your team discussion, you may need to conduct additional research. You can always talk to your mentor for suggestions on finding information to your remaining questions.
Conduct Option Analysis
Download a copy of the Option Analysis Template for each member of the team. This template is found on the Resources page for this task.
Begin by working individually on the first table of the Option Analysis Template. This table, "Establish Criteria" guides you through establishing criteria and sub-criteria. Criteria are the characteristics or factors upon which you will base your analysis of the proposals and sub-criteria further define the criteria.
Brainstorm the criteria you think would help you evaluate the proposals. Remember you will use the same criteria to analyze each of the proposals, so the criteria you come up with should apply to all of them. For example, you may think the "implementation time" to realize the solution is important since the problem is very serious.
Using the guidance provided in the Option Analysis Skill Tutorial, narrow your list of ideas to about 5 criteria. Record those criteria into the first column on the template.
Assign an overall weight for the criterion in the second column named "Overall assigned weight for criterion." Remember the weight you assign the criterion is independent of the assigned weight of each sub-criteria.
Look at the third column "sub criteria" and determine if there are any sub-criteria to consider for the criteria you selected. If so, try to narrow the number of sub-criteria to 2-3 options per criterion and include them on the template. In the Adopt a Dog example, the family defined "well-behaved"; by the sub-criteria "doesn't bite," "doesn't pull on leash," "house broken," and "friendly."
Now look back at the fourth column in the table "Assigned Weight of each sub-criterion" and determine weights for the sub-criteria. Remember the weight of the sub-criteria should add up to 1.
In the last column of the table, write a justification for each criterion you identified. Express why you think the criterion is important and why you gave the criterion the weight you did?
Select and Weigh Criteria as a team. Now that you have filled out the "Weight Criteria" table independently, you are ready to repeat the process as a team. Work the following steps with your teammates and completely fill out the table. The project manager should lead the discussion and the quality manager should fill in the table.
Print out a group copy of the "Weight Criteria" table. This deliverable will be submitted to your mentor.
As a team, discuss the ideas that each person came up with on their own. The goal is to reach a consensus on the final criteria and sub-criteria for the proposals. Remember, you are picking the criteria and sub-criteria that will apply to all of the proposals so your ideas need to be applicable to all the solutions. For example, "implementation time" is an example of criteria used earlier in this step by step.
Narrow the criteria down to about five options and that you think are the most applicable to each proposal. Record your decisions on the table.
Discuss the sub-criteria you individually came up with that would apply to the criteria you just chose. Do your best to narrow down the sub-criteria to 2-3 options for each criterion. Record these sub-criteria on the table.
Determine the weight by reviewing and discussing the weight for the final list of criteria and fill in the information in the fourth column of the table. Then, do the same for the sub-criterion in the third column. Based on your discussion, assign weights to criteria and sub-criteria that everyone is willing to agree with.
As a group, write your justification on why you chose the criterion you did and your rationale for the weights you assigned to the criterion. Provide your answer in the table.
Individually rate the proposals. The process for reviewing the proposals will be very similar to the process you used to determine the criteria for your analysis, in that you will first work independently and then come together as a team and discuss everyone's ideas.
Each team member should have a copy of the "Rate Options" table. You will need one copy for each proposal.
Enter the name of the proposal being rated at the top of the table.
Tip: It is easiest to complete the analysis on one proposal before moving onto the next one.
Using the information your team agreed on in step 4, complete the "Criteria," and "Sub criteria with weights" columns of the template. It may be helpful to review the Adopt a Dog example to see how the tables were set up for each dog.
Rate each of the proposals on each of the sub-criteria you have identified on a scale of 1 to 5.
Tip: Remember that when you are dealing with continuous numbers (for example, cost), you will need to scale the ratings. Refer to the Option Analysis Skill Tutorial for detailed information on how and when to scale.
Write a justification for each rating in the fourth column of the table.
Calculate the "Total Rating" (as explained in the tutorial) and enter the results into the fifth column of the table.
Carry over the information from the data column "Total Criteria Weight" in the "Weight Criteria" table filled out by your team.
Calculate the "Total Score" in the last column of the table by multiplying the total rating by the total weight.
Calculate the "Total Option Score" at the bottom of the table by adding the total scores for each criterion.
Rate the proposals as a team. After conducting your analysis independently, you are ready to repeat the process as a team. Once again, the team project manager should lead the discussion and the quality manager should fill in the tables.
On your group template, fill in the "Criteria" and "Sub criteria with weights" column the same as when you went about rating the proposals independently.
Working on one proposal at a time, discuss the ratings you individually assigned the criteria and sub-criteria and come to a consensus you believe the team should assign for the criteria and sub-criteria.
For any numerical criteria subject to scaling for continuous numbers, decide as a group if you agree with the rating and then check the math to make sure it is accurate.
Record your ratings in the table.
Write a justification for your rating.
Calculate the "Total Ratings" in the fifth column of the table.
Carry over the information on "Total Criteria Weight" from the fourth column of the "Weight Criteria" table filled out by the team.
Calculate the "Total Score" in the last column of the table by multiplying the total rating by the total weight.
Calculate the "Total Option Score" at the bottom of the table by adding the total scores for each criterion.
Analyze your results as a team. As a team, compare the results by looking at the total option score for each proposal. Determine if you intuitively agree or disagree with the calculated outcome.
If you disagree with the outcome, take a moment to look at your choice of criteria and sub-criteria as well as the weights and ratings you assigned your criterion. If you do not, consider how you want to change the criteria and/or their weights and then perform the analysis again.
If you agree with the outcome, still take the time to review your work to make sure you have eliminated any mistakes and biases in your analysis.
Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the outcome, check to make sure there are no miscalculations.
Review the results according to the instructions in the Skill Tutorial for detailed information to help you review your results.
Determine which option you will suggest the taskforce fund. Write a summary justification for your selection in the "Summarize Findings" table of the template.
Update and revise your outline
Now that you have conducted your analysis of the proposals and selected a proposal to fund, revise your outline as a team to reflect your decision. Your outline should be updated with the following information:
A brief overview of each proposal you reviewed.
A discussion of the research process. What was most compelling and helpful to your understanding of solutions suggested in the proposals?
The option analysis process to select a proposal including:
An overview of the steps involved in your analysis.
A presentation of data to support your choice, including a discussion of the most compelling arguments.
How the process helped you make a decision.
What challenges, if any, you faced.
What you learned from the experience.
Any insight or opinions on the Ug-99 problem based your research and analysis.
Review and submit your work
Review your Option Analysis Templateand make sure you have completely filled in all the tables and the information is an accurate reflection of your team's analysis.
Review all the major sections of your outline to make sure you are not missing any information to write your report.
Submit your work. Review the checklist found in the Submit Your Work section of this task and submit the assignment to your mentor.
Resources
Note: When referring to a Wikipedia resource, note that while Wikipedia is a valuable resource, unlike some other websites anyone can contribute to or modify the site (whether they're knowledgeable about the topic or not). As a result, the site is subject to constant change by questionable sources. Be sure to cross-check information on Wikipedia with other reputable sites to ensure accuracy.
Plant Hormones FAQ
This FAQ will help you understand what is proposed in one of the grant proposals that you will evaluate.
Leaf FAQ
This FAQ will answer some questions about the structure of leaves. The main focus is on the leaf surface: how fungi get through it and how we can study it. This will help you understand what is proposed in one of the grant proposals that you will evaluate.
Rust Life Cycle
This document will help you understand the grant proposals—it shows why the proposed breeding programs require yearly wheat crops, and it defines uredospore, a technical term used in one of the proposals.
Cultivar Overview
This resource provides a good definition of the term cultivar.
Emmer Wheat
There are many species of wheat, all belonging to the genus Triticum. Emmer is a wheat variety that has grown wild in the fertile crescent of the Middle East since prehistoric times. It is grown in cultivation in a number of mostly Mediterranean countries.
Wheat Domestication
This article describes the two original forms of wheat, including emmer. It also highlights the differences between wild and domesticated wheat.
The History of Wheat
This article chronicles the history of wheat, including scientific details on the difference between ancient and modern wheat. As you use this resource, pay special attention to the section under Wheat Varieties. This section offers information about plant breeding and the characteristics that are valued in wheat. This resource also introduces the idea of gene mapping as part of plant breeding.
National Germplasm System
This link takes you to the homepage for the USDA’s National germplasm system- a program designed to store germplasm and ultimately protect the genetic diversity of crops.
Seed Banks: A resource for the future
This link offers information on why seed banks are needed and includes important details types of seeds that can be stored, how seeds are stored and challenges facing seed banks.
Grain Seed Collection Offers Promise
This article reviews the work of Idaho plant breeders and their efforts to store seeds and find new resistant strains in wheat.
Related Articles Though they don’t all directly relate to the proposals, these articles show the effects research and genetic cultivation can have on plants.
New Sunflower Lines Resist Fungal Disease
This article discusses success researchers have had using germplasm to breed sunflowers that are resistant to disease and have improved nutritional content.
Tip: Keep in mind that some tasks may be interdependent. This may affect your planning and the timeframe in which you must complete those tasks.