A Methodology for Evaluating Decisions in the Navys Program Objective Memorandum (POM) Process
Abstract
Some government and corporate decisions are hierarchical, where the hierarchy is two-fold: a hierarchy of alternatives and a corresponding hierarchy of decisionmakers. An example of such a hierarchical decision process is the US Department of Defense (DoD) Program Objective Memorandum (POM), which sets development and acquisition plans within a given budget. At the top level of the hierarchy senior leaders set directions for those acquisition and development plans, directions that can be viewed as or translated into families of programs. Programs comprise projects that are the eventual fundable entities. Although "hierarchy" is a core feature in this decision-making setup, it does not comply with the well-known Analytic Hierarchy Process where decision alternatives are at the bottom level of a hierarchy that also includes goals and criteria. In this paper we propose a modeling framework of a different type where the hierarchy only comprises alternatives; the criteria, which may be alternatives-dependent, are "orthogonal" to the levels of the hierarchy. We develop a methodology for handling such a decision setup and demonstrate its application in reference to the POM. The Multi-Criteria Analysis part of the methodology hinges on the widely used concept of Least-Squares.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 18, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1224313
Entities
People
- Moshe Kress
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School