Visual-interactive decision modeling (VIDEMO) in policy management: Bridging the gap between analytic and conceptual decision modeling

Policy decision making is a process, rather than a means to an end, stretching over a long time span in a dynamic environment. The advent of easily accessible modeling paradigms promotes the use of sophisticated tools to support policy decision making. It is argued, however, that to be successful in practice, the analytic approaches must be flexible and their role in the problem solving process transparent. In this paper we discuss the concept of visual interactive decision modeling (VIDEMO) in policy management. After positioning decision modeling in the context of problem solving, a generic modeling environment is proposed. It provides the necessary flexibility at the structural level coupled with the required transparency at the formal and resolution levels. The system is based on the premise that policy decision makers can only benefit from the power of analytic modeling if they are supported where and how they want to be supported, without having the analytic tool posing a frame to problem perception, problem analysis, and decision making. In its final version, the proposed VIDEMO approach bridges the gap between analytic and conceptual decision modeling.