Excel basics to blackbelt : an accelerated guide to decision support designs, third edition

"We make decisions all the time. Some decisions may appear routine: What shirt to wear? What to have for lunch? Should I purchase this on-line or go to the store? Should I respond to a post that I feel knowledgeable about? Others are more complex: Should I recommend that my client invest in a particular firm? Should I offer to take on additional work? Should my firm build or buy a new technology to help with its processes? Should I recommend a settlement in a lawsuit? With complex questions comes the need for complex consideration. Sometimes we need help with these considerations. The sources of help can vary, but increasingly these sources tend to have two things in common: facilitated analytical strength and facilitated access; Access to both underlying data and processes as well as to means by which to convey results to others. These sources of assistance often take the form of prepackaged off-the-shelf software tools. However, they can also be uniquely customized, and more and ever more frequently, this customization is being developed by individual users."