Title
Decision analysis networks.
Abstract
This paper presents decision analysis networks (DANs) as a new type of probabilistic graphical model. Like influence diagrams (IDs), DANs are much more compact and easier to build than decision trees and can represent conditional independencies. In fact, for every ID there is an equivalent symmetric DAN, but DANs can also represent asymmetric problems involving partial orderings of the decisions (order asymmetry), restrictions between the values of the variables (domain asymmetry), and conditional observability (information asymmetry). Symmetric DANs can be evaluated with the same algorithms as IDs. Every asymmetric DAN can be evaluated by converting it into an equivalent decision tree or, much more efficiently, by decomposing it into a tree of symmetric DANs. Given that DANs can solve symmetric problems as easily and as efficiently as IDs, and are more appropriate for asymmetric problems—which include virtually all real-world problems—DANs might replace IDs as the standard type of probabilistic graphical model for decision support and decision analysis. We also argue that DANs compare favorably with other formalisms proposed for asymmetric decision problems. In practice, DANs can be built and evaluated with OpenMarkov, a Java open-source package for probabilistic graphical models.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1016/j.ijar.2018.02.007
International Journal of Approximate Reasoning
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Decision analysis,Decision trees,Influence diagrams,Probabilistic graphical models,Asymmetric decision problems
Journal
96
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
1
0888-613X
2
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.36
0
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Francisco Javier Díez115018.73
Manuel Luque261.34
Iñigo Bermejo320.70