Child Care Administrator’s Improper Payments Information Technology Guide

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APPENDIX 3

DECISION MATRIX EXAMPLE FOR ANALYZING TECHNICAL ALTERNATIVES

In this matrix, a State explores five Alternatives. Each Alternative receives scores for each criterion and a total score. A lower total score is more favorable, while a higher score indicates more problems or issues with the Alternative. This example provides a variety of options for scoring individual criteria. States need to select a set of scoring scales that best meets their needs.

This example also has one automatic “Eliminate Solution” criterion, Legal Issues. This criterion is often referred to as a GO/NO GO decision criterion. This type of criterion means that if an Alternative receives an “Eliminate Solution” score for that criterion, the whole Alternative is out of consideration regardless of the overall score. In the example below, the State would eliminate Alternative 3 even though the other scores were within range of the other Alternatives.

In this example, Alternatives 1, 2, and 4 received the most favorable scores. The State would give them further consideration.

Scoring Legend

• Legal Issues
• 1 = No
• 2 = Potential
• 3 = Eliminate solution
• Executive Sponsor Support
• 1 = Yes
• 2 = No
• End-User Support (Rating Scale of 1–4)
• 1 = Very supportive
• 2 = Supportive
• 3 = Somewhat supportive
• 4 = Not at all supportive
• Ease of Technical Implementation (Rating Scale of 1–5)
• 1 = Very easy
• 2 = Easy
• 3 = Neutral (neither easy nor difficult)
• 4 = Difficult
• 5 = Very difficult
• Level of Risk
• 1 = Low
• 3 = Medium
• 5 = High