Policy as an Interaction Method for Decision Support Systems

This paper introduces the notion of policy as a basis for interaction for decision-support systems, and describes how policy was applied as the foundation of a decision-support tool to aid in diversion management in airline operations. A policy is an abstract, general, a priori statement of expressing a goal and an associated priority. Diversion management is the process of deciding which incoming flights to divert and to which airport they will be diverted. The consequences of diversions can be complex due to the interdependent nature of resources and schedules, and the multiple stakeholders that are impacted by the decision. In current practice there is little consideration of how diversion decision will impact airline operations due to the difficulty of acquiring and analyzing the relevant data. Policy is used to capture the goals and priorities of all stakeholders and when used as the basis of a critiquing decision-support system, thereby ensures inclusion of their interests into the decision making process.