
Technology
Analytica was designed from the start to combine several key decision-technologies into a fully integrated, easy-to-use package. They include:
- Visual influence diagrams to define and organize complex models into comprehensible modules;
- Intelligent arrays™ to make it easy to manage models with multiple dimensions;
- Monte Carlo simulation to analyze uncertainty and risk with speed and simplicity;
- Optimization, including linear and nonlinear programming.
The technology underlying Analytica is based on a decade of research by decision analysts, computer scientists, and user-interface designers at Carnegie Mellon University, with support from the National Science Foundation.
See below for more details on each technology.

Influence Diagrams
Analytica’s influence diagrams let you create a model the way you think, show key elements of a decision problem, and communicate clearly with colleagues and clients.
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Monte Carlo Simulation
Monte Carlo simulation is a simple and efficient way to represent and analyze risk and uncertainty. It generates a random sample of values from each input probability distribution...
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Decision Analytics
Analytics tools yield zero value until they improve decisions. Decision analytics is about using insights from data to drive business decisions. It builds on descriptive...
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What’s Wrong With Spreadsheets
The spreadsheet was the first "killer app", the application which led to millions of people buying their first personal computers in the early 1980s. Spreadsheets were a brilliant...
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SIPS and SLURPS
Whether you are developing strategic plans or making day-to-day decisions, you often need to use estimates made by others. We are all aware that nearly every estimate is laced...
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Probabilistic Forecast Libraries
Decision modelers and forecasters increasingly realize the advantage of probabilistic forecasts that explicitly represent the inevitable uncertainties in the form of probability...
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