Trade-off Analytics for Infrastructure Preservation

The project objective was to develop an online course to be taught to the maritime and multimodal infrastructure community including: transportation planners, maritime planners, infrastructure managers, Civil Engineers, and Industrial Engineers, on the use of trade-off analytics as a tool to assist them in their infrastructure development, management and preservation decision-making.Modules of this course can also be packaged into online webinars for practicing professionals. This course was developed using existing trade-off analytics resources and maritime case studies developed for the course.The course uses Multiple Objective Decision Analysis (MODA) with Value-Focused Thinking (VFT) and Optimization and to structure complex program asset management decisions requiring trade-offs between conflicting stakeholder objectives. The course focuses on framing decisions, identifying stakeholders, developing objectives and value measures, generating alternatives, developing a value model, developing a cost model, evaluating alternatives, identifying uncertainties, analyzing uncertainties, and making meaningful trade-offs between cost, value, and risk. The case studies and examples focus on maritime and multimodal infrastructures.The course was developed and taught in an online program, the University of Arkansas M.S. in Engineering Management in Fall of 2019.The complete set of course material are available through the MarTREC website for use by instructors at other universities and continuing education programs.