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4. The Voting Matrix

The Voting Matrix sheet contains the scores and weights contributed by those experts familiar with the details of the analysis and the Alternatives. Every Node and Criteria Endpoint will be a assigned a Weight of Importance. However, only the Criteria Endpoints of the Alternatives will be scored by the experts Once all the Voting Matrix data is completed, the V(ma) software will calculate the scores of all the Nodes moving first from the lowest level of the Hierarchy on up to final top Node.

The following is a photo of a Voting Matrix file in an Excel workbook with some explanatory text boxes. Use the Scroll bar to move horizontally back and forth. Immediately below it is a link to a copy of the same example as a Pdf file which when opened, can be used to zoom in for a much more detailed examination.

Voting Matrix with Descriptive Text Boxes

Same Voting Matrix in Pdf format for Zooming Reading
The Voting Matrix is a matrix of Nodes and Endpoint rows versus columns of Weights of Importance and Alternative scores.

Each row in the Voting Matrix represents either a Criteria Node or Criteria Endpoint. The sequence of the Nodes and Endpoints is generated by V(ma)’s compilation of the Outline of the Hierarchy.

Each member of the voting committee(s) is assigned a column in the Voting Matrix sheet for each alternative as well as a column for determining the weight of importance for each Node and Endpoint. In an effort to enhance the integrity and reliability of the voted scores, voting members are directed to vote on only those features for which they have been assigned based on their expertise.

To the right of all the votes for the Weights of Importance is a column containing the average of those weights. To the right of the voting columns for each Alternative will be a column containing the average of its votes. V(ma) will copy those columns into the main spreadsheet before performing the full calculation of scores.

The voted scores can either be numerical or symbolic such as A, B+, C- , ok, N/A, good, poor etc. There is a green set of columns to the right of the outline that serve as a guide to what symbolic expressions are valid and what score value they represent.

Each cell that contains a member’s voted score also provides the ability for a member to insert a comment, should there be a reason to provide an explanation for the vote.

In the next section on Vectorgrams, it will be shown that within the Matrix of Alternatives and Subcomponent Criteria, each Vector represents one Alternative and one Criteria. The Alternative's name is at the far left of the VectorString that the vector is part of, while the name of the Criteria is at the top of the Subcomponent grid line column that the vector is occupying.

Each Vector, by its size and angle, represents how well its Alternative performed against the Vector's Criteria.

If there are six subcomponents then there will be six vectors connected in a VectorString for each Alternative. The size and shape of each Alternative’s VectorString will show how well it scored to produce its Node score with each of its Vectors showing how it scored for each of the six subcomponent Criteria of the Node.

As the analyst or manager views the VectorStrings, there will be some Vectors that will catch their eye for more detail. Clicking the nose of the Vector in question will produce a pulldown menu alongside the Vector with several options regarding the performance of that Alternative against the Criteria represented by the Vector.

Once the Voting Matrix option of the Vector's pulldown menu is selected, the Voting Matrix screen will appear with the row of the Vector's Criteria highlighted across the entire width of the Voting Matrix showing all the votes by every expert for that Criteria's Importance Weight as well as the scores for every one of the Alternatives being evaluated. And should there have been any occasions for the expert voters to supplement their vote with a comment, the cells with those comments will have a small flag highlighted. For those observers interested in reading those comments, they have only to move their cursor across that flag to do so.

Thus, the analyst or manager can then review all the votes submitted by every one of the voting experts for every one of the Alternatives for that particular Criteria as well as read any possible comments, without the need of anyone’s assistance.

This feature is key to the success and integrity of the overall project because it will motivate those who are doing the scoring to realize that their vote not only counts, it also encourages the voter to be reliable. And should their be any reason for a particular Alternative or Criteria to be bypassed for lack of knowledge or expertise, the comment feature is there to flag that fact, thus protecting the scorer and also ensuring that the overall voting results are not plagued with guesses.

Once the inspection in the Voting Matrix is finished, the manager or analyst can click any cell in a given row to return to the screen of the Vectorgram that was being reviewed and see the same Vector, still selected, thereby enabling the user to choose another of the nine investigative pulldown menu options etc. until they are comfortable with the facts about that particular Criteria subcomponent for all of the Alternatives.

The Voting Matrix should be regarded as the affidavit of the project. It is an acknowledgement of the truthfulness of the facts to be measured, and coupled with the Criteria Smry Sheet, they represent the core of the Decision Audit trail for the Project.



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