Trade-off Analysis for Defensible Decision-Making.

Overview

Optioneer’s trade-off analysis tool simplifies the evaluation and comparison of multiple routes, illustrating their alignment with key objectives like cost efficiency, environmental, and social impact. It features intuitive objective icons, customisable sliders, and interactive scatter graphs, along with up to 25 generated options to provide a clear and nuanced view of the trade-offs across various routes.

Designed as an intuitive, all-in-one tool, this tool seamlessly incorporates Multi-Objective Optimisation (MOO) into the process of developing options. It boosts productivity by eliminating the need to context-switch between external applications to conduct comparative analyses. Not only does it ensure regulatory compliance and risk mitigation, but it also empowers users to construct compelling narratives around their decisions, significantly improving decision justification and enhancing communication with stakeholders.

⚖️ Key Features:

1. Extensive Route Options

• You can now automatically generate between 4 to 25 route alternatives for each project.
• With a user-friendly slider, easily select the routes you want to assess. This increased range of options enables a more thorough evaluation of potential paths.

2. Objective icons

• Three new icons automatically appear when comparing route options:
• The💲 icon highlights the most cost-effective route.
• The 🍃 icon highlights the route with minimal environmental impact.
• The  ⚖️ icon highlights the route with the best compromise between cost and environmental objectives.
• This enables quick identification of routes that align with specific cost and environmental objectives.
• By hovering over these icons, you can view the route ranking in comparison to other objectives and routes, offering a quick comparison in terms of cost and environmental impact.

3. Trade-off analysis graphs: Scatter graphs and sliders

• With an interactive slider, users can easily assess how each route aligns with cost and environmental objectives. For example, an option closer to the environmental icon indicates a focus on eco-friendliness, however potentially at a higher cost.
• This also includes an option-specific scatter graph, marking how each option compares in achieving these objectives for simplified initial route assessment.

4. Visual comparison of key metrics.

• This secondary scatter graph feature enables instant trade-off analysis between any two metrics, for example, cost versus the number of buildings impacted by the route.
• This data can be quickly converted into a range of visual formats, such as spider charts and bar charts, to help users understand complex data easily.

💡 Why is this a game-changer?

👉 Enhanced analysis: Upgrades traditional route analysis with Multi-Option Optimisation, allowing fast visualisation of complex objectives like cost, environment, and social impact.

👉 Streamlined user experience: Centralises trade-off analysis in one platform, reducing the need for context-switching, and enhancing focus and productivity.

👉 Accessible and time-efficient: Simplifies creation and assessment of detailed scatter graphs, making complex analysis faster and more accessible to stakeholders.

👉 Compliance and risk management: Offers in-depth insights for regulatory adherence, reducing decision-making risk and simplifying compliance processes.

👉 Narrative and decision justification: Enables users to craft and justify decision narratives, improving stakeholder communication and trust with robust analysis tools.

Reflecting the entire decision-making process in Optioneer.

Simplified data grouping for audit and reporting efficiency.

Drag-and-drop data grouping

This drag-and-drop data grouping feature has been designed to streamline the organisation and management of project data. Users can seamlessly group and name data layers based on various crucial aspects such as constraint types, policy relevance, permits, or internal reporting needs. The simple drag-and-drop interface facilitates easy naming and management of these groups.

Beyond toggling visibility and selection for multiple layers, you can create collections and update data properties in bulk, as well as manipulate data while it is visible on the map.

For example, you could create an “Environmental constraints - No go” folder, and apply an impact weighting to every data layer in that group - in just one click!

This feature streamlines the addition, organisation, and updating of data layers, enhancing visibility and usability, particularly for users with less technical expertise.

💡 Why is this a game-changer?

👉 Targeted data organisation: Enables efficient grouping of data layers by specific criteria like constraints or policies, making data management more structured and user-friendly.

👉 Flexible data manipulation: Allows for bulk actions like updating data properties or creating collections, significantly speeding up project workflows and reducing manual effort.

👉 Clearer project oversight: Improves the visibility and management of data layers, enabling users to quickly adapt data views for better project oversight and decision-making.

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Refine route analysis with bespoke metric ranking, aligned to internal best practices.

Custom data ranking.

Optioneer's custom data ranking feature allows you to select and weigh metrics based on their potential to impact your project. This tailored approach, successfully implemented by SSE Renewables, ensures your key decision-driving criteria are appropriately considered in your route planning.

For example, if social impact is a primary driver of your routing criteria, you can select key metrics, such as ‘proximity to residential buildings’, or ‘number of educational establishments within 500m’, and assign impact scores. These assigned values can be based on internal organisation routing criteria or external 'best practice' guidance, such as the Holford Rules. By assigning these values to relevant metrics, Optioneer can rank generated routes and identify the optimal paths for review. This method ensures that essential elements of your project are highlighted and evaluated with ease.

Custom data ranking enables a multi-criterion decision-making (MCDM) approach for a tailored, in-depth analysis of route alternatives, enhancing the precision and quality of decisions. Moreover, it seamlessly aligns with the statutory requirement for consideration of alternative route options when undertaking an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

💡 Why is this a game-changer?

👉 Strong alignment with key project criteria: Use weighted metrics for refined route generation, guaranteeing options precisely tailored to your specific project criteria.

👉 Regulatory compliance & best practices: Seamlessly align with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requirements and follow best practices with ease.

👉 Multi-criterion analysis: Enhance analysis with a sophisticated approach that considers multiple factors, ideal for navigating complex variables in your projects.

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Unifying project development processes across multiple projects.

Effortlessly integrate geodata from the most comprehensive database on the market.

Continuum Industries Database

The Continuum Industries Database, now a part of Optioneer, provides the most extensive collection of the latest open-source and statutory data, tailored for efficient routing. This enhancement simplifies project setup and data management, enabling you to effortlessly integrate diverse datasets directly into your project. This integration not only enriches map visualisation but also supports more informed decision-making.

Designed with efficiency in mind, the database minimises the need for complex GIS pipeline management while ensuring consideration of crucial project constraints. It is user-friendly for beginners, offering immediate visual insights, while also catering to advanced users with options for deeper data analysis in the Optioneer results table.

The Continuum Industries Database integration boosts data accessibility and usage, offering a clear insight into the factors affecting your project development, and ensuring that decisions are grounded in solid, data-driven evidence.

💡 Why is this a game-changer?

👉 Enhanced data accessibility: Tap into the market's most extensive data repository, elevating your project's data foundation for more informed decision-making.

👉 Clearer project insights: Gain a deeper understanding of project-impacting factors, driving decisions with greater clarity and confidence.

👉 Data-driven decisions: Base your routing decisions on robust, data-backed evidence, ensuring reliability and accuracy in project outcomes.

Expand data usability with comprehensive export options in Optioneer.

Advanced export options.

Optioneer's enhanced export feature not only allows for the convenient export of diverse output data in formats compatible with popular GIS systems like ArcGIS and QGIS. It also plays a useful role in later stages of project development, from reporting to permit applications and creating a comprehensive audit trail. This functionality ensures seamless integration with other software, making it a versatile tool for project continuity and transparency.

Key aspects of this feature include:

• Raster Export for Heatmaps: Enables users to export Optioneer-generated heatmaps as raster files. This is essential not just for visual analysis and GIS tool integration but also for creating detailed reports and supporting documentation for permitting applications.
• Shapefile Export for Polygon Results: Allows users to export route corridors and opportunity maps as shapefiles, facilitating a broad range of spatial analyses. This is vital for detailed design stages and establishing an audit trail over time.

Exporting various outputs from Optioneer, including heatmaps and opportunity maps, simplifies the sharing of critical data. It supports collaborative project advancement and aids in producing comprehensive reports, ensuring all necessary documentation is easily accessible for subsequent project stages.

💡 Why is this a game-changer?

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‍👉 Versatile data integration: Facilitates easy data export in formats compatible with major GIS software, enhancing workflow efficiency.

👉 Advanced analytical capability: Unlock deeper insights with advanced data export options, aiding in more nuanced and informed project planning and decision-making.

👉Enhanced stakeholder engagement: Share exportable data seamlessly with team members and stakeholders, fostering collaboration and driving project progress through shared insights.

Streamline project management with role-based functionality in Optioneer.

Enhanced Role-Based Access Control.

Optioneer's updated role-based functionality introduces a more granular and effective way to manage project accessibility. This feature categorises user roles into four distinct levels, each with specific capabilities tailored to various needs within a project.

• Read: Users with ‘Read’ access can view project data, but cannot make any changes or create new content. This role is ideal for those who need to stay informed about project progress.
• Write: ‘Write’ access allows users to contribute to the project by writing comments and editing existing content, facilitating collaborative input and revisions.
• Execute: Users with ‘Execute’ privileges can run Optioneer analyses, enabling them to actively engage with the data and contribute to the project's analytical aspect.
• Admin: The Admin role encompasses complete control over the project, including the ability to invite new users, delete users, and manage all other aspects of the project. This role is suited for project leaders who need full oversight.

💡 Why is this a game-changer?

‍👉 Targeted access control: Tailor user access according to their role and involvement in the project, ensuring security and efficient management of tasks and data.

👉 Enhanced collaboration: Facilitate varied levels of engagement among team members, from viewing and commenting to executing analyses and managing users.

👉 Streamlined project oversight: The admin role provides comprehensive control for effective project management, from user access to overall project administration.

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