OPS.11:4.4 - Compare coordinated alternatives

Trace the finite change through the selected couplings. Compare the current arrangement with feasible alternatives, preserving the operating-result unit, horizon, acceptance conditions and protected consequences.

Include resource demand, service effects, financial timing, recovery, human burden and other consequences only when they can change the choice. Obtain financial quantities from the responsible financial Method and assumptions; a generic “value” label cannot stand in for cash, cost, obligation or benefit. Do not add unlike quantities into one score without an applicable comparison rule.

Check that the proposed decisions can coexist. A new release limit can overload a shared acceptance activity; a batch change can delay the information needed for another decision; an earlier delivery can require funding or access that has not been supplied. Use OPS.10 for the relevant load/service question and OPS.9 when the claimed limiting mechanism is still uncertain.

When the operating model itself needs to be built or reconciled, use OPS.11.1 to connect activities, shared resources, branch joins and completion at the required scales. Reuse an adequate model when the needed couplings are already represented.

Keep modeling assumptions and evidence limits visible. A simulation can compare its modeled alternatives; it does not establish that the actual operation has the same relations or effects.