Arguments

PROforma supports decision-making through a mechanism for generating arguments for or against a given candidate. When a decision is enacted, the condition and the support properties of the argument are used to determine the effect of each argument and in turn the net support for a given candidate. A recommendation rule is then used to determine whether or not a particular candidate is recommended.

Creating Arguments

To add arguments for (or against) a candidate, select the Arguments tab.

The top drop-down box contains a list of the decision’s candidates. Select the candidate for which you want to define arguments, and enter the following information:

Description	A text string displayed to the end-user during enactment (to represent the argument, e.g.: Blood pressure is lower than 120). If there is no description, the condition is displayed instead. Note: The Dynamic checkbox should be checked if the description contains data items to be evaluated and displayed at runtime.
Condition	A truth-valued expression that represents the circumstances under which the argument applies (e.g.: blood_pressure < 120)
Support	The support that the argument offers if the condition is true. The four categories of symbolic support are: For (+): If the condition is met, the argument offers some support for the candidate. Against (-): If the condition is met, the argument offers some support against the candidate. Conf. (++): If the condition is met, the argument conclusively confirms the candidate. Excl. (--): If the condition is met, the argument conclusively excludes the candidate. In the Properties tab of the decision properties, support type can be modified from symbolic to numeric. Numeric support allows you to be more precise about the strength of support that an argument offers a candidate by giving each argument a real-valued weight.

When all the data is entered, click Add.

The new argument will be added to the Arguments list.

See Also

• Decisions: Creating a decision based on results of an enquiry

• Cold And Flu Guide
• Chronic Cough
• Hypertension
• Triple Assessment