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TOPIC: difference between Influence Diagram and sensivity analysis

difference between Influence Diagram and sensivity analysis 4 years 1 month ago #23029

  • Mahdi Seify
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Could someone help me in understanding the Influence Diagram and Sensitivity Analysis?
I understand that the sensitivity analysis is used for analyzing the risk to determine how much impact it could make. but same for influence diagram as well.

difference between Influence Diagram and sensivity analysis 4 years 1 month ago #23039

  • Gabriella Dellino, PMP
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Hi Mahdi,

your understanding about sensitivity analysis is correct. An influence diagram provides a graphical representation that can be used to depict causal influences when analysing risk factors. So it can be used as a supporting tool for decision making under uncertainty. It can also be combined with other tools & techniques performed for risk analysis.
The results you obtain from sensitivity analysis will also need a graphical representation, and this is what a tornado diagram (for example) provides.

Gabriella
Gabriella Dellino, PhD, PMP
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difference between Influence Diagram and sensivity analysis 4 years 1 month ago #23041

  • Mahdi Seify
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Thanks
I can understand from your explanation that both produce the same result but sensitivity analysis in the form of number and influence diagram in the form of a graph.
if my understanding is correct then why in PMBOK, tornado diagram is introduced as tools for both?! as far as I know Tornado is a tool to present the impact in graphical format and should be mentioned just in influence diagram category of PMBOK?
Thanks

difference between Influence Diagram and sensivity analysis 4 years 1 month ago #23043

  • Gabriella Dellino, PMP
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Sorry, Mahdi, if I didn't make myself clear on that, and maybe confused you about tornado vs. influence diagram.
I am very familiar with sensitivity analysis (besides its use for risk analysis), and it is a method you can use to quantify how sensitive a given parameter is to variations in a number of factors, typically affected by uncertainty. So, this technique helps you quantify the impact of these uncertain factors on the parameter of your interest. When it comes to risk analysis, you may want to use this method to assess the impact of risk factors over one or more parameters (e.g., the project duration). One way to represent the results obtained through sensitivity analysis is through tornado diagrams; see Figure 11-14 from the PMBOK Guide as an example. In that case, you performed sensitivity analysis to quantify the impact of a number of risks on project duration. A positive correlation implies that each factor on the y-axes determines an increase in project duration; a negative correlation has the opposite effect. The higher the impact, the bigger the correlation.

I am not as much familiar with influence diagrams, but I wouldn't say they both produce the same result. The way I see it, is that they provide you with different information, in that influence diagrams visually depict the causal relationships between factors (e.g., A influence B and is influenced by C), possibly showing the time sequence they follow, and some of these factors - or the outcomes they produce - can be uncertain. These uncertain factors can be characterized by a probability of occurrence and/or a range of variation. Once you identify these relationships, you may want to use other techniques (including sensitivity analysis) to identify the factors having the highest impact on the parameter of interest for you.

Tornado diagrams are very different from influence diagrams in the way they represent information, so I wouldn't say tornado diagrams fall under the influence diagram category. In fact, while tornado diagram are a special type of bar chart, influence diagram resemble more to flowcharts.

Hope this clarifies a bit what I meant in my previous reply.
I'll be happy to hear from others being more experienced than me with influence diagrams, particularly their use in risk analysis.

Gabriella
Gabriella Dellino, PhD, PMP
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The following user(s) said Thank You: Erick R Silva Yagua, Mahdi Seify

difference between Influence Diagram and sensivity analysis 3 years 10 months ago #24870

  • Desire AMON
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From: Mahdi Seify
Could someone help me in understanding the Influence Diagram and Sensitivity Analysis?
I understand that the sensitivity analysis is used for analyzing the risk to determine how much impact it could make. but same for influence diagram as well.

Hi Mahdi,

your understanding about sensitivity analysis is correct. An influence diagram provides a graphical representation that can be used to depict causal influences when analysing risk factors. So it can be used as a supporting tool for decision making under uncertainty. It can also be combined with other tools & techniques performed for risk analysis.
The results you obtain from sensitivity analysis will also need a graphical representation, and this is what a tornado diagram (for example) provides.

Gabriella

Sorry Gabriella, you agreed with Mahdi about her understanding to sensitivity analysis, which is different from my understanding, I will be glad to get explanation from you.
My understanding about sensitivity analysis is that: Which one (risk) could most impact the project
Desire.
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