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CBA Method

Choosing By Advantages in Albarena helps teams compare alternatives by factual attributes, advantages, importance, separate cost, evidence, assumptions, sensitivity, and reportable rationale.

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CBA Method

CBA means Choosing By Advantages. In Albarena, CBA must not be confused with Cost-Benefit Analysis. Cost and resources are important, but they are kept separate from the importance of advantages.

Choosing By Advantages is a decision-making system originally developed by Jim Suhr. This Albarena method is an original AI-supported software workflow inspired by advantages-based decision principles. It does not copy proprietary examples, diagrams, templates, training material, or commercial workflows.

CBA evidence-to-decision workflow

CBA work moves from factual attributes to comparative advantages, then to importance and a separate cost view.

What CBA is for

Use CBA when the team must select among feasible alternatives and wants a transparent explanation of why one option is preferable. CBA is useful for vendor selection, technology choice, policy options, project prioritization, site selection, strategy selection, and other decisions where alternatives differ in meaningful ways.

CBA is strongest when the team can describe factual attributes before arguing for a recommendation. The method asks the team to distinguish:

  • Factor: a dimension where alternatives may differ.
  • Criterion: what is preferred for that factor.
  • Attribute: a factual characteristic of an alternative.
  • Advantage: a beneficial difference compared with another alternative.
  • Importance: the value assigned to an advantage.
  • Cost: a separate resource consideration.
  • Assumption: an uncertain statement that must be tracked.
  • Evidence: a source, file, reference, note, or data point supporting a claim.
From facts to importance

Keep the concept chain strict: criteria guide attribute collection; attributes produce advantages; advantages receive importance.

Documentation sections

Professional standard

A professional CBA model should make these points explicit:

  • the decision question and owner
  • feasible alternatives and excluded options
  • factors and criteria
  • attribute evidence and confidence
  • advantages written as beneficial differences
  • importance rationale, including the paramount advantage when used
  • costs and resources kept separate from importance
  • assumptions, evidence gaps, and stakeholder concerns
  • sensitivity checks that test whether the recommendation changes
  • a final rationale that a reviewer can audit

If those elements are missing, the model can remain a draft, but it should not be presented as decision-ready.

References

Choosing By Advantages origin note

Choosing By Advantages is a decision-making system originally developed by Jim Suhr. This Albarena documentation describes an original software workflow inspired by advantages-based decision principles.