CBA Advantages and Importance
An advantage is a beneficial difference of one alternative compared with another. In CBA, importance is assigned to advantages, not to factors.
Advantage builder
Each advantage should include:
- alternative that receives the advantage
- factor where the difference appears
- compared-against alternative
- comparative advantage statement
- magnitude or size of difference when known
- rationale
- evidence links
- validation status
- created by user or AI
Comparative wording
Weak statement:
- "Alternative A has good support."
Better CBA statement:
- "Alternative A provides weekday support in the current time zone compared with Alternative B's offshore support window."
Importance scoring
Importance values normally use a 0-100 scale. The score expresses how much the beneficial difference matters to the decision. It is not a probability, cost, or generic factor weight.
Paramount advantage
A paramount advantage can be marked to calibrate the scoring scale. It represents the most important advantage identified so far. Other advantages can then be judged relative to it.
Double-counting review
Review advantages for duplicate meaning. If the same beneficial difference is described under several factors, the total importance may overstate one issue. Combine, rewrite, or explain the distinction.