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More about TreeAge Pro Interactive

> Make Decision Analysis More Powerful and Accessible
> Under the Hood
> Prerequisites
> Discovering a New World of Decision Analysis Applications
> New: Try On-line Demos/Examples


Make Decision Analysis More Powerful and Accessible

TreeAge Pro Interactive allows you to take complete control over the design of your models front end. It can be used to embed your decision tree or influence diagram in interfaces ranging from a simple web page to a comprehensive application suite. That means that your intended audience does not need to be expert in decision theory or model building - or even proficient with a particular software package - to use complex analytical tools such as cost-effectiveness models and Markov models. The interface allows your audience to simply change model inputs without disturbing the underlying model structure. This gives your audience the ability to test and make assumptions based on their own inputs and then refer to a variety of textual and graphical outputs to review the results.

TreeAge Pro Interactive is designed to run on an Internet or intranet server, allowing distributed, real-time access to models created in our TreeAge Pro software. You may also create standalone applications by integrating TreeAge Pro models with a customized interface and then distributing the application on a CD-ROM or other media.


Under the Hood

TreeAge Pro Interactive is an ActiveX control. This means that its user interface employs a simple programming language rather than menus and dialog boxes. Since TreeAge Pro Interactive lacks a visual interface, a host application capable of communicating with an ActiveX control is needed to provide the requisite user interface.

The choice of host application will depend on whether you want to distribute your model(s)
    (a) on a CD for use on a standalone machine, or
    (b) over the Internet (or an intranet).

For distribution via CD, applications such as Visual Basic, Excel or Delphi will be appropriate; for Internet/intranet distribution, host applications such as Cold Fusion or Active Server Pages will do the job.

Prior to using TreeAge Pro Interactive, it must be installed and registered on the machine where it will be used. If you are creating a standalone presentation (with Visual Basic, for example), TreeAge Pro Interactive will be installed on the user's machine; if, instead, you are creating a network-based presentation, TreeAge Pro Interactive will be installed only on the server. In network-based installations neither the decision model nor TreeAge Pro Interactive is downloaded to the end-user. Accordingly, there is no limitation on the end-user's choice of browser or operating system.


Prerequisites

Programming with TreeAge Pro Interactive requires three skills:

  • technical familiarity with the host environment (e.g., a working knowledge of how to
    program Excel macros)
  • familiarity with TreeAge Pro (e.g., an understanding of variables, and the types of analyses and output to be available to the end-user)
  • familiarity with the new objects included with TreeAge Pro Interactive in order to interface
    with TreeAge Pro's unique functionality
    Markov models

Anyone familiar with Visual Basic or Excel macros will recognize that the syntax of the language is unchanged by the inclusion of TreeAge Pro Interactive. There are several new object types to learn about, and new functionality provided by those objects. However, if you are already familiar with both TreeAge Pro and the host environment, you should have little or no difficulty working with the new objects needed to control TreeAge Pro Interactive.


Discovering a New World of Decision Analysis Applications

Click on the links below to learn how users are leveraging TreeAge Pro Interactive to:

Learn how users are leveraging TreeAge Pro Interactive. >