What is a DMN decision model?
A decision model is a visual representation of a decision – the precise specifications of decision making logic. Decision Model & Notation (DMN) is a powerful language used to build decision models. While it can model any decision, more often than not DMN is used to model operational decisions.
What costume should I wear for this year’s Halloween party?
For this year’s Halloween I decided to build a DMN decision model that describes how I decide what costume to wear for the 2022 Halloween party – I own four costumes that sit in my cupboard that I select from for each year’s Halloween party. The four costumes are the following…
- Spaceman
- Dragon
- Wolverine
- Shark
My Halloween DMN decision model
Every DMN decision model has a subject decision. This decision is the main decision of the model. The subject decision for my Halloween DMN decision model is the following…
What costume should I wear for this year’s Halloween party?
Below is an image of the decision model and a step by step guide showing the breakdown of each element in the model and therefore how I decide what costume to wear for this year’s Halloween party.
Step 1: What will the weather be like at the Halloween party this year?
My logic starts by opening up the weather application on my mobile phone and looking at the predicted weather forecast at the party location. Will it rain or not?
Step 2: What costume did I wear to last year’s Halloween party?
Next up I look back at my calendar to see what costume I wore to last year’s Halloween party. The options are the following costumes…
- Spaceman
- Dragon
- Wolverine
- Shark
Step 3: What costume should I wear for the Halloween party this year?
The last step in my decision making logic is to decide what costume to wear for this year’s Halloween party.
- If rain is predicted then I will wear the shark costume no matter what I wore last year.
- If no rain is predicted then I will look at what I wore last year and select either alternative costume.
Apply and improve my Halloween DMN decision model
There you have it, a repeatable DMN decision model for Halloween. This model can not only be implemented each year, but improved as time goes on and my costumes, undoubtedly, wear out!