Add Decision Tree Model

The Decision Tree Model feature allows a user to create and customise decision trees. The model can be embedded into any food safety plan to be used as part of a hazard analysis or as part of supplier/material assessments.

As opposed to the industry standard CODEX decision tree which can only have two outcomes (not CCP or CCP), you can now build your own decision tree which may virtually have any outcome you like.

Decision tree outputs can now be associated with specific Controls. For example, in a supplier full assessment record, if you answer the questions in the decision tree and there is an outcome e.g. Onsite Audit, the system will complete all the details for this automatically in the control stage.

1. Add Model Details

Add Model Details
  1. Give your decision tree a name.
  2. If you manage a large portfolio of plans and need to use different models you can easily categorize them into folders. These plans will then be immediately accessible for future use in different plans.

2. Define Your Decision Tree

Define your decision tree
  1. The first step in defining a tree is to add the necessary number of questions. Each line in the table corresponds to one question in the decision tree. Click 'Add Line' to add questions.
  2. Place questions for the decision tree here.
  3. In the 'Yes Decision' and 'No Decision' columns there are two possible actions when the user selects an option from the drop-down list. The drop-down list contains items for pointing your decision tree to a later question - this is the case with question 2 where we want the decision to proceed to question 4 in case the answer to this question is "Yes". If you don't want the software to proceed to a later question but rather identify the step as a CCP, OPRP, or QCP or some other kind of control point you can simply type the outcome into the same field. Question 4, for example, would lead the decision tree to output "CCP-Preventive Control" if the user selected "yes" as an answer.
  4. If the outcome of an answer is something other than "Go to xx" the software wants to know if this decision tree outcome should prompt the hazard analysis for monitoring details in a Food Safety Plan or the Control Planning stage in an Assessment record. If you were to read question 4 of the above table, "Is this STEP specifically designed to prevent or eliminate the hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level?" If you answer "Yes" then the outcome of this decision tree is that this step should be considered a CCP-Preventive Control and the user should later provide information about how they plan to monitor this CCP/Preventive Control but if you answer "No" then you will continue to question 5.
  5. The outcome of the decision tree can also be something else other than a kind of control point - for instance, you might conclude that the answers provided don't make sense and that the user would need to make some modification to the process step.
  6. This field allows you to select from controls that have been built. You can select a control beside any field where you selected 'Yes' for 'Monitor?'. Selecting a control will mean that in a record e.g. supplier assessment, once you answer the questions of the tree if the decision or outcome has been associated with a control, the control will automatically populate. See below for an example of where specific controls can be associated.