PoMM User's Manual

Outline the case under Study

In this phase you will outline your case study following the steps below.

(1) Defining the geographic boundaries of your physical system

Your context will change radically if you are involved in analysing policies acting at different territorial levels: the policy processes or stakeholders to be involved may also change greatly. PoMM allows you to keep track of the territorial level at which you are reasoning. 

Select the NUTS level to which your analysis relates. NUTS (stands for Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) are statistical codes to define a geographical area in the European Union. The NUTS system divides each EU country into three levels: NUTS 1 (Major socio-economic regions); NUTS 2 (Basic regions for the application of regional policies); NUTS 3: Small regions for specific diagnoses. [Fig. 011]	Fig. 011 - Choosing NUTS level - Home page
You can change the NUTS map display level in the top right of the screen and then directly select your area from the map of Europe on the left of the screen. You can zoom on the map for better resolution. [Fig. 012]	Fig. 012 - Zooming of NUTS level map
Most PoMM analyses will be probably reflected in NUTS 2 or NUTS 3 level areas. If you select NUTS 3 level, you can also choose Local administrative units (LAU) from the contextual drop-down menu. [Fig. 013]	Fig. 013 - LAU Level selection
Once the NUTS/LAU is selected, confirm selection to confirm LAU code, if needed. [Fig. 014]	Fig. 014 - Confirm LAU selection
Press |Next ->| to complete the geographical information. [Fig.015] If you realise you have made a mistake, you can go back and change your choice clicking on |<- Back| . The geographical boudaries of your system is now completed.	Fig. 015 - Press |Next ->|

(2) Select the targeted Natural based solution

The same reflection made for the territorial dimension applies to the type of NBS solution you are investigating: again, not all solutions act on all territorial levels or require different implementation or regulatory processes. Also in this case PoMM allows you to keep track of this in your simulation even though in this case the identification and evaluation of the NBS should have already been developed in other sections of the AI platform that are dedicated to this purpose.

The definition of your case study should be linked to the choice of the NBSs you would like to apply: to investigate which NBS is right for you, you will have already used other areas of the AI platform. In this section of the module, you can select them to keep track of your starting framework. However, if in your case study, you do not need to select an NBS, you can simply confirm your choice not to select it. [Fig. 016]	Fig. 016 - NBS selection menu
Choose NBS from the drop-down menu and press on |Confirm selection|. [Fig. 017] The candidate NBS solutions in the drop-down menu are those made available from the University of Cantabria on the AI platform in the solution library section.	Fig. 017 - Select NBS from drop-down menu
The system will display a brief description of the selected NBS: you can then either verify your choice. [Fig. 018] Press |Next ->| to complete the NBS information. If you realise you have made a mistake, you can go back and change your choice clicking on |<- Back| returning to the NUTS choice screen. The NBS selection for your unit of analysis is now completed.	Fig. 018 - Description of NBS solution

(3) Choose the targeted Contaminants of emerging concern (CEC)

The contaminants you are investigating are also related both to the NBS solutions you have chosen and to specific problems that equally may have to be considered in very different policy making processes. Again, PoMM allows you to keep track of them in your simulation of the CECs you have identified. As with NBSs, the identification of targeted CECs should already have been developed in other sections of the AI platform that are dedicated to this very purpose.

Next step in defining your case study (or unit of analysis) is the choice of CECs : to investigate which CEC is more relevant in your case, you will have already used other areas of the AI platform. In this section of the module, you can select them to keep track of your starting framework. [Fig. 019]	Fig. 019 - CECs selection menu
Select family of CEC from the drop-down menu. The target CECs are chosen from a list provided by D4RUNOFF Partners working on the topic on the AI platform in the CECs library section. If you want to refine your search, you can also select compounds or CAS from the drop-down menu. [Fig. 020]. Press on |Confirm selection|.	Fig. 020 - CECs family selection
If you realise you have made a mistake, you can go back and change your choice clicking on |<- Back| returning to the NBS choice screen. [Fig. 021]. Press |Next| to complete the CEC information. The CEC selection for your unit of analysis is now completed.	Fig. 021 - Confirm CECs selection

Fig. 022 - Write notes - Unity of Analysis (NUTS, NBS, CECs)

The system allows you to keep a note of the choices you have made, possibly adding your comments so as to keep a written trace that will feed back into the reporting of your experiment. [Fig. 022]

You can also leave the proposed text unchanged in the dialogue box that appears.

With this first three steps you have completed the Unity of analysis definition (NUTS, NBS & CEC)

To proceed to the next stage of your case study baseline press |Next|.

(4) Define the actual (current) decision workflow diagram

To be able to intervene in a decision-making process and understand where and how, it is necessary to describe it.

In PoMM, this description is done through the use of an interface to represent the decision diagram. The notation used is the BPMN (Business Process Model and Notation). [Fig. 023]	Fig. 023 - Description of decision-making process
BPMN is a visual modelling language for process workflows. It is an open standard notation for graphical flowcharts that can be easily understood by all stakeholders. [Fig. 024]. In our case, the BPMN represents the end-to-end flow of a policy process. The notation makes it possible to coordinate the sequence of processes and messages flowing between different process participants in a set of related steps. Even using only the basic notations of the BPMN, a User can describe all usual procedural steps in policy and decision making.	Fig. 024 - Example of decision-making process in BPMN
Here you find are some basic hints for using BPMN notation with PoMM BPMN interface.	Fig. 025 -BMPN basic notation
If you do not want to describe your process directly within the PoMM BPMN interface or you already have designed your BPMN diagram using your modelling software, you can use your saved file and upload it simply dragging and dropping it in the interface. But please make it sure it is in a compatible format (that is *.bpmn) otherwise you'll get an error message.
To make this step easier, if you are not familiar with BPMN diagramming, you can also choose a facilitated path in which we have provided some templates. In this case, you should start from the main PoMM menu and select the |Process Template| option.	Fig. 026 - Process template selection
You can simply answer a short survey to select what are the central policy issue you will explore, defining what type of action (regulatory or operative) do you plan to carry out, and what is your policy decision framework (risk driven, value driven or return driven). The system will take care of selecting the most suitable template based on the strategy you have chosen. Of course this is an example, which is plausible but which you should then adjust according to your needs: your real situation may in fact be different from the one proposed.	Fig. 027 - Template survey: choose your strategy
Then, after answering the survey, you proceed normally from step (1) Defining the geographic boundaries of your physical system to the initial setting as explained before.
When you get to step (4) Define the actual (current) decision workflow diagram you will already find on the PoMM BPMN interface a ready-made template chosen on the basis of your answers and pre-designed on a plausible similar case. You can modify it to adapt it to your case, removing some steps, revising annotations, adding elements etc.	Fig. 28 - Automatically uploaded BPMN template directly in the BPMN io interface
Now you need to individuate which are the entities in your process you consider potentially interesting for the subsequent modelling and simulation of policy making and interventions on it. Depending on the focus of your investigation, you will need to ask yourself, for example, which elements of the process you want to concentrate on and define the variables that best express them. For example, if you think you can influence a task that in your process is ‘holding public meetings’ (perhaps to discuss the inclusion of NBS solutions in current construction processes), the linked variable could be ‘the level or index of stakeholder and local community involvement’. The reason why this step is necessary is precisely to allow you to isolate, in the decision-making process, the network of relationships that you are most interested in investigating, in order to allow simulations to understand what further actions (in relation to those identified) you can take to achieve your objectives. If you opt for the |Process Template| option, you will find these elements already prepared in the templates and they can serve as an example to ease your analysis.	Fig. 29 - Example of BPMN selected entity and relevant variable
For each selected entity you must add an annotation indicating what is the main variable associated to it. Generally you will add notes to some of the tasks that are present in your BPMN process. You can do this simply by using the small tool that appears when you pass the mouse over the ‘task’ object and than "add a text annotation". The note will appear next to the task.	Fig. 030 - Annotate an entity of your process
Taking care to choose and describe the variables in such a way that they can be measured in a minimum to maximum range: this method will help you a lot in the following steps of modelling. The annotation of entities is a fundamental step, otherwise it will not possible to define those that you want to deal with in the subsequent modelling and simulation network. To have a fairly rich and interesting simulation, we suggest you identify at least 7 variables connected to the different entities in your diagram (it would be better between 7 and 12). Bear in mind that this step helps you to reflect in a very precise way on the case you are analysing, helping you a lot to outline the most interesting elements.	Fig. 031 - BMPN annotation
Please keep in mind that, if you annotated or modified a diagram (whether it's the diagram that you create directly in the interface, or the one that you modify starting from a loaded template or from your file that you've uploaded to the system) you have to select the |Next| button and continue your simulation up to the next check point (5 - Identify the most important entities for the decision workflow) otherwise your annotations are permanently lost!	Fig. 032 - Push the NEXT button otherwise your changes will be lost!

5 - Identify the most important entities for the decision workflow

Once you have defined in the previous step the decision-making process involved as it currently is, having identified some entities to analyse and their variables, you will have to go through the "last mile" in order to have your first baseline report.

This involves selecting the variables that you defined in the BPMN in the form of notes and that will be shown in an interface where you can decide which ones will be analysed in the simulation.

Note that if you haven't inserted any variables in your BPMN (in the form of a note) you won't be able to select any nodes and therefore won't be able to proceed with the simulation proposed by PoMM.

After clicking on NEXT from the BPMN interface, you will find yourself in the environment for identifying the variables you have focused on. They will appear in the form of clickable nodes that you can select.	Fig. 033 - Identification of selected entities
The interface allows you to select each node that will appear under the image in the list of selected nodes.	Fig. 034 - List of selected entities
You can also select your nodes from the drop-down menu below the map.	Fig. 035 - List of selected entities (drop-down menu)
In any case, before proceeding further, check carefully which nodes you have selected. Press the button |Next to checkpoint| to complete this first cycle and download the file package related to the outline of your case study.	Fig. 036 - Before press Next to checkpoint verify carefully your choices!
You can add your comments about the work you have done in outlining the decision-making process you want to intervene in and have identified your points of interest. This will help you keep track of your reasoning and will flow into a report that you can share. After adding your comments push |NEXT|.	Fig. 037 - Add notes
Now you are asked ti download the Intermediate Report of your Experiment that describes what was done to outline the case under study and set the boundaries of the experiment. In addition, the work done will be saved in a .zip file so that you can restore your session if you need so. You must download the Intermediate Report and the back-up files to be allowed to the next step: this is a form of guarantee to prevent you from losing the data you have entered since, as you know, the system does not automatically save them for privacy reasons.	Fig. 038 - Download the Intermediate Report and all the experiment data
If you don't intend to continue with the analysis after this check point, by downloading the file package you can decide to restore the session in another moment deciding which of the step to restore. From point 1, reloading your choice of NUTS, NBS, CEC; from point 2 reloading your BPMN file, from point 3 also reloading your chosen entities. You can decide to load also the entire package which will include the notes you added at this checkpoint, allowing you to start again right where you left off and beginning the simulation. To restore your file, if needed, access from the PoMM main menu on |Restore Session|.	Fig. 039 - Restore Session from main PoMM menu
The zipped file you download contains 3 folders and a series of files necessary for the various restore phases.	Fig. 040 Files contained in your download compressed folder
The files are compressed (zip) file: a very simple interface will guide you through restoring the files you have downloaded from the system. Please be careful! Upload the files gradually in the order in which they are requested by the interface. Once you have uploaded the first ones, you can proceed further in the restore by pressing |Continue to upload|.	Fig. 041 - Restore network modelling session from Intermediate Report & files