NEW! ALL USERS CAN NOW "SAVE" CM FILES!

[The management]

Till now, the free trial version of Confrontation ManagerTM has lacked one feature -- the ability to Save files.

We've now found a way to do this -- for those who don't mind sharing their analysis with other users. This is what you do.

1. Download the latest free trial version of Confrontation ManagerTM from http://www.ideasciences.com. This allows you to "Publish" missions by clicking File/Publish.
2. Analyse a problem in a set of options boards belonging to a mission.
3. Click File/Publish and select your mission. You'll be asked to save an .xml file (which contains your mission in an encrypted form) somewhere on your disk. Do that.
4. Now send the .xml file to missions@dilemmasgalore.com, together with your username and organisation. Alternatively, send it to cmuploadrequest@ideasciences.com. We'll make you a licensed user of the service. Then we'll decrypt your .xml mission file & put it on the dilemmasgalore website where you can retrieve it. It'll be incorporated in a .cm file with your name on it.
5. To retrieve this .cm file containing your mission, just put the following address in your browser & hit RETURN. The address is
http://www.dilemmasgalore.com/forum/views/username.cm
(where, of course, you substitute your username for "username".

That's it! Please use this facility. It'll make it easy for you to do an analysis that stretches over several sessions or involves several people.

[saundra]

What happens if I send you *two* files? Will you put them all in the same "view" file, or will they been in two separate files? If the latter, then what is the naming convention for the two files - as the one you have given only allows one file.

On related points, are these archived (i.e. available for an extended period) and will you be producing a list of all the models that have been contributed, and links to them?

[The management]

Saundra

Note that when you click "Publish" in the latest version of Confrontation ManagerTM, you save onto your disk one of the "missions" you've created. This is what you email to missions@dilemmasgalore.com so that it can be "saved" on our server.

Now a mission is just a set of options boards that draw from the same set of parties and options. So it's really a particular analysis. By contrast, an ordinary .cm file (one that you Open using Confrontation ManagerTM) contains a set of missions.

So it seems sensible to save all your analyses (ie, all your missions) in a single .cm file called username.cm -- where "username" stands for your username. That way you (or anyone else) will be able to download your personal .cm file, open it using Confrontation ManagerTM, do more work on the missions in it, "Publish" the missions you've worked on, & email them back to us. We'll use them to update your personal .cm file.

For example, say you do a couple of analyses. You can "save" them by clicking "Publish", email them to us & we'll make them available in a .cm file called "saundra.cm". You'll be able to download this file by pointing your browser to

http://www.dilemmasgalore.com/forum/views/saundra.cm

Simple, isn't it?

Naturally, it's fine to email us any number of missions. We'll put them all in your personal .cm file.

We'll keep your personal .cm file indefinitely. We'll start a new one whenever you like, backing up the old stuff in separate numbered versions (eg, saundra1.cm, saundra2.cm, etc). These will be like archives alongside the current saundra.cm.

As for a guide to the contents of the various saundra files -- we'd like to invite you to post your own guide on dilemmasgalore!

PS: This is how we're planning to do it -- but we'd welcome any other suggestions.