Incremental computation of the value of perfect information in stepwise-decomposable influence diagrams

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to efficiently compute the value of perfect information in influence diagrams by reusing intermediate results from previous computations, reducing overall calculation time.

Contribution

It introduces an incremental approach that leverages existing computations to speed up the evaluation of influence diagrams with added perfect information.

Findings

Significant reduction in computation time for influence diagram analysis

Effective reuse of intermediate results in stepwise-decomposable influence diagrams

Enhanced efficiency in decision analysis processes

Abstract

To determine the value of perfect information in an influence diagram, one needs first to modify the diagram to reflect the change in information availability, and then to compute the optimal expected values of both the original diagram and the modified diagram. The value of perfect information is the difference between the two optimal expected values. This paper is about how to speed up the computation of the optimal expected value of the modified diagram by making use of the intermediate computation results obtained when computing the optimal expected value of the original diagram.