Another important innovation has been to reframe policy analysis as a decision support activity
rather than a surrogate for actual decision making. The distinction is important. Traditional policy
analysis accepts a request for a study from the decision makers, sets the scope of the research question,
establishes key assumptions, carries out the analysis, and delivers policy recommendations
back to the decision makers. Decision support systems instead reserve key decisions for decision
makers, and plan for repeated interactions between analysts and decision makers. It is a humbler
approach but its analytics are often more complex.