Value-Focused Thinking (VFT) provides a systematic approach to structure complex decisions for subsequent analysis. It is a powerful complement to decision analysis and its application has been growing in recent years. This paper discusses the application of VFT in Brazil to three problems in different contexts: water management, information system/information technology (IS/IT) strategic planning, and the disposal of plaster waste. This article describes how the VFT approach was used to structure these decision problems and identify alternatives to stall them, which led to developing qualitative and quantitative models for evaluating the alternatives, and discusses how such structures can be used in other similar problems.

Rehabilitation of water networks is a complex problem which may require a range of different water management actions, involving groups or institutions having differing objectives, responsibilities and interests, and requiring collaboration for conflict resolution. Group decision making can play a vital role in situations where multiple actors are involved, each having their own private perceptions of the context and the decision problem to be tackled. This paper proposes a group decisionmaking model based on an analysis of individual rankings, with the aim of choosing an appropriate alternative which is the best compromise of the points of view of the actors involved in the decision problem. An application with 4 influence groups was conducted based on the proposed method.