Approachlisting

Approachlisting, also written as approach listing, is a structured catalog of methods, strategies, and approaches used to address a defined problem or goal. It is employed in planning, decision analysis, research design, and policy development to organize options and support transparent evaluation and justification of choices.

An approach listing typically represents each entry with a name, concise description, domain or category, prerequisites, anticipated benefits, principal risks, required data or resources, and supporting evidence. Some implementations also record feasibility, estimated cost, implementation timeline, and current status.

Creation and governance involve defining the scope, collecting candidates, screening and grouping similar approaches, and evaluating them—often with scoring, comparison matrices, or multi-criteria analysis. Entries should be reviewed periodically to reflect new evidence and changing constraints.

Applications span project planning, software architecture, policy analysis, and research design. An example within software modernization might enumerate lift‑and‑shift, replatform, refactor, and rebuild, each with trade‑offs in cost, risk, and compatibility.

Related concepts include method catalogs, option registries, and decision-support knowledge bases. Limitations include the potential for information overload, bias in weighting, and the need for governance and maintenance to keep entries accurate and actionable.