Refined info:

You can use Smartsettle for many types of decision making but it is primarily designed for formal negotiation support. If you have a simple two-party negotiation, choose our Smartsettle ONE webapp. If you have a high-value case with many issues and parties, choose our comprehensive negotiation support system, Smartsettle Infinity. You can prepare for negotiations at the International eNegotiation Exhibition. Invite your opponent to do the same. Once you are both ready you may negotiate your live Smartsettle ONE case here. If you wish to use Infinity, certified facilitators are available to assist you or you may take the training yourself. Contact us for any questions you may have. Coming soon are enhancements that will bridge the gap between Smartsettle ONE and Infinity.

The cost to use Smartsettle depends on your application and whether you need a facilitator or mediator. Please contact us for a quote.

The efficiency frontier is the set of all potential outcomes to a negotiation that are Pareto Efficient. In economic theory, this concept is referred to as the Pareto Efficient Frontier. It is the set of all efficient solutions to the problem. No change can be made to an efficient solution that would produce a gain for one party without another party loosing.

Anytime. The Smartsettle server is always accessible.

The Zone of Possible Agreement in a negotiation is the set of possible outcomes that could be acceptable to all parties.

Smartsettle is the leading eNegotiation system worldwide. Wherever there are two or more decision-makers with conflicting objections, Smartsettle will be there…helping them negotiate anything, anywhere, anytime, beyond win-win!

Smartsettle is private and independent. It is not an agent or representative of any sponsor or party using the system.

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Smartsettle works anywhere on the Internet. Smartsettle ONE requires no installation as it is a webapp. For Smartsettle Infinity, you can request a demo as the first step.

With preference analysis, Smartsettle knows how each party becomes satisfied. With that knowledge, it can make suggestions that will simultaneously satisfy all parties in some impasse situations.

Smartsettle is the only alternative providing a full range of single-to-unlimited issue solutions (Smartsettle ONE to Smartsettle Infinity) using secure online negotiation technology with optimization to produce formal agreements that are fair and efficient. Negotiating online with Smartsettle reduces the time and space constraints of negotiations that are strictly face-to-face. You will decide, together with your facilitator, what combination of online and face-to-face meetings makes most sense for your particular situation. Where distance is not an issue, a warm handshake at the end of the process may still be a good idea.

Win-lose is only one party getting what they want, e.g., one party giving in to solve an impasse. If parties are close enough to each other at an impasse, Smartsettle can find a solution that not only satisfies all parties (win-win) but goes beyond that to maximize mutual gain. Smartsettle can do this simultaneously for any number of parties in a negotiation.

While there is no pre-set limit to the number of negotiation sessions, either party may declare Final Session at any time. If parties opt for Smartsettle’s Expert Neutral Deal-Closer, then they can ensure a settlement, even if regular negotiation does not produce an outcome.

With preference analysis, Smartsettle knows how each party becomes satisfied. With that knowledge and sophisticated optimization algorithms, Smartsettle can generate solutions that maximize satisfaction for all parties.

Smartsettle engages decision makers in a comprehensive process throughout the entire negotiation. Following is a brief description of the six process phases. In practice, these phases overlap in an iterative process in the search for an optimal solution. The exact path that negotiators take is up to them. An agreement will be declared whenever all parties accept the same package. 1. Prepare for Negotiation Two or more parties wish to negotiate an agreement about certain matters. Parties may participate in orientation or training depending on the size and complexity of the case. Parties review and accept guidelines for conduct. Parties may engage a single Smartsettle facilitator and/or a mediator to serve all of them and/or each have their own private facilitator 2. Qualify Interests A Smartsettle facilitator sets up the case and invites the parties The facilitators help parties work together to discuss their interests and identify issues without making specific demands For each of the issues, parties agree on options or a range where the solution will likely be found Everyone works together to create a shared model of the problem Parties agree on a Single Negotiating Framework with blanks that represent unresolved issues 3. Quantify Satisfaction The facilitator works independently with each party to elicit their confidential preferences and define private formulas as desired 4. Establish Equity Parties exchange information and offer visible or secret concessions Smartsettle generates suggestions based on party preferences and concessions Equity is achieved when parties reach a Baseline solution by agreeing on the same package 5. Maximize Benefits Preference representations are refined with help from the facilitators Optimization is used to generate an improvement to the current Baseline solution 6. Secure Commitment When any party wishes to end the negotiation, the Single Negotiating Framework is filled out with the current solution, signed, and implemented

Live negotiation problems are dynamic; negotiating ranges change, issues change, and preferences change. Any of these things will affect the location of the efficiency frontier and since these things are continuously changing in a live problem, the efficiency frontier is a moving target.

For Smartsettle Infinity, communication between the server and clients are encrypted using an Internet standard security mechanism called Secure Sockets Layer or SSL. Smartsettle currently employs the widely used OpenSSL algorithms with the 168-bit triple-DES encryption algorithm, specifically, the OpenSSL DES-CBC3-SHA algorithm. More information can be found at http://www.openssl.org/.

The Smartsettle system elicits and analyzes preferences for each individual party. Data is communicated via Smartsettle’s neutral site, which securely manages private preference information. Private information at the neutral site is kept completely confidential and is not seen by anyone without the access codes, not even Smartsettle staff. Even the final agreement is known only to the parties and their facilitator. Each individual party’s data is also protected by the user’s own password, which s/he may change at any time so is not seen by the other party. The neutral site is invisible to the user and the physical location is not known to the public.

Smartsettle Infinity users may deliberately remove themselves from a case at any time. Once their party is deleted, any information on the neutral site associated with that party is no longer accessible. Prior to removal, if so desired, a party may export their own private information to a file on their own computer for their own records. Smartsettle ONE users may also delete their private information from a case before leaving it.

Smartsettle requires parties to think logically about the problem and their preferences. Logical thinking produces better solutions. Conventional advice to negotiators has been to simplify problems to as few issues as possible in order to reduce the complexity of the problem. However, with Smartsettle’s access to a powerful computer at the neutral site, complexity is not a concern. Every additional issue on which parties have different preferences creates more benefits to divide.

Absolutely! Whether simple or complex, any important negotiation can benefit through use of Smartsettle. Smartsettle ONE is the ideal tool if the conflict can be easily reduced to a single numerical decision variable. OTOH, even though a case may initially appear to be simple, more issues may appear. The case may be migrated to Smartsettle Infinity at any time. You retain the flexibility in how to proceed.

How well Smartsettle does depends on how well the problem and preferences are modelled. The most complex problems with interdependencies may require iteration before it converges on an optimal solution.

The computer network configuration includes a secure neutral site. Data that flows between computers is encoded or encrypted and the neutral site provides parties with access only to their own data.

No. What and how much is revealed is completely under each party’s own control.

Smartsettle goes beyond mere “dispute resolution” with a process that can support negotiations with any combination of quantitative or qualitative issues. A state-of-the-art interactive interface is putting a growing number of users all over the world in control of powerful optimization algorithms developed at Cornell University that guide them to solutions “beyond win-win”, i.e., both equitable (fair for everyone) and efficient (no value left on the table).

Smartsettle recognizes that emotions are a very real and important part of the negotiation process and that conflict often brings out the worst in us. The Smartsettle process helps to minimize the negative aspects of conflict by separating people from the problem. Parties are required to clearly define areas of conflict and focus on unresolved issues. Subjective, qualitative, or optioned issues take more time to define than objective, quantitative or numerical issues but can generally be represented as yes/no or with a number of options. Smartsettle can consider anything that parties would value documenting in a final solution produced by the negotiation process. Parties do not need to explicitly quantify subjective issues. The only requirement is to be able to identify preferred packages among alternatives. Smartsettle can then elicit all the information it needs. Comprehensive satisfaction functions to represent party preferences are created implicitly behind the scenes with a powerful equivalent alternative analysis.

The two measures of a good agreement are EQUITY and EFFICIENCY. Equity has to do with fairness, i.e., how benefits are divided among the parties. This decision, of course, must be determined by the parties themselves. However, Smartsettle facilitates this by simultaneously revealing acceptable solutions. Once the Equity problem is solved, Smartsettle can focus on efficiency, which has to do with the total quantity of benefits. Smartsettle’s objective is to make sure no value is left on the table at the end of the process.