To determine the outcomes of the system’s response to a threat, analysts compare pathways and assess the system to integrate findings and interpret results.

9.3.5.1 Pathway comparison

Analysts perform a pathway analysis by considering multiple pathway segments. In general, measures are estimated for the individual segments of a pathway and must then be aggregated to yield a net measure for the pathway. Although measures for different pathways may be aggregated, it is generally more valuable to use the measures to identify the most vulnerable pathways. The objective of the system evaluation is then the identification of the most vulnerable pathways and the measures associated with them.

9.3.5.2 System assessment and presentation of results

The final steps in PR&PP evaluations are to integrate the findings of the analysis and interpret the results in order to arrive at an assessment of the SMR. Results include best estimates for descriptors that characterize the results, distributions reflecting the uncertainty associated with those estimates, and appropriate displays to communicate uncertainties.