O*NET is a giant American list that explains what people do in lots of different jobs. You can look up a job and see all the little tasks inside it.
O*NET is a free database from the US Department of Labor describing about 1,000 jobs. Each profile lists tasks, tools, skills and the conditions of the work. It's a quick way to get a first draft of what a role involves.
O*NET profiles are keyed to O*NET-SOC codes and combine task statements, detailed work activities, work context ratings, skills, knowledge, abilities and technology. For decision mapping, the most useful parts are tasks, detailed work activities and the decision-related work context items.
What O*NET is
O*NET, the Occupational Information Network, is sponsored by the US Department of Labor. It describes around 1,000 occupations using a consistent structure, built from surveys of people in those jobs and from occupational analysts. It's free at onetonline.org, and the full database can be downloaded.
Each occupation has a code based on the US Standard Occupational Classification, such as 43-4051.00 for Customer Service Representatives.
The parts that matter most
Tasks. Plain-language statements of what people in the role do, each rated for how important it is. This is your starting task list.
Detailed work activities. More general activities that are shared across many occupations, such as "Resolve customer complaints or problems." Because they're shared, they let you compare roles and spot work that looks similar across teams.
Work context. Ratings of the conditions of the work. Several are directly about decisions. See the next section.
Technology skills. The software people in the role use. A quick way to see which systems hold evidence about the work.
The decision-related work context items
O*NET's work context ratings include items such as Freedom to Make Decisions, Consequence of Error, Frequency of Decision Making and Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results. Read together, they give a rough picture of how much of a role is about judgement and what it costs to get it wrong. They're a useful first filter before you map decisions in detail.
Its limits
O*NET describes US occupations, and averages them. Your team's version of the role will differ. Use the profile as a checklist to start from, then check it against what people actually do. For UK and European roles, compare it with ESCO.