Outbreaks of Crown-of-thorns Starfish (COTS) are one of the major contributors to coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and are the only disturbance that is amenable to large scale direct intervention. At current capacity the COTS Control Program can action between 100-200 reefs within a given year, making the selection of reefs for control integral to the success of the program. Reefs across the marine park are prioritised to optimise for ecological importance, tourism value and to maintain management continuity. Innovations in recent years have allowed the integration of more sophisticated metrics to evaluate relative ecological values of each reef in the GBR. These metrics include the risk of COTS outbreak (probability and potential downstream effects); importance as a larval source (number, strength and “neediness”), as well as current estimates of coral cover and COTS densities combined from all survey programs across the GBR. These metrics are brought together via a multi-criteria decision analysis framework to rank reefs for prioritisation and are interrogated by an interactive dashboard which performs analytical procedures and acts as a powerful communication tool. These analytical platforms are continuing to evolve, allowing for new innovations such as an “Early-Warning System” for COTS outbreaks.