Building / Creating the Design Structure Matrix

The success of the DSM method is determined by an appropriate system decomposition and by the accuracy of the dependence relationships collected. Therefore, it is vital to carefully decompose the system under study into meaningful system elements (i.e. subsystems or modules). An appropriate decomposition can be established by gathering a group of managers/experts from different functional groups of an organization and asking them to collectively list the different sub-systems that comprise the system as a whole.

The decomposition can be hierarchical or non-hierarchical (sometimes called network decomposition). In the hierarchical decomposition, the system can be divided into sub-systems or modules and those modules are, in turn, divided into finer components. In the network decomposition, a system hierarchy is not evident.

Once the appropriate system elements or set of activities that comprise a project have been identified, they are listed in the DSM as row and column labels in the same order. The elements within the matrix are then identified by asking the appropriate manager/expert in the group for the minimum set of parameters (taken from the list) that influence their own sub-system and contribute to its behavior. In a task-based DSM, this can be the minimum set of activities that need to be performed before the activity under questioning can be started. In a parameter based DSM, the rows and columns are design parameters that drive the design or define the system and the managers/experts can then be asked to define the precedence relationships between the listed parameters. These tasks/parameters/elements are marked in the DSM by an 'X'.

Summary Steps

• Interview engineers and managers
• Determine list of tasks or parameters
• Ask about inputs, outputs, strengths of interaction, etc
• Enter marks in matrix (we have Excel macros to help)
• Check with engineers and managers to verify/comment on DSM

A Proposed Approach for Building Credible DSMs

Observations / Issues with Building DSMs

A template Excel spreadsheet that might assist in data collection during interviews (pdf file) or (Excel file).
For more information on the that can be used for data collection, see Pimmler and Eppinger (1994).

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