About DSMs
A Design Structure Matrix (DSM) is a square matrix with cells along the diagonal representing the system elements, and the off-diagonal cells representing dependencies between the system elements. A value in DSM(i,j) (the cell at row i and column j) means that the element at position i depends on the element at position j. A binary DSM only provides indications of existence of dependencies, but the cells can also be populated with numeric measure to indicate the degree of the dependencies.
The example DSM bellow shows that elements A, C and D all depend on element B. Element C also depends on element A, and element A also depends on element D.
A |
B |
C |
D |
|
A |
X |
X |
||
B |
||||
C |
X |
X |
||
D |
X |
Table 1 Design Structure Matrix example
There are two main categories of DSMs – static and time-based. Static DSMs represent systems where all elements exist at the same time, such as system architectures or team organizations. Static DSMs are usually analyzed using clustering algorithms. With time-based DSMs the order of the elements represents the order of execution of tasks, such as the order of activities in a product development process. Time-based DSMs are usually analyzed using sequencing algorithms.
For more information visit the DSM home page.