6.3 Suspended Ceiling Design Process - Bilkent University

DSMs were produced at two levels: assembly and system interface. The
assembly level DSM represents the information flows between the
parameters that belong to suspended ceiling parts. The system level DSM
shows the information flows between the suspended ceiling system and
other systems related to suspended ceiling. Due to the different character
of elevator design, this bi-partite approach was not taken in the second
case study. Moreover, in the suspended ceiling design case, performance
requirements were also included in the analysis in order to compare how
they drive design at the two levels of analysis (assembly and system
interface levels), which is not the case in the elevator study.
In each case study, a different parameter classification system was used.
In the suspended ceiling study, the parameters were classified according to
the physical system architecture which enabled mappings between
performance requirements and building parts. Similar mappings have been
previously made by Mascoli (1999) and Dong (1999). In the elevator
design study, however, parameters were categorized according to the
activities that produce them (parent activities). In this way, the DSMs were
used as process maps which showed detailed flows between the activities.
Rask and Sunnersjö (qtd. in Browning, 2001) have provided a simplistic
example for such a use of a parameter-based DSM.
Another aspect of difference between the case studies is the way
parameters were defined in each study. While in the elevator study
111