Characterizing Design Process Interfaces as Organization Networks: Insights for Engineering Systems Management

Abstract

Abstract-The engineering design literature has provided guidance on how to identify and analyse design activities and their information dependencies. However, a systematic characterisation of process interfaces between engineering design activities is missing, and the impact of structural and compositional aspects of interfaces on process performance is unclear. To fill these gaps, we propose a new approach that characterises process interfaces as organisation networks consisting of people and their interactions when performing interfacing activities. Furthermore, we provide guidance on how to test and interpret the effect of those characteristics on interface problems. As a result, we show how structural and compositional aspects of the organisation networks between information-dependent activities provide valuable insights to better manage complex engineering design processes. The proposed approach is applied to the development of a power plant, analysing 79 process interfaces. The study reveals a relationship between the structure and composition of the process interfaces and reported interface problems. Implications of this approach include the integration of information about process and organisation architectures, the systematic identification of key performance metrics associated with interface problems, and improved support for engineering managers by means of a better overview of information flows between activities.

Using Network Science to Support Design Research: From Counting to Connecting

“…Finally, we selected a dynamic approach for the level of the whole process in order to explore evolving information centralisation patterns through different stages of the design process. For more detailed information on specific aspects of this case study, see the following: The overall research approach, named The Networked Process Framework, was developed in Parraguez (2015), the dynamic network analysis of the whole process was published in Parraguez et al (2014Parraguez et al ( , 2015a, the interface level analysis in Parraguez et al (2015b), and the activity-level network analysis in Parraguez and Maier (2015).…”

“…Batallas and Yassine 2006;Parraguez et al 2015a); or to analyse the propagation of changes and errors in the design process (e.g. Braha and Bar-Yam 2007;Giffin et al 2009;Wynn et al 2014).…”

“…At the edge level, the idea is typically to quan-tify the characteristics of each connection between two nodes, e.g. a set of two Parraguez et al (2015a) (dyads) or three nodes (triads) and their connections. Finally, if the unit of analysis is the whole design process, organisation, or project, the level of analysis would be the whole network or at least subsections thereof.…”

Digitalisation of Development and Supply Networks: Sequential and Platform-Driven Innovations

“…Using the SNA approach (Parraguez et al, 2016), information exchanges between individual organisational entities are presented for the 'Digitalisation Lab' case in Figure 5. Four communities are interacting with 24 critical nodes and 143 edges (with a maximum partition density of 0.6057472), and are summarised as follows:  As part of platform design, all research strands and subnetwork communities develop new tools and training packages to support consortium activities.…”

Employing Simulation to Study the Role of Design Structure Matrix in Reducing Waste in Design

“…This complexity is further accentuated by the interdependencies present between different disciplines within the same organization. Parraguez et al (2016) categorized the interdependencies in the design process into three domains: the process domain (network of activities), the organization domain (a network of people), and the product domain (a network of components).These interdependencies disrupt the flow of information leading to design errors and time loss. To elaborate more on the process domain, Tuholski and Tommelein (2010) classified three types of activity dependencies: independent/parallel, dependent/sequential, and interdependent/coupled.…”