The Non-Dimensionalized Methodology Brief

In business there is an almost an absolute single mindedness on financials. However, a financial bias does not account for the entire circumstance to the chagrin of accounts and financial analysts who often attempt fudge factors and assign financial values to other qualities. Other non-financial approaches include measurable organizational value (MOV) and non-dimensionalization methods. This post explores non-dimnensionalization.

The Non-Dimensionalized Methodology
by
JT Bogden, PMP

Non-dimensionalization is the removal of dimensions such as dollars, square feet, or other units of measure in order to observe the characteristic performance of a system in terms of a ratio or coefficient. In statistics the process is known as normalization. The technique is common to aerospace engineering where they use coefficients of lift, drags, and stability given specific aerodynamic bodies. The performance graphs can be easily redimensionalized for the differing flight environments found off planet. For example, Venus's atmosphere is sulfuric acid, carbon dioxide and nitrogen as opposed to Earth's atmosphere of oxygen and nitrogen but the flight performance of the aerodynamic body is basically the same in any fluid.  Project managers can take advantage of the same methodology in order to improve decision making.

Often project managers are confronted with complex decisions involving multiple options and interrelated characteristics such as rent and square footage or purchase price and yield rates. Many may look at these relationships in terms of ratios such as dollars per square foot or dollars per unit yields. This may suffice for simple decisions but what if there were a dozen of these characteristics? How should the highest performing option be reasonably vetted?

Non-dimensionalization is a method that reduces dimensionalized characteristics to a coefficient of performance for comparison purposes. The process makes use of a spreadsheet. Options are listed across column and established performance characteristic are shown in the rows. The coefficients are computed by rows and the option columns are averaged.  An organization may use project portfolio performance characteristics or formulate them for the specific decision as long as they are consistent across and supported by all the options.  The organization will also need to establish the vetting criteria such as maximizing benefit and minimizing cost. In this discussion maximization will always be 1 and minimization will always be 0. This results in the use of the  formulas shown in Figure 1. If cost is at its maximum the CPmin will be used. If benefits are to be maximized then CPmax will be used.

Figure 1: Non-Dimensionalizing Formulas

Please refer to Figure 2 as we discuss the process of non-dimensional analysis. When cost are at a maximum value, we desire to minimize the impact. Therefore, CPmin was used to minimize with an ideal value being 0. When the benefit is at a maximum, we desire to maximize the impact with the ideal value being 1. Thus, CPmax was employed. The decision making scheme is such that when the Average CP by option value closest to 1 the more desirable that coefficient of performance or CP_n. In Figure 2, the most desirable option is Option 2 with an average CP2 value of 0.58 since it is the closest to 1. The CP_row values is the average value of the characteristic which gives the decision maker a gauge to determine the degree of impact of the CP for the characteristic being reviewed.

Figure 2:  The Non-Dimensionalized Decision Matrix

As an example of this approach in use, when selecting drives for my personal data storage unit I identified the factors, collected the information and purchased the drive meeting the performance criteria. Overall, this is one tool the project manager may employ when making like decisions and arguing the reasons behind his selection. By removing the financial bias of the purchase costs and return on investment, ROI, better performing options become available. I hope this clarified the use of the method.