NewVectors Projects
COMPASS: A Tool and Methodology for Guiding Investment in Information Technology
This NewVectors project developed a methodology and a tool to provide users and builders of design tools with measures of how specific aspects of the tool's functioning affected specific aspects of design productivity. An approach is used to relate tool functioning to design activity. This activity is combined with a metrics development exercise, and a simulation capability for performing "what if" analyses. With this approach it is possible to posit specific changes in design tool functionality, and to assess how those changes might affect the productivity of the designers who use the tool. The value of the assessment methodology is twofold. It can be applied by users to select investments in IT, and by tool developers to optimize their products for their customers' needs.