In the Set column of the box that appears, double click on Business Reengineering. Then click on Zoom Out Full (Shift+F8) as follows..

Here is the main grid for the business sample problem:

We click on Partition (or Press Control+A) 

The matrix is now partitioned. It has a block of size 12 on the diagonal.

We can interpret the resulting blocks as follows.

	Tear
A r r a n g e			Marks above diagonal show the assumptions. They control the iterations if assumptions aren’t valid.
		Marks below diagonal provide a Critical Path Network if all the assumptions were valid.

We must reorder the items within the block to represent a reasonable plan. We choose assumptions to appear above the diagonal by tearing, i.e., finding what marks we can temporarily remove to get the other marks below the diagonal.

Tearing

1. After we are assured that we have done a partition, click anywhere within the block to be torn. (This would be important if there were more than one block to choose from.)

2. Click on TEAR (or press Control+T)

This shows the principal circuit in yellow and the Tearing Advice in a window.

1. Click in the tearing advice window on the [ ] of the row you want to tear.
2. Click on the Row button to tear a row, which moves that row to the top after the partition. (If you wanted to move it to the bottom, click on Column.)
3. Click on the number of the mark you want to represent the tears.

The Result of the tearing above is displayed below, notice the 0's have been replaced in the block in the 'Product Concept' row.

Now we click on Partition All Icon (or do Control+A) again to see the effect.

The program now ignores the 5’s and partitions within the block. This brings the row of 5’s to the top of the block. This implies that we develop a Product Concept while assuming the items shown by the 5’s in that row. Starting with the Product Concept, the other items will then be determined. The  assumptions must be reviewed after completing the block or before to see if they were adequate.

Note that items 2 and 3 could form a little block by themselves inside the larger block. We do this by changing the 5 to a 0 in the intersection of row 3 (Product Concept) and Column 2 (Project Trends...).

We wish to iterate this smaller block before iterating the outside block. So we enter a number 3 for the mark that shows we wish to start with the Projected Trends assuming the Product Concept. We do this by clicking on the cell and typing 3. We also enter a 3 in the mark that shows we start with the Price assuming the Market Size.

Now we Partition.

Now this represents a plan where all the assumptions are above the diagonal. The assumptions are reviewed at the end of each block. If they prove to be invalid, the block is iterated with new assumptions. Below the diagonal are the predecessors to give a Critical Path Network if all the assumptions were valid. The marks above the diagonal control the iterations if some assumptions prove not to be correct.

In this problem, as is typical, what we get is rather obvious, but only after the fact. There is a tight block relationship between Product Concept and Projected Trends in Customer Needs, and another block between Product Price and Market Projection for this Concept. Also the design and evaluation of its consequences feeds back to the Product Concept.

Now to implement this plan

We do a Control W to show what items are ready to be worked with. (Below we will show how we can do the equivalent of the Control W by using the tool bar.) This turns to blue the rows that have no predecessors and can thus start immediately. This is shown below.

Next we Control Click on these rows to indicate they have been done

Then we click on COMPUTE.

Then we select SHOW NOTIFIED ROWS from this menu so we can see what is now ready to do. We could also have used Control+W.

We see that Projected Trends in Customer Needs has lit up green to show we now have the information needed to consider it. When Projected Trends in Customer Needs have been resolved, we indicate this by again doing a Control Click on Product Concept. We then select Show Notified Rows again to see what to do next.

Now we are ready to consider Product Concept. Note we have come to the end of a block. So when we have done Product Concept, we must make a review. If the review fails, we Control Click the rows in this block until it no longer shows they have been done. We then go through the block again with new assumptions.

Now we start another iteration.

Assume we passed that review and went on to complete Product Design. When we Control Click on Product Design to show it is done and again do a Show Notified Rows, we find there are now three next items to consider. We could assign them to three different people and have all of them working simultaneously. We proceed through the problem, making reviews at the end of each block and iterations as necessary, until the problem is solved.

But suppose that while we go through a series of Control Clicks on items as they are resolved and Find Notified Rows to find each next thing to do, when we get to Product Evaluation - Performance we decide that that the product does not meet the performance standard. We want to see what impact not meeting Product Evaluation - Performance will have on other items.

We now note that the matrix now says that the Product Evaluation - Performance affects the Product Concept. But let's say that we want to see the effect that Product Evaluation - Performance has if we don't change the Product Concept. We note that we could go back to reconsider the Product Design but not the Product Concept. When we first set up the matrix we overlooked the idea that failures of Product Evaluation's could affect Product Design and be corrected at that level. So we change the model by clicking on the cell that shows that Product Evaluation - Performance affects Product Design and type a 4. So we can change the model in mid-stream if we find it appropriate. 

So now we want to do an Impact analysis to see what the failure of this evaluation affects. We press F11 to clear the rows we marked while doing the Notify. 

Now we Control Click on Performance Evaluation to indicate we want to see the impact it would have on the other items.

But we don’t want to go back to reconsider the Concept,  so we block it from being affected by doing a Control Click on it until it turns purple. Then we click on COMPUTE and select Show Impacted Rows. (or use Control+I )

This shows that a problem with Product Evaluation - Performance has a direct impact on the Product Design and Market Projections. Doing the Show Impacted Rows again shows the next generation of impacts. By this means one can find all the impacts, both direct and indirect.

Next: Conclusions and Final Thoughts