Tools intended to help with modelling decisions in a value centric design process. The intent is to keep this as generic as possible, as some of this decision modelling is suited to generic decision-making, non-design activities with a little massaging.
- Concept Design Analysis (CODA) method implementation
- Requirements weighting with a Binary Weighting Matrix
- Programmatic or Spreadsheet based model creation (via Excel workbooks or Google Sheets).
- Command-line interface for quick model inspection and interactive weighting
pip install vdd
vdd ships with a command-line interface for the two core workflows.
Load a CODA model from an Excel file and print the overall design merit alongside a per-requirement satisfaction summary:
vdd coda path/to/model.xlsx
By default the compact Excel format is assumed. Pass --parser full for the
standard format:
vdd coda path/to/model.xlsx --parser full
Step through a pairwise comparison of requirements and print the resulting normalised scores:
vdd requirements weight "Lightweight" "Stiff" "Durable"
Questions are shuffled by default. Pass --no-shuffle to work through them
in a fixed order.
Currently just stored in the repo.
In the repository root:
uv sync
Managed by Release Please with auto-versioning. Changes to default branch will be accumulated in a release PR based on Conventional Commits. Merging the release PR will automatically publish the versioned package to PyPI.
- Model sets for comparative work (rather than a single set of characteristic parameter values)
- Improved visualisation
- Export CODA models to Excel template
- House of Quality style requirement/characteristic weighting
- Pandas everywhere (v1.x)
Based on my own degree notes and open access literature:
- M.H. Eres et al, 2014. Mapping Customer Needs to Engineering Characteristics: An Aerospace Perspective for Conceptual Design - Journal of Engineering Design pp. 1-24 http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/361442