Towards a Process Model for Computer-Supported Collaborative Morphological Analysis

Morphological analysis (MA) is a method to analyze and design complex systems. MA fosters generation of a large number of solution/system design alternatives, yet it requires a considerable amount of manual effort. Therefore, a number of software tools have been developed to automate the construction of consistent design alternatives and support the exploration of the derived design space. However, available tools lack support for collaboration. This inhibits extended use of MA software in practice since system analysis and design tasks are typically conducted by teams. The purpose of this paper is to enhance the classical MA process model by collaboration support. We review seminal psychological research to guide our process design. We propose a collaborative process model that seeks to increase creativity and prevent psychological phenomena which might impair group performance. The revised process model serves as a basis for collaborative MA software implementations.