Harris Profile Method

A New Product Profile (or Harris Profile) is a graphic representation of the strenghts and weaknesses of design concepts. Originally, a New Product Profile is applied as a useful tool to evaluate and select development projects (ideas for new business activities).Per design alternative a Harris Profile is created. A number of criteria is used to evaluate the design alternatives. A four scale scoring is used for all criteria.

Criteria should be selected according to which the design alternatives should be compared (be sure to cover all important aspects of the product development project with the selected criteria). List the criteria and create a four-point scale matrix next to it. The scale is coded-2, -1, +1, and +2. Create a Harris profile for the design alternatives you want to compare. Draw the profile by marking the scores in the four-point scale matrix for all the criteria. When the Harris Progfiles of the design alternatives are completed, the profiles can be compared and a judgment can be made as to which alternative has the best overall score.

References

Ritchey, T. 2006. “Problem Structuring using Computer-Aided Morphological
Analysis”. Journal of the Operational Research Society (JORS), Vol. 57, No. 7.
Zwicky, F. 1969. Discovery, Invention, Research – Through the Morphological Approach. Toronto: The Macmillian Company.
Zwicky, F. & Wilson A. (eds.) 1967. New Methods of Thought and Procedure: Contributions to the Symposium on Methodologies. Berlin: Springer. Reprint available at
Levin, Mark Sh. 1998. Combinatorial Engineering of Decomposable Systems, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Levin, Mark Sh. 2006. Composite Systems Decisions. New York: Springer.
Jones, J.C. 1981. Design Methods. Wiley.