The Shell DPM is traditionally made up of nine quadrants but the company recognises that although the three columns and three rows may be convenient for them, other layouts are also feasible. Some companies use a two column by two-row matrix.
Weighting
In the Shell DPM, all of the factors were given an equal weighting. This has been questioned in the past but using this weighting scheme has given good results when applied to a typical chemical product portfolio.
Rating
Shell used a one to five star rating as they found that this type of visual rating system gave more visual impact than a display of numerals. Most companies omit this star rating system and use the assignment of points.
Businesses/products are plotted on the nine-quadrant matrix in accordance to their final scores, which result in the co-ordinates on the x-axis and the y-axis.
The Shell DPM