Resources Checklist (TRIZ)

Overview

The **Resources Checklist** is a central TRIZ tool: before inventing new components, the team systematically inventories everything that is already **in the system, at its boundaries, or in the supersystem**. Experience shows that the solution almost always lives among the existing resources — it was just unused.

The module spans a 6×3 grid: **six resource categories** (substances, fields, space, time, information, function/energy) × **three system levels** (subsystem, system, supersystem). Each cell carries free-text notes and a utilisation status (unknown / unused / partial / full).

Substances: Materials, parts, waste, by-products, atmosphere, contaminants — anything physically present.

Fields: Mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, acoustic, optical, gravitational — forces and forms of energy at play.

Space: Unused volumes, surfaces, gaps, cavities, contact regions.

Time: Idle phases, transitions, pauses between cycles, lead/lag windows.

Information: Sensor signals, indicators, naturally occurring data, by-product information.

Function / energy: Existing functions usable for double duty; energy already flowing through the system.

Approach

• Name the system clearly (top row) — that is the middle row of the hierarchy.
• Work row by row: inventory all substances first (sub / system / supersystem), then fields, then space, …
• Include "trivial" resources — gravity, ambient air, waste heat, sensor self-noise. The most elegant solutions often live there.
• Set the status: each cell gets a rating at the end of the pass. Unused or unknown cells are the most valuable — that is where solution potential sits.
• Cross-check with the IFR task: which of the inventoried resources could carry the useful function or eliminate the harmful effect?

Empty cells are research tasks — they show areas the team has not yet thought through. Leaving the status at "unknown" is more honest than a premature rating.

Relation to other TRIZ tools

• **Ideal Final Result (IFR)** — sits directly upstream. IFR-3 explicitly asks for a supersystem resource; this module enumerates them systematically.
• **9-Windows** — same hierarchy axis (sub / system / super). Resources spotted in the 9-Windows grid can be transferred here for systematic rating.
• **Contradiction Matrix / Physical Contradiction** — separation principles often need a resource to implement (spatial separation needs unused volume; conditional separation needs a sensor signal — both are entries on this checklist).

References & further reading

• G. S. Altshuller: "Creativity as an Exact Science" (1984) — chapter on resource analysis inside ARIZ.
• D. Mann: "Hands-On Systematic Innovation" — chapter "Resources" with the full categorisation.
• V. Souchkov: "TRIZ Body of Knowledge" — resource analysis.

Examples

This module ships with the following example datasets — load any of them in the app with a single click.

Available in the following cycles

• No fixed phase in cycle DMAIC (lives in the "More" tile).
• No fixed phase in cycle DMADV (lives in the "More" tile).
• 8D: D5 — Corrective Actions