Using MDM-Methods in order to improve managing of iterations in design processes

The complexity of products, development processes and organizational structures is constantly increasing. The reasons therefore are manifold, like: increasing complexity of the customers’ requirements regarding the quality; increasing pressure of time and cost in the manufacturing and development processes; integration of multiple domains within one product, like mechanics, software, electronics or service (Lindemann, 2006; Pulm, 2004; Leimeister and Glauner, 2008; Abramovici and Schulte, 2007). Consequently, these challenges force the companies to enhance their innovation capabilities and to cope with the increasing complexity. In development processes, the requirements engineering (RE) plays a vital role: It is “the process of discovering the purpose of the system-to-be, by identifying stakeholders and their needs, and documenting these in a form that is suitable to analysis, communication, and subsequent implementation” (Nuseibeh and Easterbrook, 2000) RE is. In order to efficiently translate requirements into properties of the product, it is necessary to integrate the RE with the subsequent steps of the product development process. However, requirements’ changes are often discovered only in the late phases of the development (Lindemann and Reichwald, 1998) and this results into a costly modification of all affected parts of the system. In order to react on changes efficiently, it is necessary to develop the requirements and the design in parallel and in a coordinated manner. Up to now, there is no systematic and formal process on how requirements can be transformed into product properties. The particular challenge in this process lies in the iterations between the ongoing refinement of requirements and the design of the properties of the future product. The research presented in this paper aims to tackle this challenge with a formal procedural method that builds on matrix-based methods. Based on the interpretation of structural criteria, this approach guides that iterative process.     «

The complexity of products, development processes and organizational structures is constantly increasing. The reasons therefore are manifold, like: increasing complexity of the customers’ requirements regarding the quality; increasing pressure of time and cost in the manufacturing and development processes; integration of multiple domains within one product, like mechanics, software, electronics or service (Lindemann, 2006; Pulm, 2004; Leimeister and Glauner, 2008; Abramovici and Schulte, 2...     »