Since a couple of years there is a new trend as the topic requirements engineering has an increasing importance for technical systems in companies.
The reason is; products and systems become more and more complex and create new interfaces by which the amount of requirements increases again. While the amount of requirements in software development is relatively small it can quickly increase to more than thousand in component development for vehicles. And this amount easily increases to the ten thousands in aviation requirements.
These numbers refer to in-house developments of the companies. As the major part of products is not only developed, manufactured and sold in one company the amount of requirements increases again, once when parts of development is outsourced to suppliers or purchased parts are being used. At the end the development process it has to be proven for each individual requirement if and how it has been fulfilled. This aspect creates a very high complexity which today is joined with the development of innovative products.
This specifically means: Manufacturers have complete catalogues with requirements comprising next their requirements also those of the authorities. Additionally there also might be requirements of the various customers, suppliers and sub-suppliers. And finally each product exists in a number of variants as the customer asks for diversity. System suppliers obtaining components from other manufacturers need to consider in this process that their suppliers also are aware of the relevant requirements and satisfy them. As customer wishes and laws are being changed and extended on a regular basis the requirements change as well, thus permanent monitoring and administration, so called requirements management, is needed.
Furthermore a holistic requirements management needs to consider all phases of the product life cycle from the idea up to recycling or disposal. This is a particular strength of Altran: „For each product life cycle phase we have experts we are linked up with. Therefore we can accompany the implementation of such a system in an optimum way and recommend to our customers the optimum system due to our neutral assessment”, says Tim Liebel, Lead Consultant at Altran.
First of all the company processes for a successful requirements engineering have to be set up and experienced in an optimum way in order for theory to be proven in practice. These processes and dependencies are then reflected in software, like this all departments concerned are involved. „Conflicts of interest may arise here quickly until everybody understood that the significantly increased degree of transparency is an improvement for all“, explains Tim Liebel. Some of the requirements can be proven without additional expenditure of time or cost. Whereas many others need to be broken down, defined and test for proof. A software solution is a clear advantage as it offers a job-facilitating support for traceability in order to keep the overview. In this phase Altran supports its customers with the creation of optimum processes and helps with selecting suitable software and its subsequent adaption as well as required employee trainings.
However Altran’s teams also work according to a second methodology to represent system requirements. Today it is particularly necessary in systems’ engineering to work with complexity reducing methods. Innovative companies develop their products or systems increasingly by aid of models in order to reduce building prototypes. In general you can say: The more complex the systems are, the more likely companies use the so called „model based engineering“(MBE) as development method as it verifiably reduces development time and costs on the long term.
Here it would be interesting to mention: MBE has also impact on the requirements management. „Among other the MBE method comprises all specifications and requirements of complex systems using a functional system model“, says Rüdiger Ebeling, Senior Business Manager at Altran. Therewith the model as such represents the main source for requirements. In specific all new customer wishes for the further development of a product will be translated into requirements. The real requirements for the system design to be developed are a result of the conceptual pre-design. „MBE enables the detailed validation and testing of requirements already in a very early development stage. The result is an appreciable reduction of errors, inconsistencies and different interpretations of requirements“, says the MBE expert Ebeling.
No matter which method of requirement management is the most appropriate it is top priority to consider all requirements, even after completion of the product, and to proof them to customers and authorities. At the same time it solves the problem of certainty when producing technical equipment. If the fulfilment of requirements in manufacturing is recorded correctly the company is informed about development processes at all times. Additionally it serves as measure for quality assurance and improvement. And the duration of individual development phases becomes more transparent; this information can be used to optimize processes. Furthermore information obtained from tests running in parallel might help to optimise the product even more. Next to these advantages a good requirements management enables a fast product acceptance, if certification application.
Especially for product recalls the traceability of individual components suddenly becomes a management issue: Did they proof the obvious safety of the product? Are the criteria of the proof commonly accepted? Which improvements can be made thereof in order to generate new or improved requirements? Professional requirements management pays in particular in crisis situations, as the root cause can be understood quickly.
