Active Requirements Management (RM)

Example Needs Assessment and Tool Selection

for a Company Producing Hardware (HW),
Software (SW), and Systems

David M Cronin
Cognition Corporation
781-271-9300 x241
david.cronin@cognition.us
 General Needs Assessment
 Our RM needs include SW, HW and System/Technology development
 SW-centric needs focus on textual targets, test validation and traceability
 HW-centric and system needs similarly include textual targets, test validation and traceability
 HW-centric and system needs, however, are driven much deeper by the PDP and TDP
 To support TDP/PDP deliverables and execution, RM tools must be able to handle:
 Quantitative storage and analysis of targets, design predictions and process capability
 Computational linkages and traceability throughout core PDP steps and data, including
VOC/VOB/BOT/VOR, Market Reqs, Product Specs, Critical Parameters, Cost Targets, Cost
Estimates and Actual Costs, Faults, Mitigations, Controls, and Validation/Verification Tests

SW Needs TDP/PDP Needs

HW and system-centric RM needs are driven by the broader goal to
achieve lean execution of detailed TDP/PDP steps and deliverables

SW-centric RM Needs  Market data analysis (Segmentation, KJ, etc.)

focus on documentation  VOC/VOB/VOT/VOR assessment and prioritization
 Textual Req’s & Spec’s  Critical Parameter identification through HOQ and Hazard Analyses
 Textual V&V Tests  Design Concept Exploration and Selection (Pugh/Kano)
 Trace Matrices  System Tree / Functional Tree / Risk Tree Creation and Linkage
 Bottoms-up FMEA, Mitigation, and Control Plan Management
 1st Eng. Principle Computation and Transfer Functions
 Critical Parameter Flow-down and Design Prediction Flow-up
 Statistical Variation Target Assessment / Scorecard Reporting
 Design of Experiments and Test Management
 Product Cost Estimation and Initiative Management
 What are we doing to improve our
Product Development Process (PDP)?

 Active Requirements Management can:

 Be the backbone for all our trace matrices
 Predict product performance
 Assure compliance deliverables
 Reduce Time To Market
 Be a Go-To web site for everyone
 Revamping a Typical Product Development Process

Innovation

Business
Portfolio TDP VOC PDP
Planning
Internal
VOC

Innovation

Voice of Business Portfolio

TDP
Customer Planning Plan
- Breakthrough
Voice of - Platform PDP
Business - Derivative
 Business Case for Knowledge Capture

Capturing of Product Performance Knowledge will

Reduce Product Development Resources & Time to Market
Initial
Resource Level Post Launch
Time to
With Improvements “Fire Fighting”
Market
Resources Resources

Actual
resource
level
Resource Level by
Transferring & Sharing
Knowledge

Time
 Active Requirements Management (RM)
Exposes Program Risks & Opportunities
RM Facilitation Meetings Lead to Identifying Risks and
Discovering Opportunities
Early in the Development Cycle
Radar Project

Facilitation Meetings
Maintain a Product
Level Perspective
During Development
with Constant Focus on
Customer & Business Needs

Enables Cross Function

Perspectives that Lead to
Interaction & Constraint Provides a Forum for
Discoveries “Out of the Box” Thinking
That Leads to New Idea
Generation
 Active Requirements Management (RM)

A Disciplined Methodology to Capture the

Product Performance Requirements into a Structured Repository

Marketing MFG

Active
Systems Requirements
Engineering Management Suppliers

Subject
Matter Partners
Experts
Design Standards
 Use inputs from Voice of Business (VOB) and Voice Of the
Concept Customer (VOC) to generate the best product
concept and product features.

Tasks Example Tools Concept Step Outputs

 List of Prioritized
1. Review customer  House of Quality (A-B)
Requirements to  Business Req Analysis Features linked to
determine scope  KJ / Affinity Diagrams VOC/VOB
 System/Technology
Concept(s)
2. Brainstorm System/  Mind Mapping
Technology Concepts  TRIZ  Key Reqs
 Measurement
 Pugh Concept Select System(s) Assessment
3. System/Technology  Kano Model
Concept Selection  IP Assessment
 Preliminary Hazard Analysis
 Competitive
Assessment
 Engineering 1st principles
4. Select Product  House of Quality
 Preliminary Hazard
Features and Set  Tests/Experiments Analysis
Specs  Measurement Systems
Analysis
 Map Market Reqs to Product Reqs

The House of Quality

can be Broken into
Distinct Sections 6) “Roof” Interactions of
(sometimes called “Rooms”) Product Requirements
6

3) Product Requirements
(with Target Values) 3
to Satisfy the Market 2) Competitive
Requirements 2 Analysis of
the Market
Reqs
1
1) Market Reqs 4
Importance
Factors 3 4) Mapping Matrix of
Product Requirements
5) Competitive
5 to the Market Reqs
Analysis of
Prod Reqs
 Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) Process

Constructing the Fault Tree

Top Event Intermediate Events Basic Events Closing

Actions

Air Bag
Passenger Faulty Signal Failure
does not
Injury
OR OR Sensor OR
deploy

No seat belt Voltage

worn Instability
Canister Leak

Flying
Debris
 Design system by identifying key inputs using
Design organizational wisdom, engineering principles,
Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) and other methods and tools
Tasks Example Tools Design Outputs
5. Brainstorm  Mind Mapping
Assembly/Component  TRIZ  System Defined:
Option(s)  Design
 FTA/FMEA  Process
 Experimentation/ Prototyping  Materials
6. Select Assembly/  Process Map
 Capable
Component Option(s)  Engineering first principles
Measurement
 Pugh Concept Selection
Systems
 Updated Risk
7. Identify requirements for  Measurement Systems
Management
 Process Map
Assembly /Component  Process Flowchart
 Requirements Map
 System Doc. Pkg.
 Prioritized list of critical
8. Identify Potential key  Process Map inputs linked to System
 Stability Studies Requirements.
inputs (design, process,
 DOE Planning Sheet  Make vs buy decision for
material)  Measurement Systems components/sub assy’s
 IP Assessement
9. Determine key inputs for  Statistical Tests
Each requirement  Screening DOE
 Characterization DOE
 RM Tools Support the RM Business Process

Proposal Definition Development Validation

& Ramp-up
Market Req Product Req Design Freeze Design Verification

RM Business Process - Risk Management SOPs

RM Tools For:
Flowing-down customer
requirements to product &
process design
requirements
Market Active RM allows flowing-
Req up process capability & Market
Product predicted performance to Req
customer requirements
Req Product
Assembly Performance
Req Assembly
Component Performance
Req Component
Process Performance
Req Process
Capability
 Drawing Tree
DESIGN

Eng first
principles
assessment of
what impacts
Requirements

Critical Parameter
Management
(CPM): Flow Down
and Flow Up of
Requirements and
Capabilities

© 2001 by Sigma Breakthrough Technologies, Inc.

 Critical Parameter Management (CPM) Flow Down
DESIGN

Product
Reqt’s  Requirements Tree (i.e. functional)
 Drawing Tree (i.e. physical)
Market  Process Flow Chart (i.e. process map)
Reqt’s  FTA
 DOE Planning Sheet

Key Inputs for each Output Req

 Mapping the Performance to the Physical

EDS CPM
(Physical) (Performance)

Production Drawing
Critical Params
Are a Subset of
the Total Specs

Muffler
Housing
Exhaust Diameter
Material Spec Sheet
Overall Length
Intake Diameter
316 Stainless Steel
Block Diagram – Active Requirements Management

Regardless of Which Flow Down Method is used, the

Critical Parameter Hierarchy Map Overlays the
Physical Block Diagram Hierarchy where the
Critical Parameters (Reqs) “Reside”
Product Specs

Assembly Specs

Component Specs

Material & Process Specs

 Refine key relationships Y=f(x)
Optimize Optimize performance and business requirements

Steps Example Tools Optimize Outputs

10. Determine optimum  Optimization DOE’s
settings for Reqs  Robust Design
based on all Y= f(x)  Optimized Nominal
Concepts
models  Cognition Cockpit Settings and
Tolerances for Reqs
 System Performance
Analysis (flow down
11. Check stability and  Control Charts and up) and
capability of critical  Capability Study Capability of Reqs
Reqs  Control Plan

12. Set tolerances for  RDTA

 Worst Case
key Reqs &  Statistical
complete the Tolerancing
control plan
 Transfer Function Scorecards

Individual Y (Req) Scorecard Format,

Which Actually Depicts the Transfer Function

f(x)
 Requirement Capability Growth
Requirement Capability Grows during the Product Development Process

Verify/
Concept Design Optimize
Validate

Performance Producibility

Reqs Set in Predictions via Predictions via Verification

The 1st HoQ Design Reqs Process Cap. Test Data
R What We Think What We Think
What We Want What We Have
We Can Do We Can Make

Transfer
Functions
Two Distinct
Flow Ups Estimated Verification
During the Design Specs Process Cap. Test Data
Development r
Process What We Need What We Might Get What We Have
 Verify/ Verify that Req is within specification when all key input
requirements are within spec and validate that Req falling
Validate within specification satisfies the customer.

Tasks Example Tools Validate Outputs

 System consistently
13. Qualify equipment  Qualification studies meets customer needs
and conduct pre-  Mistake proofing
validation runs  Confirmation runs Validation
plan/reports
Qualification
14. Verify Reqs meet plan/reports
key product specs Control/Transfer Plan
for challenge  Validation studies
 Sampling plans Scorecard
conditions for key
 Hands-on-stats
Reqs

15. Validate product  Clinical Trials

meets customer  Prototype Test Drives
needs

 Control Charts
16. Finalize Control  Control Plans
Plan and Transfer  Sampling Plans
 RM Tool Assessment: our technical needs
 According to the INCOSE SW-centric assessment, no major differences are revealed
 Even if all metrics were perfect, it does not translate to our success
 Instead, an assessment of our actual TDP/PDP needs follows:
Imp. DOORS ReqPro COCKPIT
Textual Requirement/Specification Definition 100 10 8 10
Textual Validation Tests 70 10 8 10
Complete PDP Trace Matrices 100 6 5 10
Market data analysis (Segmentation, KJ, etc.) 80 3 3 7
VOC/VOB/VOT/VOR assessment and prioritization 80 2 2 7
Critical Parameter identification through HOQ & Hazard Analyses 90 0* 0* 8
Design Concept Exploration and Selection (Pugh/Kano) 50 0* 0* 8
System Tree / Functional Tree / Risk Tree Creation and Linkage 100 0* 0* 9
Bottoms-up FMEA, Mitigation, and Control Plan Management 80 0* 0* 7
1st Eng. Principle Computation and Transfer Functions 60 0* 0* 10
Critical Parameter Flow-down and Design Prediction Flow-up 90 0* 0* 10
Statistical Variation Target Assessment / Scorecard Reporting 60 0* 0* 9
Design of Experiments and Test Management 90 5 5 7
Product Cost Estimation and Initiative Management 80 0* 0* 8

* function not supported 3180 2710 9710

 Details of the INCOSE Tools Vendor Survey

You can download the INCOSE Excel sheet with vendor responses at:

http://www.incose.org/ProductsPubs/products/rmsurvey.aspx
 RM Tool Assessment: will our engineers use it?
 Ease of use, ease of adoption, ease of support, etc. are vital to a successful
deployment of RM. Here are the key metrics reviewed:

Imp. DOORS ReqPro COCKPIT

Intuitive user interface for easy adoption by all project personnel 100 4 5 9

100% Browser based for easy deployment and IT support 90 2 2 10

Ease of Customization to Meet our SOP Template Deliverables 100 2 1 10

Online tutorials and ease of casual use for “non systems engineers” 80 4 2 8

Ease of integration with CAD, patent search, PLM/PDM, 70 2 1 9

1240 1010 4070

Cockpit scores highest for usability by “non experts”

Next, an overview of Cockpit

 Active Requirements Management with
Cognition Cockpit Version 5.1

 Who is Cognition
 How does Cockpit support Active Requirements Management
 Some details about licenses and IT
 Cognition History

 Cognition has been offering tools and services for

product development for 10 years
 Cognition has two products:
• Cognition Cockpit (covered in this slide set)
• Enterprise Cost Management
 Products are integrated to provide a tool for complete
management of product performance and cost
 We are successful is because we provide engineers
with collaborative solutions to problems they face every
day, without adding overhead and additional time
burdens to already heavy demands.
 Typical Early Stages of a
Product Development Process (PDP)

Typical Process
 Is the PDP delivering success?

 Data still shows launch issues from missed requirements:

 Their PDP is designed to prevent problems.

Engineering Budget

Cumulative Engineering Investment

Project Hours reported per month

Post Launch

“Firefighting”
Product Design
Are companies meeting product requirements?

 The Aberdeen Group, reports frequency of missed targets:

Are companies meeting revenue and cost targets?

 Missed revenue and cost targets are also reported:

What are the implications of missed product requirements?

 The negative results of their issues are seen in the news:

What are the implications of missed product requirements?

 The negative results of their issues are seen in the news:

What are the implications of missed product requirements?

 The negative results of their issues are seen in the news:

Are companies improving yet – is a good PDP helping?

 Analysts report that despite investments, meeting targets is the

same or worse compared to previous years:
 So, what is the problem?

 Analysts are independently

forming a strong opinion:
 The PDP is fine.
 The problem is PDP
execution.
 Teams find many steps
stifling,
labor intensive and skip
them.
 Engineers often have no
integrated functional
model with all product
requirements.
 How can the Cockpit help?

 Why is PDP execution a problem?

 Too complex
 Tools are too hard to use
 No common data framework or functional model for all product data

 How can we improve it?

 Need something engineers will want to use
 The engineer needs to feel the process and tools help make their job easier
 The tools used by the engineer need to link all parts of the product development
data together into a complete functional model
 Customer voices
 Hardware requirements
 Software requirements
 Product performance modeling results for critical parameters
 Cost Management
 Failure modes and risks
 Verification, Validation and test data
 How does the Cockpit help?
The Cockpit enables collaboration for the entire product
development process using a web based easy to use interface.
 The Cockpit manages the total PDP
The Cockpit now enables collaboration for the entire product development
process using a web based easy to use interface.
All Cockpit access is through Internet Explorer

Web address for the Cockpit

1

Enter your username and

password from your
corporate LDAP server

2 Click here for browser check

Confirms your IE configuration is
correct for the Cockpit
Customer Customizable Interface

• Customizable interface for reports, views, read-only, etc.

• Custom user defined attributes at any level
 Document Management

• Acts as a web based corporate shared drive

• Automatically generates documents based on current project data
• All documents have full versioning and access control
Full version and configuration control for all project data

• Each project can have as many frozen versions as desired

• Each individual item (VOC, requirement, risk) is separately versioned
• Details of changes available for entire project or any item
Customizable activity templates to match your PDP

• Cognition provides many sets of templates out of the box

• Templates are easily modified by you to match your PDP process
• Templates provide access to all Cockpit features and reports
Needs/Voice collection capabilities

• Word templates for automatic interview & survey imports

• Interview & Survey results summary automatically generated
• KJ Analysis to organize raw voice inputs
• Affinity diagrams with red and blue groupings sort inputs
 Needs/Voice collection capabilities

• Prioritize all of your voices for translation into requirement

(Voice of Customer, Voice of Business, Voice of Regulatory, etc.)
 House of Quality / QFD

• Document based HOQ reports at all levels of the product structure

• Organized by product subsystems, category, BOM, etc.
Requirements / Critical Parameter Management

• Support all types of product requirements, use cases, features, etc.

• Track actual numerical values including nominal and variation
Scorecard reports at all levels of your system
Risk Management / FMEA
V&V / Test Management
Instant traceability throughout all levels of your system
Cockpit is integrated with the following tools

 Out of the box, Cockpit works with:

 MS Word
 MS Excel
 MS Powerpoint
 MS Internet Explorer
 Firefox (with IE Tab add on)
 Crystal Ball
 @Risk
 Matlab
 Enventive
 SMTP Mail Servers

 More tools can be custom connected at any time

 com, ole, corba, odbc, java, html, xml, api’s…
Licensing, Support, Maintenance, Training

 Cockpit is a web 2.0 application so users only need Internet

Explorer to log in
 Cockpit is available as a perpetual(permanent) license with
annual maintenance or as a subscription(annual fee) license
 Cognition provides full customer support via phone, email, fax,
live web/support sessions and in person. Cognition has offices
in Boston, MA, Paris, and Birmingham, UK
 Annual maintenance & technical support are included with
perpetual licenses and with subscription licenses
 Cockpit training is available at any Cognition location, at your
location, and via live web session training classes.
 Basic user training is 2 days
 Advanced(lead user/admin) training is 4 days
 Cockpit uses the Object Store database on it server which is the
database used by Amazon.com and many others