CONTACT collaborates with Virtual Vehicle Research Centre in Graz

Joint project with focus on requirements management

Bremen, 25 May 2011 – CONTACT Software, a leading provider of collaborative product development, product data and product lifecycle management (PDM/PLM) solutions has intensified its cooperation with the Virtual Vehicle Research Centre (ViF). In April, a joint project on the topic of digital requirements management was launched; based on the extensive knowledge that the Graz-based researchers have in this field. The aim of the project is to develop the groundwork for a requirements management system that will prove successful as a result of its particularly intuitive operation. It should systematise the initial determination of future product characteristics and the weighting of the relevant requirements, as well as transparently support and document the monitoring and maintenance of these requirements during the product development process.

Today, the incorporation, evaluation and processing of requirements often occur rather informally, because the use of existing PDM/PLM solutions is considered to be too complex, laborious and time-consuming. "A product's lack of usability represents an acceptance hurdle for many people, hence why this aspect is so important to us", explains Dr. Jan Kickstein, Head of Applications Development at CONTACT. "We want to devise a requirements management system that provides both the users and the company with obvious benefits". In cooperation with the ViF, a process and data model for the structured and systematic creation and implementation of requirements is currently being evaluated with corresponding use cases. These results will be channeled into the development of an intuitive solution that supports all of the tasks and activities associated with requirements management.

Such activities include the management of various requirements documents (Word, Excel, XML etc.) relating to products or development projects, the evaluation and selection of the required product characteristics and, last but not least, the documentation of changing requirements. All of this is combined with an efficient reporting function, whereby the degree of performance of the individual requirements, any project issues and the effect of changes etc. are analysed and evaluated for the project management team. The underlying data model should represent the allocation of the requirements in terms of the product properties (systems, functions, components) and render it possible for users to view the requirements structure with respect to specific areas and in varying levels of detail.

Based in Graz, Austria, the Virtual Vehicle Research Centre (ViF) is an international institution that specialises in developing application-orientated methods for the area of vehicle development and that has positioned itself as an active link between the fields of industry and science. In cooperation with a constantly growing network of well-known industry partners and renowned research and university institutions, the centre is able to carry out several challenging R&D projects. The institution predominantly focuses its research activities on the area of virtual vehicle development. "ViF stands out for the fact that we are frequently able to channel the results of our research into the development of a concrete application", says Dr. Michael Schmeja, the ViF representative responsible for overseeing the project with CONTACT Software.