In the automotive industry, requirements management is of utmost importance. The reason for this is simple – the automotive industry has a list of very strict requirements that need to be met during the development process. In this blog post, we will discuss the basics of requirements management and how it applies specifically to the automotive industry. We will also provide a comprehensive guide on how to get started with requirements management in your own business!
Requirements Management for Automotive
Requirements management is an iterative set of activities that enables the delivery of a complete product description that meets the needs and expectations of customers and internal or external stakeholders, regarding every step which needs to be performed during the requirements development process like elicitation, evaluation, documentation, or refinement. Therefore, requirements management is an especially important topic in the automotive industry. The reason behind this is very simple – the automotive requirements management process has its own list of very strict requirements.
In order to ensure that these requirements are met, businesses need to have a solid understanding of what requirements management entails. Requirements management is the process of identifying, documenting, and tracking all project requirements. This includes both functional and non-functional requirements. Functional requirements are those that describe what the system should do, while non-functional requirements are those that describe how the system should perform.
Why is important to manage requirements?
The answer is simple – because requirements management ensures that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of what the project entails and that all requirements are accounted for. This process also helps to identify any potential risks or issues early on in the development process, which can save businesses a lot of time and money in the long run.
A requirements management system will help you to keep track of all your requirements and make sure that they are up to date. It will also ensure efficient communication between different stakeholders involved in the project so that everyone is on the same page.
The major benefits of implementing these tools include:
- Greater effectiveness in project management and adding accuracy to the project controlling.
- Increasing and maintaining traceability on all levels
- Increased efficient re-use and product-line management
- Higher ability to create baselines
- Improved knowledge of project scope to the stakeholders.
Process of Requirements Management
There are a few key steps involved in effective requirements management. The first is elicitation, which is the process of gathering requirements from stakeholders. This can be done through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and other methods.
- Requirements Elicitation – This is the process of reviewing, documenting, and understanding the stakeholders and user needs and constraints for the season. Users need domain information, existing system information, regulations, standards, etc. Based on this information, we elicitate the requirements. After this, we move to requirements analysis and negotiation.
- Requirements Analysis and Negotiation – Analysis is the process of refining the user needs and constraints on the basis of gathered and elicitated information. Then, we move to the documentation activity.
- Requirements Documentation/Specification – after getting the requirement specifications, we move to the documentation part. We document the user needs and constraints clearly and precisely.
- Requirements Validation – finally, in the validation activity, we insert that the season requirements are complete, concise, and clear.
After all these steps are completed, traceability is established among the gathered requirements and the requirements need to be refined as needed throughout the project.
How to get started with Requirements Management for Automotive?
Now that we have a better understanding of what requirements management is and why it is important, let’s discuss how to get started with this process in your own business. The first step is to gather all relevant stakeholders and agree on what the project scope entails. Once you have done this, you will need to create a requirements document that outlines all functional and non-functional requirements. This document should be reviewed and approved by all stakeholders before work on the project begins.
Once you have your requirements document, you will need to create a system for tracking and managing all requirements throughout the development process. There are many different tools and software applications that can be used for this purpose. However, it is important to choose a user-friendly tool that will meet the specific needs of your business.
Finally, it is important to keep in mind that requirements management is an iterative process. As such, it is important to periodically review and update your requirements document as needed. This will ensure that your project always meets the latest customer or stakeholder needs.
Challenges with Automotive Requirements Management
While requirements management is a critical part of any successful project, it can also be one of the most challenging aspects to get right. This is especially true in the automotive industry where there are a multitude of stakeholders involved and a wide variety of requirements that need to be met.
One of the biggest challenges is maintaining compliance with all relevant regulations. The automotive industry is highly regulated, and there are a number of standards that must be met in order to sell products in this market. Some of the most important standards include ASPICE, ISO 26262, and ISO 21434. This can make it difficult to keep track of all requirements and ensure that they are being met.
Other challenges with automotive requirements management are ensuring that all stakeholders are on board with the process. This includes getting buy-in from upper management, as well as agreement from suppliers, customers, and other partners. Another challenge is ensuring that all requirements are properly documented and tracked throughout the project lifecycle. This can be a daunting task when dealing with hundreds or even thousands of individual requirements.
Visure Requirements ALM Platform
Visure is one of the most trusted modern ALM platforms that specialize in requirements management for organizations of all sizes across the globe. Visure is one of the best automotive requirements management tools in the market. The company integrates through the whole ALM processes including risk management, issue and defect tracking, traceability management, change management, and various other areas like quality analysis, requirements versioning, and powerful reporting. Visure’s major clients from the automotive industry include Audi, Honda, Bosch, Saab, and Husqvarna.
Visure’s top features include:
- Standards & Compliances – Visure helps with compliance with various important standards of the automotive industry including ISO-26262, and ISO 21434. Moreover, Visure also supports ASPICE compliance, CMMI, and FMEA as well.
- Traceability – Visure also helps you in maintaining full traceability between your system and all the software requirements, risks, tests, and other artifacts. Furthermore, Visure assists you in generating full traceability reports as well.
- Multi-tier Collaboration – Visure supports XML-based standards, like ReqIF and XRI, that help you in exchanging requirements between various different customers and suppliers.
- Security – Visure ensures proper security of information and requirements. The tool does this through its rigorous access policy where only certain people can access the artifacts even at the elementary level.
- Quality Analysis – Visure’s Quality Analyzer allows you to perform semantic analysis of the requirements to identify the quality of the requirements. Therefore, if the requirements are low quality, the tool will automatically flag them with ambiguity or inconsistencies.
- Version Control – Visure supports robust versioning control which allows you to completely re-trace all the versions of requirements in the project. It is an essential feature for any company as it helps the development team keep track of all the changes that are made over time.
- Data Models – Visure supports many development processes like Agile, V-model, etc. At Visure, we ensure to analyze the specific problems that are inherent in business models and provide a solutional data model for each specific need. These data models are customizable to relate to the client’s internal processes and can be enforced as required.
Conclusion
Automotive requirements management is a critical process for the development of automotive products. The importance of requirements management in the automotive market cannot be overstated, as it ensures that all stakeholders are aligned and working towards a common goal. Implementing a Requirements Management (RM) platform can help your organization effectively manage automotive development projects. Visure Requirements ALM Platform is a leading Requirements Management solution that has been used by many organizations to successfully manage automotive development projects. Request a free 30-day trial at Visure Requirements ALM Platform today to see how our solution can help you achieve success with your automotive development projects.
