A Case Study on Tool-Supported Multi-level Requirements Management in Complex Product Families

Abstract

[Context & Motivation] Despite numerous advancements in product family engineering over the past decade, the management of highly complex product families still remains a significant challenge. In our previous work, we presented the multi-level approach for pragmatically planning and managing variability and reuse across independent product ranges, thus avoiding the unmanageable complexity of a rigid product line infrastructure on the global level above these individual product ranges. [Question/problem] The multi-level approach has not yet been extensively validated in industry in the area of requirements management of product families. [Principal ideas/results] A major tool-supported case study from the automotive domain in the area of body comfort electronics was set up and performed in order to validate the multi-level approach for requirements management in complex product families. [Contribution] The results from the industrial case study demonstrate the applicability of the multi-level approach and emphasize its benefits in an industrial setting. Furthermore, important lessons were learned leading to numerous refinements and extensions both in concept and tool support.