Requirements Elicitation for an Assistance System for Complexity Management in Product Development of SMEs during COVID-19: A Case Study

Technological progress, upcoming cyber-physical systems, and limited resources confront small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the challenge of complexity management in product development projects spanning over the entire product lifecycle. SMEs require a solution for documenting and analyz...

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Autores principales: Jan-Phillip Herrmann, Sebastian Imort, Christoph Trojanowski, Andreas Deuter
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/3015f2e41e0e48c0810daa96546b4f91
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:3015f2e41e0e48c0810daa96546b4f912021-11-25T17:17:28ZRequirements Elicitation for an Assistance System for Complexity Management in Product Development of SMEs during COVID-19: A Case Study10.3390/computers101101492073-431Xhttps://doaj.org/article/3015f2e41e0e48c0810daa96546b4f912021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2073-431X/10/11/149https://doaj.org/toc/2073-431XTechnological progress, upcoming cyber-physical systems, and limited resources confront small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the challenge of complexity management in product development projects spanning over the entire product lifecycle. SMEs require a solution for documenting and analyzing the functional relationships between multiple domains such as products, software, and processes. The German research project FuPEP “Funktionsorientiertes Komplexitätsmanagement in allen Phasen der Produktentstehung” aims to address this issue by developing an assistance system that supports product developers by visualizing functional relationships. This paper presents the methodology and results of the assistance system’s requirements elicitation with two SMEs. Conducting the elicitation during a global pandemic, we discuss its application using specific techniques in light of COVID-19. We model problems and their effects regarding complexity management in product development in a system dynamics model. The most important requirements and use cases elicited are presented, and the requirements elicitation methodology and results are discussed. Additionally, we present a multilayer software architecture design of the assistance system. Our case study suggests a relationship between fear of a missing project focus among project participants and the restriction of requirements elicitation techniques to those possible via web conferencing tools.Jan-Phillip HerrmannSebastian ImortChristoph TrojanowskiAndreas DeuterMDPI AGarticlecomplexity managementassistance systemproduct developmentsystems engineeringdesign structure matrixasset administration shellElectronic computers. Computer scienceQA75.5-76.95ENComputers, Vol 10, Iss 149, p 149 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic complexity management
assistance system
product development
systems engineering
design structure matrix
asset administration shell
Electronic computers. Computer science
QA75.5-76.95
spellingShingle complexity management
assistance system
product development
systems engineering
design structure matrix
asset administration shell
Electronic computers. Computer science
QA75.5-76.95
Jan-Phillip Herrmann
Sebastian Imort
Christoph Trojanowski
Andreas Deuter
Requirements Elicitation for an Assistance System for Complexity Management in Product Development of SMEs during COVID-19: A Case Study
description Technological progress, upcoming cyber-physical systems, and limited resources confront small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the challenge of complexity management in product development projects spanning over the entire product lifecycle. SMEs require a solution for documenting and analyzing the functional relationships between multiple domains such as products, software, and processes. The German research project FuPEP “Funktionsorientiertes Komplexitätsmanagement in allen Phasen der Produktentstehung” aims to address this issue by developing an assistance system that supports product developers by visualizing functional relationships. This paper presents the methodology and results of the assistance system’s requirements elicitation with two SMEs. Conducting the elicitation during a global pandemic, we discuss its application using specific techniques in light of COVID-19. We model problems and their effects regarding complexity management in product development in a system dynamics model. The most important requirements and use cases elicited are presented, and the requirements elicitation methodology and results are discussed. Additionally, we present a multilayer software architecture design of the assistance system. Our case study suggests a relationship between fear of a missing project focus among project participants and the restriction of requirements elicitation techniques to those possible via web conferencing tools.
format article
author Jan-Phillip Herrmann
Sebastian Imort
Christoph Trojanowski
Andreas Deuter
author_facet Jan-Phillip Herrmann
Sebastian Imort
Christoph Trojanowski
Andreas Deuter
author_sort Jan-Phillip Herrmann
title Requirements Elicitation for an Assistance System for Complexity Management in Product Development of SMEs during COVID-19: A Case Study
title_short Requirements Elicitation for an Assistance System for Complexity Management in Product Development of SMEs during COVID-19: A Case Study
title_full Requirements Elicitation for an Assistance System for Complexity Management in Product Development of SMEs during COVID-19: A Case Study
title_fullStr Requirements Elicitation for an Assistance System for Complexity Management in Product Development of SMEs during COVID-19: A Case Study
title_full_unstemmed Requirements Elicitation for an Assistance System for Complexity Management in Product Development of SMEs during COVID-19: A Case Study
title_sort requirements elicitation for an assistance system for complexity management in product development of smes during covid-19: a case study
publisher MDPI AG
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/3015f2e41e0e48c0810daa96546b4f91
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AT christophtrojanowski requirementselicitationforanassistancesystemforcomplexitymanagementinproductdevelopmentofsmesduringcovid19acasestudy
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