Working with requirements

Requirements describe the product or system that the customer will buy. They communicate the customer's specifications to the various disciplines involved in the development process. To ensure that the finished product or system meets those specifications, developers follow the requirements throughout the development process. When the product conforms to all requirements, it is ready for delivery, and more importantly, it has the functions, attributes, and quality that the customer demands.

Two principles are vital:

• Requirements must be identified and developed at the project's inception. This is necessary so that any problems are revealed and understood before the actual product development begins.
• Requirements must be associated with the product design using trace links. The trace links must be maintained through all successive stages, including development, testing, and changes to drawings, parts, and assemblies.

Incorporating both principles, the Systems Engineering features of Teamcenter provide for:

• Development of requirements in the initial stage of product development.
• Early association of requirements with the functional, logical, and physical models and their individual components.
• Ongoing maintenance of requirements, each as a separate item with specific properties.

Systems Engineering extends customer involvement to all phases of the product development process. The customer can actively influence the design from requirements development and association to product testing and acceptance.