Editor’s Pick: Requirements, Product Record and Quality Linked

Dear DE Reader:

Stick to your knitting. Stay with the one who brung you. Both old saws could be the mantra for managing requirements for new product introductions (NPIs). But nearly half of all NPIs fail to meet success criteria by running over budget and blowing out the schedule. Often this is a requirements management process failure due to multiple teams with multiple systems and multiple data sources creating more work for each other by failing to communicate. Today's Editor's Pick of the Week seems to offer an elegant solution.

Arena Solutions just released its Summer 2018 update. An intriguing new capability is called Arena Requirements Management. Now, Arena knows their stuff. They've been providing unified cloud-based software for product lifecycle management (PLM) and quality management (QMS) since before SaaS (software as a service) became a popular acronym with hipster business types. Aside: The Arena platform has a lot more going on, but we're sticking to topic.

Anyway, that “unified” part is key. See, what makes Arena Requirements Management potentially so interesting is that it works off the Arena platform's product record, project management and quality processes. What this means for you is that your NPI requirements and all related requirements issues are connected within the context of the total product record.

Essentially, Arena Requirements Management expands the Arena platform's support for NPIs by providing you with the ability to better document, analyze, trace, prioritize and control requirement changes throughout the process. You can apply Arena Requirements Management to NPD (new product development) activities from the concept stage through manufacturing or to work done on future iterations of an existing product as well.

Still, what's neat is that Arena Requirements Management has everybody on your NPI or NPD jobs working on the same page at all times. You have one data source, one product record and one management system for all those teams slogging away to realize your new products.

This inherent cross-team transparency should mean earlier and frequent collaboration that includes the ability to make adjustments throughout the cycle that everyone hears about. The net result should be far fewer late surprises and far less budget-busting delays waiting for everyone to sort out what's what, then fixing it. Good stuff.

You can learn more about Arena Requirements Management starting with today's Editor's Pick of the Week write-up. Make sure to take in the video. You can contact Arena to arrange a demo too.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood, Editor at Large, DE