What if you could save 90% of the time it takes for your engineers to identify and extract requirements?
Manually managing requirements is tedious, time-consuming and, simply put, not the best use of an engineer’s time. An engineer at a US aerospace engineering service provider told us that during requirements identification and extraction, he spends five minutes per requirement on average. With more than 13,000 requirements to manage for a single project, that adds up to more than 1,000 hours – almost half the time in a work year, and likely far more time than he realized he was dedicating to requirements alone.
Intelligent, automated requirements management tools streamline this process, saving time and reducing the risk of costly errors by ensuring clarity, traceability and accuracy.
In this blog post, we’ll explore:
- The hidden risks of manual requirements extraction and how it can lead to errors, delays and engineering failures
- The complexity of navigating standards and requirements in the energy and aerospace & defense industries
- How requirements management tools simplify processes, reduce risk and ultimately save your organization time and money
The Hidden Risks of Manual Requirements Extraction
Extracting requirements by copying and pasting, taking screenshots or typing them into PLM, RMS, CAD, and ERP systems is rife with errors. Standards and codes are inherently wordy, complex documents. When an engineer is trying to decompose hundreds or thousands of requirements, some of those “shall” statements could easily be missed or misinterpreted. A single typo or missed word could completely alter the meaning of a requirement. Misinterpreted requirements could lead to inoperable products, recalls or catastrophic failures.
“It’s a huge risk if we don’t manage this information correctly,” said Chris Burrows, Rolls Royce standards engineer, in an Accuris webinar. “Being able to extract information, store it as a single source of truth and then consume it in internal documentation and executive systems is where we want to be. We need to make sure we don’t misinterpret information and that we remove the chance of errors being picked up. We’ve all been shown catastrophic failure from misinterpretation or the use of wrong information. For us to be able to get over these challenges adds to the inherent safety of products.”
Manual requirements extraction and usage can also remove the connection to the source material and broader context when using a particular requirement – limiting the ability for another team member to understand the basis of engineering decisions, and propagating errors across the engineering lifecycle.
Tackling Complex Requirements in Engineering Standards
Properly managing requirements in heavily regulated industries like energy and aerospace & defense is critical. In each sector, the ramifications of failing to meet requirements can be dangerous or deadly. For example, improperly designed aerospace products could result in catastrophic failures on a commercial aircraft, and malfunctions in oil and gas drilling projects could lead to injuries or environmental disasters. However, in both sectors, requirements can be difficult to manage and interpret.
Managing ambiguous standards and requirements
The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) acknowledges the challenges with requirements and calls on the industry to reduce ambiguity in requirements. Their Report 604: Guidance on Requirement Development provides definitions and strategies for writing clear requirements.
Here is an example of a poorly written requirement from the report:
“Vent shall have a filter against airborne foreign matter and terminate in downward facing opening.”
The example actually contains two requirements:
1) Vent shall have a filter against airborne foreign matter.
2) Vent shall terminate in downward facing opening.
A busy engineer dealing with thousands of requirements might miss the second requirement, while a requirements extraction tool using natural language processing will identify it.
Navigating complex requirements in U.S. government contracts
Quality is paramount in the aerospace & defense sector, particularly for companies working with the U.S. government and military. When government contractors win a bid, they need to quickly identify requirements from the project specifications – often a combination of Mil Specs, industry standards and government regulations. In many cases, companies will also need to compare these requirements to their own internal requirements.
Manually extracting these requirements can quickly become a tremendous task. A requirements digitization and extraction tool can ease the burden by automatically digitizing, identifying, and extracting requirements. Such a tool would also allow engineers to compare requirements from military and industry standards to their company’s internal standards, reducing the ambiguity in project workflows. Engineers can then digitally thread requirements throughout the entire engineering lifecycle, ensuring clarity and consistency for all stakeholders.
The True Costs of Manual Requirements Extraction and Usage
Manually extracting and using requirements may seem feasible at first, but the hidden costs can quickly add up. From wasted engineering hours to project delays, errors and compliance risks, relying on an outdated process can quickly drain millions from your bottom line.
Here’s how this manual process is holding your business back and costing you far more than you may realize:
- Inefficient – manual processes waste your engineers’ valuable time and can lengthen project timelines
- Lack of traceability – without a digital thread to the original source material, engineers are left to guess how a decision was made around requirements, limiting communication and knowledge sharing with upstream and downstream teams
- Increased risk of errors in implementing incorrect requirements – leading to the risk of recalls, legal issues and catastrophic failures
- Keeps your company in the analog age – future-proof your business by becoming a digitally connected model-based enterprise
Introducing Accuris Thread™
Accuris Thread is a new solution that seamlessly extracts and connects requirements into model-based engineering workflows. It is the genesis of the digital thread, connecting data and models across the entire engineering lifecycle. Accuris Thread provides insights to your engineers, empowering them to make data-driven decisions, accelerate innovation and reduce costs, empowering them to make data-driven decisions, accelerate innovation and reduce costs.
Are you ready to power progress through seamless digital threading? Learn more about Accuris Thread today.