Requirements engineering:linking design and manufacturing in ICT companies

Abstract The information and communication technology (ICT) industry has expanded rapidly during the past decades and has changed in terms of frequent technology development, increase in product complexity, constant time-to-market pressures, heavy price erosion and the decrease in physical dimensions. Successful product development thus requires effective requirements engineering and acknowledging the different needs of internal and external stakeholders. A vital challenge for ICT companies is requirements for products typically changing during product development. In addition, requirements are not interpreted the same way in different parts of organisations. Today’s products being more complicated than ever, and customer segments more fragmented, requirements engineering and testing is currently a bottleneck for product development and production. In this dissertation, requirements engineering in ICT companies is studied from four complementary viewpoints – current challenges, manufacturing requirements, external requirements, and optimal acceptance limits in manufacturing. The dissertation is qualitative and inductive in nature and is based on interviewing experienced industrial managers. The study included also an element that can be seen as constructive. The researcher has analysed the obtained material and made conclusions. The main result of this dissertation can be summarised as requirements engineering having a coordinating role in complex ICT product development. In addition, this study highlights the potential of the design for excellence (DfX) concept for addressing a vast amount of requirements from numerous internal and external stakeholders. ICT companies should consider full integration of tools and databases related to requirements. Also, delaying decision-making in product development projects to a stage, where adequate amount of information is available, could help coping with changing requirements. Addressing the challenges of a large and complex organisation requires creating and documenting processes for a vast amount of issues. It may be sensible to consider the benefits of establishing a separate DfX management organisation for coordinating internal and external requirements. In addition, the managers in ICT companies should notice that in contrast to the conventional thinking, widening the manufacturing acceptance limits makes business sense in some cases

Improving high-tech product development through communication audits

Abstract Functional communication is a necessity to succeed in high technology product development where projects typically are multi-site, multi-cultural, multi-technical, and products are complex. The aim of this study is to clarify what kind of process is suitable for assessing the effectiveness of communication in high-tech product development. Based on the literature analysis, a communication audit process is constructed and tested in five product development projects of dif-ferent information and communication technology (ICT) companies. Based on test case experiences and analyses, this study proposes a streamlined communication audit process. An outcome of this paper is a streamlined communication audit process that provides benefits for companies, but does not burden the organisation unnecessarily. Managers of high-tech companies can utilise the developed process for enhancing communication in their product development

Product development drivers in literature and practice

Abstract Today’s product development must address often conflicting needs of multiple stakeholder groups. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the main product development drivers and how their importance is perceived in different types of companies and projects. This paper presents a synthesising list of main product development drivers based on literature and studies how these drivers are valued at the managerial level in NPD-intensive companies. The literature tends to give a simplified categorisation for product development drivers to fully acknowledge the complexities that product development managers face. The results of this study indicate 18 significant product development drivers, the most important ones being profitability targets, revenue targets, offering the right product mix, company brand and image, strategy and competition. However, there were big differences in driver importance for different project types and companies. Industrial managers can utilise the findings in clarifying their drivers to improve decision-making and reduce unnecessary ambiguities

Managing requirements in ICT companies

Abstract Purpose: Requirements management has become a challenge for new product development (NPD) as products are getting increasingly complicated and customer segments more fragmented. The purpose of this paper is to provide new ideas for improving requirements management in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative interview study is carried out in the ICT sector to clarify the current challenges in requirements management. The results of the interview study are analysed using a benchmark from the automotive industry. This benchmark is chosen, as the automotive industry is a developed business sector that has streamlined its business processes, including its requirements management. Findings: The paper shows how ICT can benefit from the experience of the car industry on issues such as managing customer needs throughout the NPD process, overflow of data and communicating requirements with suppliers. Research limitations/implications: Using another sector as a benchmark is not a straightforward process and results cannot be directly copied. Fresh ideas are, however, obtainable when a well‐developed benchmark is used and results are applied flexibly. Deeper analysis on individual areas indentified here might be interesting topics for further study. Practical implications: The paper shows that managers in the ICT sector should pay more attention to their requirements management and serving the needs of internal customers. The requirements management of the Japanese automotive industry is a potential source for improvement initiatives. Originality/value: The paper provides new perspectives for the requirements management of the ICT sector by benchmarking the Japanese automotive industry

Parallel product alternatives and verification and validation activities

Abstract Business environment in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector is turbulent. Requirements for products change even during new product development (NPD). Profound information during the early part of NPD is critical for success, and verification and validation activities can aid in providing this required information. Also, developing parallel technologies and product alternatives during the early NPD supports gaining this information. Although developing multiple options may seem a waste of resources, this may prove beneficial, even for small and medium sized companies, in a changing environment. This study analyses how ICT companies deal with challenges caused by technological uncertainties

Charge dynamics in quantum-circuit refrigeration:thermalization and microwave gain

Abstract Previous studies of photon-assisted tunneling through normal-metal–insulator–superconductor junctions have exhibited potential for providing a convenient tool to control the dissipation of quantum-electric circuits in situ. However, the current literature on such a quantum-circuit refrigerator (QCR) does not present a detailed description for the charge dynamics of the tunneling processes or the phase coherence of the open quantum system. Here, we derive a master equation describing both quantum-electric and charge degrees of freedom, and discover that typical experimental parameters of low temperature and yet lower charging energy yield a separation of time scales for the charge and quantum dynamics. Consequently, the minor effect of the different charge states can be taken into account by averaging over the charge distribution. We also consider applying an ac voltage to the tunnel junction, which enables control of the decay rate of a superconducting qubit over four orders of magnitude by changing the drive amplitude; we find an order-of-magnitude drop in the qubit excitation in 40 ns and a residual reset infidelity below 10⁻⁴. Furthermore, for the normal island, we consider the case of charging energy and single-particle level spacing large compared to the superconducting gap, i.e., a quantum dot. Although the decay rates arising from such a dot QCR appear low for use in qubit reset, the device can provide effective negative damping (gain) to the coupled microwave resonator. The Fano factor of such a millikelvin microwave source may be smaller than unity, with the latter value being reached close to the maximum attainable power

Managing testing activities in telecommunications:a case study

Abstract This paper examines ways of managing testing more efficiently and effectively. The importance and the workload of testing have been growing constantly in the telecommunication industry, as a result of shorter product lifecycles and decreased time-to-market. At the same time, the complexity of products has increased with a decrease in physical dimensions. Managers face enormous challenges in developing knowledge and effective testing processes. This case study proposes the application of two models, a testing optimization model and an extended V2M2 (Verification Validation Maturity Model) model, for managing the value of testing. In the empirical part of the study, the present state of testing management is examined