TERMS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (TMS)

• US 20110213808A1
• Filed: 02/26/2010
• Published: 09/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Rheaume, Douglas P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,375,352 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/802
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems

Abstract

A method for managing technical terms and data items associated with a product design and its features and requirements. A terms management process and software tool are described which build a repository of technical terms with definitions, data items with attributes, and acronyms with meanings. The central repository can be used by anyone who needs to use or contribute to the data, thus preventing ambiguity and misunderstanding in the use of data items and terms. The process and software tool integrate with a requirements development method and tool, which ensures that all data items and terms are reviewed and approved before being used.

Claims

1. A method for managing data associated with a product design and its requirements, said method comprising:

maintaining a list of features which may be used by any product development team;

maintaining a list of software functions which have been created to support each feature;

maintaining a data dictionary containing a list of data items which may be used in all features or software functions;

maintaining a glossary of technical terms which may be used in any product design, feature development, and requirements development; and

maintaining an acronym library containing a list of acronyms which may be used in any product design, feature development, and requirements development.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising proposing a new entry for inclusion in the data dictionary, the glossary, or the acronym library, including review and approval by a team of appropriate people before the new entry can be used by others.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the list of features includes for each feature a name and description of the feature, an owning team name, and listings of software functions, sensors, and actuators used by the feature.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the list of software functions includes for each function a name and description of the function, a referencing feature name, information about memory size and execution time needed by the function, and a list of input and output data items used by the function.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the referencing feature name is selected from the list of features, and the input and output data items are selected from the data dictionary.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data dictionary includes as attributes for each data item a name and description of the data item, a data item category which identifies the data item as either constant or variable, a data item type which identifies the data item as either integer or floating decimal point, a minimum and maximum value for the data item, an indication of whether the data item is an array, an owner feature name, an owner software function name, and an owner person name.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the owner feature name is selected from the list of features, and the owner software function name is selected from the list of software functions.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the data dictionary also includes for each data item an indication of completeness of the attributes.

9. A method for managing data associated with a vehicle design and its requirements, said method comprising:

maintaining a list of features which may be used by any product development team;

maintaining a list of software functions which have been created to support each feature;

maintaining a data dictionary containing a list of data items which may be used in all features or software functions;

maintaining a glossary of technical terms which may be used in any product design, feature development, and requirements development;

maintaining an acronym library containing a list of acronyms which may be used in any product design, feature development, and requirements development; and

storing the list of features, the list of software functions, the data dictionary, the glossary, and the acronym library in a relational database on a server computer.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising proposing a new entry for inclusion in the data dictionary, the glossary, or the acronym library, including review and approval by a team of appropriate people before the new entry can be used by others.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the list of features includes for each feature a name and description of the feature, an owning team name, and listings of software functions, sensors, and actuators used by the feature.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the list of software functions includes for each function a name and description of the function, a referencing feature name, information about memory size and execution time needed by the function, and a list of input and output data items used by the function.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the referencing feature name is selected from the list of features, and the input and output data items are selected from the data dictionary.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the data dictionary includes as attributes for each data item a name and description of the data item, a data item category which identifies the data item as either constant or variable, a data item type which identifies the data item as either integer or floating decimal point, a minimum and maximum value for the data item, an indication of whether the data item is an array, an owner feature name, an owner software function name, and an owner person name.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the owner feature name is selected from the list of features, and the owner software function name is selected from the list of software functions.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the data dictionary also includes for each data item an indication of completeness of the attributes.

17. A software tool for managing data associated with a design requirement, said software tool comprising:

a list of product features residing in a database on a server computer;

a list of software functions residing in the database;

a data dictionary residing in the database, where the data dictionary contains data items and their attributes;

a glossary residing in the database, where the glossary contains terms and their definitions;

an acronym library residing in the database, where the acronym library contains acronyms and their meanings; and

templates for creating, viewing, and editing items in the list of product features, the list of software functions, the data dictionary, the glossary, and the acronym library.

18. The software tool of claim 17 wherein the list of software functions includes for each function:

a name and a description;

a feature name to which the function belongs, where the feature name is selected from the list of product features residing in the database;

a location where source code for the function can be found;

a list of input data items to the function, where the list of input data items is selected from a list of candidate input data items which is taken from the data dictionary residing in the database; and

a list of output data items from the function, where the list of output data items is selected from a list of candidate output data items which is taken from the data dictionary residing in the database.

19. The software tool of claim 18 further comprising approval templates for approving items in the list of product features, the list of software functions, the data dictionary, the glossary, and the acronym library, where approval may only be provided by users with a designated approver role in the software tool.

20. The software tool of claim 19 further comprising export utilities for exporting to a file one or more approved items from the data dictionary, the glossary, and the acronym library.