Development support system
First Claim
1. A development support system for supporting product development activities of a plurality of members participating in a product development project for developing a new product, comprising:
- model storage means for storing product models, resource models to be used for product development, and product development activity models;
target storage means for storing general and individual target values for the cost and the performance of said product, and development schedules;
estimating means for estimating the cost, the performance, and the progress of development schedules on the basis of models stored in the model storage means;
reference support means for supporting members of a development project team to make reference to the stored models and target values and the estimated data of progress;
model change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the stored models; and
notifying means for deciding whether or not the estimated data of progress meet the corresponding target values when the models are changed or particularized and, at least when the estimated data of progress do not meet the corresponding target values, notifying the members to the effect that the estimated data of progress do not meet the corresponding target values,wherein each product development activity model is a graphic representation describing, in connection with a precedence relation between development activity units, a name for each development activity unit, restrictions on each development activity unit, the resource models to be used by each development activity unit, the product models to which each development activity unit makes reference, and product models showing the results of each development activity unit.
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Abstract
A development support system for supporting new product development activities including designing, manufacturing experimental models and testing the functions of the experimental models and for providing an environment for the cooperative activities of a plurality of members of a development project team has a model storage for storing product models, resource models of resources to be used for product development and product development activity models; a target storage for storing target values of schedules of product development, and the cost and the performance of the product; an estimating unit for estimating schedules of product development and the cost and the performance of the product on the basis of the models stored in the model storage; a support unit for support the operations of the members of the development project team for making reference to the models, the target values and the estimated values, and changing and particularizing the models, the target values and the estimated values; a notifying unit for deciding, when each model is changed or particularized, whether or not the estimated values meet the corresponding target values and, when the estimated values do not meet the corresponding target values, for notifying the members of the development project team to that effects; and a unit for monitoring electronic mail necessary for carrying out tasks essential to the development of the product, extracting information relating to the progress of tasks essential to carrying out the development of the product, and providing the members of the development project team with information about the progress of the tasks.
140 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A development support system for supporting product development activities of a plurality of members participating in a product development project for developing a new product, comprising:
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model storage means for storing product models, resource models to be used for product development, and product development activity models; target storage means for storing general and individual target values for the cost and the performance of said product, and development schedules; estimating means for estimating the cost, the performance, and the progress of development schedules on the basis of models stored in the model storage means; reference support means for supporting members of a development project team to make reference to the stored models and target values and the estimated data of progress; model change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the stored models; and notifying means for deciding whether or not the estimated data of progress meet the corresponding target values when the models are changed or particularized and, at least when the estimated data of progress do not meet the corresponding target values, notifying the members to the effect that the estimated data of progress do not meet the corresponding target values, wherein each product development activity model is a graphic representation describing, in connection with a precedence relation between development activity units, a name for each development activity unit, restrictions on each development activity unit, the resource models to be used by each development activity unit, the product models to which each development activity unit makes reference, and product models showing the results of each development activity unit. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A development support system for supporting product development activities of a plurality of members participating in a product development project for developing a new product, comprising:
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model storage means for storing product models, resource models to be used for product development, and product development activity models; target storage means for storing general and individual target values for the cost and the performance of said product, and development schedules; estimating means for estimating the cost, the performance, and the progress of development schedules on the basis of models stored in the model storage means; reference support means for supporting members of a development project team to make reference to the stored models and target values and the estimated data of progress; model change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the stored models; notifying means for deciding whether or not the estimated data of progress meet the corresponding target values when the models are changed or particularized and, at least when the estimated data of progress do not meet the corresponding target values, a progress management item storage unit for storing progress management items serving as indices indicating the progress of development of the product; a progress management information monitoring unit for extracting information about progress management items serving as indices indicating progress of development of the product from electrical information sent through development information networks by the plurality of members of the product development project team; a progress management information storage unit for storing the extracted information extracted by the progress management information monitoring unit as progress management information; and a progress management information reference unit for enabling the members of the development project team to make reference to progress management information stored in the progress management information storage unit. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A development support system for supporting product development activities of a plurality of members participating in a product development project for developing a new product, comprising:
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model storage means for storing product models, resource models to be used for product development, and product development activity models; target storage means for storing general and individual target values for the cost and the Performance of said product, and development schedules; estimating means for estimating the cost, the performance, and the progress of development schedules on the basis of models stored in the model storage means; reference support means for supporting members of a development project team to make reference to the stored models and target values and the estimated data of progress; model chance and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development Project team for operations to change and particularize the stored models; notifying means for deciding whether or not the estimated data of progress meet the corresponding target values when the models are changed or particularized and, at least when the estimated data of progress do not meet the corresponding target values, notifying the members to the effect that the estimated data of progress do not meet the corresponding target values, a progress management item storage unit for providing a plurality of items corresponding to a plurality of calculation processes and storing at least one of the plurality of items as a management item relating to development of the product, to monitor and extract automatically product development activity models, a cost and a performance of the product and target development schedules among the contents of electronic communications exchanged between the plurality of members of the development project team; a progress management information monitoring unit for extracting information about management items from information included in at least a calculation process instruction given to a predetermined computer for each of a plurality of calculation processes or an output of the predetermined computer; a progress management information storage unit for storing extracted information; and a progress management information reference unit for making reference to information stored in the progress management information storage unit.
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12. A development support system for supporting product development activities of a plurality of members of a development project team, comprising:
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model storage means for storing product models, resource models to be used for product development, and product development activity models; target storage means for storing general and individual target values for the cost and the performance of said product, and development schedules; estimating means for estimating the cost, the performance, and the progress of development schedules on the basis of models stored in the model storage means; reference support means for supporting members of the development project team to make reference to the stored models and target values and the estimated data of progress; model change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the stored models; target change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the target values; and notifying means for evaluating the consistency of the general target value and the individual target values with each other when the target values are changed or particularized and, at least when the general target value and the individual target values are inconsistent with each other, notifying the members to that effect, wherein each product development activity model is a graphic representation describing, in connection with a precedence relation between development activity units, a name for each development activity unit, restrictions on each development activity unit, the resource models to be used by each development activity unit, the product models to which each development activity unit makes reference, and product models showing the results of each development activity unit. - View Dependent Claims (13)
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14. A development support system for supporting product development activities of a plurality of members of a development project team, comprising:
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model storage means for storing product models, resource models to be used for product development, and product development activity models; target storage means for storing general and individual target values for the cost and the performance of said product, and development schedules; estimating means for estimating the cost, the performance, and the progress of development schedules on the basis of models stored in the model storage means; reference support means for supporting members of the development project team to make reference to the stored models and target values and the estimated data of progress; model change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the stored models; target change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the target values; and notifying means for evaluating the consistency of the general target value and the individual target values with each other when the target values are changed or particularized and, at least when the general target value and the individual target values are inconsistent with each other, notifying the members to that effect; a progress management item storage unit for storing progress management items serving as indices indicating the progress of development of the product; a progress management information monitoring unit for extracting information about progress management items serving as indices indicating progress of development of the product from electrical information sent through development information networks by the plurality of members of the product development project team; a progress management information storage unit for storing the extracted information extracted by the progress management information monitoring unit as progress management information; and a progress management information reference unit for enabling the members of the development project team to make reference to progress management information stored in the progress management information storage unit. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A development support system for supporting product development activities of a plurality of members of a development project team, comprising:
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model storage means for storing product models, resource models to be used for product development, and product development activity models; target storage means for storing general and individual target values for the cost and the performance of said product, and development schedules; estimating means for estimating the cost, the performance, and the progress of development schedules on the basis of models stored in the model storage means; reference support means for supporting members of the development project team to make reference to the stored models and target values and the estimated data of progress; model change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the stored models; target change and particularization support means for supporting the members of the development project team for operations to change and particularize the target values; and notifying means for evaluating the consistency of the general target value and the individual target values with each other when the target values are changed or particularized and, at least when the general target value and the individual target values are inconsistent with each other, notifying the members to that effect, a progress management item storage unit for providing a plurality of items corresponding to a plurality of calculation processes and storing at least one of the plurality of items as a management item relating to development of the product, to monitor and extract automatically product development activity models, a cost and a performance of the product and target development schedules among the contents of electronic communications exchanged between the plurality of members of the development project team; a progress management information monitoring unit for extracting information about management items from information included in at least a calculation process instruction given to a predetermined computer for each of a plurality of calculation processes or an output of the predetermined computer; a progress management information storage unit for storing extracted information; and a progress management information reference unit for making reference to information stored in the progress management information storage unit.
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23. A development support system comprising:
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a plurality of terminals; and analysis equipment connected to said plurality of terminals, said analysis equipment having first storage means for storing work information of a product output from said plurality of terminals, second storage means for storing of target values for at least one cost and development schedules of the product, estimating means for estimating at least one of cost and development schedules of the product based on the work information, judging means for judging whether or not the at least one of estimated cost and development schedules of the product estimated by said estimating means meet, respectively, said target values for at least one of the cost and development schedules of the product, and notifying means for notifying the terminals when at least one of the estimated cost and development schedules does not meet, respectively, said target values for at least one of the cost and development schedules of the product. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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Specification