A scenario-based approach for requirements management in engineering design

In engineering design, capturing customers’ requirements exactly and transforming them into design specifications are vital to designing a quality product. However, the expressions of customer requirements are normally imprecise and ambiguous due to their linguistic origins. There is still a lack of a systematic approach for elaborating these requirements and transforming them from informal to formal. Therefore, this article provides a scenario-based, systematic approach for requirements management in engineering design. The requirements management process is conceptualized as a three-phase model, and scenarios are integrated into this model for elaborating and formally representing the requirements. A case study of a soy milk maker design is also provided to demonstrate the proposed approach.