Terms management system (tms)
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorDouglas P. Rheaume
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims20
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.
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.
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.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.