Method and apparatus for developing and checking technical configurations of a product

A method for generating an order for a vehicle on a network-based computer system including a server and a client, the server including a full configuration engine including software, a full set of option attributes, and a full set of option rules relating to each of a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:

• receiving on-line from a user on the client an identification of a desired vehicle, wherein the identification represents initial desired vehicle configuration data;
• transmitting only a limited configuration engine to the client in response to the identification, the limited configuration engine corresponding to the desired vehicle and including a limited set of option attributes of the desired vehicle and a limited set of option rules that define relationships therebetween, wherein the limited set of option attributes is a subset of the full set of option attributes and the limited set of option rules is a subset of the full set of option rules, and wherein the limited configuration engine is determined at the server based on the initial desired vehicle configuration data;
• requesting a vehicle configuration of the desired vehicle from the user, wherein selections for the limited set of option attributes of the desired vehicle are elicited from the user;
• preliminarily checking the viability of the vehicle configuration of the desired vehicle at the client, wherein the client verifies the conformity of the user selections for the limited set of option attributes with the limited set of option rules;
• receiving on-line at the server the vehicle configuration from the client subsequent to preliminarily checking the viability of the vehicle configuration;
• performing a full viability check of the vehicle configuration at the server, wherein the software of the full configuration engine verifies conformity of the user selections for the limited set of option attributes with the full set of option rules;
• sending an order report from the server to the client summarizing the vehicle configuration to the client, if the full viability check at the server is successful;
• and
• downloading to the client from the server additional option rules that are a subset of the full set of option rules and receiving from the client at the server a second vehicle configuration developed on the client and verified on the client for conformity with the additional option rules, if the full viability check at the server is not successful.

A method for generating an order for a vehicle on a network-based computer system including a server in communication with a client, the server including a full configuration engine including software, a full set of option attributes, and a full set of option rules relating to each of a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:

• receiving at the server an identification of a desired vehicle, wherein the identification represents initial desired vehicle configuration data;
• transmitting only a limited configuration engine from the server in response to the identification, the limited configuration engine corresponding to the desired vehicle and including a limited set of option attributes of the desired vehicle and a limited set of option rules that define relationships therebetween, wherein the limited set of option attributes is a subset of the full set of option attributes and the limited set of option rules is a subset of the full set of option rules, and wherein the limited configuration engine is determined at the server based on the initial desired vehicle configuration data;
• receiving at the server a vehicle configuration of the desired vehicle, including selections for the limited set of option attributes, wherein the vehicle configuration received at the server has been preliminarily checked for viability to verify the conformity of the limited set of option attributes with the limited set of option rules;
• performing a full viability check of the vehicle configuration at the server, wherein the software of the full configuration engine verifies conformity of the limited set of option attributes with the full set of option rules;
• sending an order report from the server summarizing the vehicle configuration, if the full viability check at the server is successful;
• and
• transmitting from the server additional option rules that are a subset of the full set of option rules and receiving at the server a second vehicle configuration that has been verified for conformity with the additional option rules, if the full viability check at the server is not successful.