Methods for engineering change propagation analysis

The aim of the methods described in this paper are to simulate and analyse the propagation of changes in an engineering product,process and/or organisation,so that time,cost,and resources can be allocated according to the impact of the change.The paper presents advanced concepts for capturing dependencies between such viewpoints of the overall engineering system. In the proposed approach,simple Boolean dependencies and dependency strengths can be described along with types and levels of change. The objective is to define dependencies more completely by taking into account that the number and the strength of these may vary throughout the product life cycle. Case studies from the aerospace industry are being used to test the advantages and limitations of the proposed engineering change propagation analysis method