Integrated Framework for Engineering Decision Support (I-FEDS)

The goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate an innovative process-driven approach for information integrated management of the Product Realization Process (PRP). The product of this research, the Integrated Framework for Engineering Decision Support (I-FEDS) will support multi-disciplinary, distributed design teams through the collaborative PRP decision making process. The Phase I project objectives are 1) establish I-FEDS requirements, 2) develop design rationale management mechanisms, 3) design I-FEDS architecture, 4) develop I-FEDS demonstration prototype, and 5) develop Phase II plan. The Phase I activities will focus on the development of a design rationale management tool with automated support for design rationale recovery from workflow process execution status data. Anticipated I-FEDS end-users include i) PRP and product design process managers, and ii) product designers and engineers working in distributed collaborative teams. The innovations from this research will be rapidly transitioned to the DoD and industry in Phase I and Phase II. I-FEDS benefits i) reduced product/system life cycle costs, ii) reduced design and product realization times, and iii) higher quality designs because of superior design rationale management support.