Achieving Full Test Traceability and Customized Reporting in PTC Windchill RV&S

SPK conducted an onsite workshop held at this company’s main US facility to review their existing and desired processes.  While their current processes weren’t bad, they could be improved. The development organization follows a V‑model development lifecycle, with three development phases (P0, P1, and P3) and three levels of engineering prototypes.  These prototypes were separated into ones for feasibility evaluation, ones for reliability and performance evaluation, and the last level for validation of the robustness of the design.  During a given development phase, more than one prototype may be developed. 

The team at the one of their facilities identified that a different division based in Europe, had been using a Windchill RV&S-based solution since 2016 to manage the development of these product designs. While this showed success for Windchill RV&S in manufacturing settings, this business unit desired their own solution. This solution had to be optimized for how they work, as they did not want to adopt exactly what the European division had been using.  SPK needed to take both organizations’ inputs into consideration when creating the architecture for the design controls solution.

Using an Agile methodology, SPK implemented a customized Windchill RV&S solution in several blocs, with the initial blocs focusing on Requirements Management & Systems Engineering.  Subsequent blocs added software development processes (including agile project management), Risk Management processes, and Test Management processes. 

Results

Prior to our implementation of PTC Windchill RV&S, this manufacturing company had no method for data visualization and was using manual data entry methods. Windchill RV&S offers reports and dashboards that provide the desired data visualization. Additionally, transitioning engineers from working in spreadsheets to working in RV&S has improved productivity by over 30%. Furthermore, the company has consolidated several separate systems into RV&S which has resulted in improved collaboration and fostered reuse between engineering teams. 

The PTC RV&S solution also offers full traceability from requirements through test verification/validation. Out-of-the-Box PTC Windchill RV&S configurable reports are available with the option of extending with SPK’s One-Click Traceability EngineTM. Furthermore, SPK was able to expedite the overall implementation and go-live process. We did this by providing a private, secure, SOC-2-compliant hosting environment for the complete PTC Windchill RV&S infrastructure. Overall, this implementation guaranteed test traceability, increased productivity, and ensured compliance.