ABSTRACT
Most of the existing methods of computational requirement traceability rely on sequential or ad hoc processes. Such processes force the designers to either juggle the requirement information among many applications, or customize generic applications, such as databases or spreadsheets, to fit their needs. This chapter presents a framework for computational hybrid assistance for requirement management (CHARM) to integrate requirement traceability with a building product data model for design exploration during the early phases of design. Classification of requirements enforce a type based structure on the data, hence facilitates the treatment of commonalities between several requirements. In CHARM, traceability between requirements and designs is achieved by linking a local requirement structure of a project to a corresponding design solution represented in a building product data model. CHARM handles the requirement data within a cyclic graph which can be extended to support user defined relationships.
