Supporting decision making and requirements evaluation with knowledge search and problem solving

In the last years, several methodologies have been developed to organize and rank product requirements in order to plan a reliable innovation strategy. The main difficulties of these methodologies are the transformation of customers’ needs in technical requirements, the subjectivity of the evaluation and the strong relation between requirements and the adopted technological solutions. The most structured methodologies use QFD (quality function development); sometimes in combination with other design theories. An easier and faster way is based on the evaluation of each product requirement by importance and satisfaction values. In this article, a methodology called “KOMpetitive Intelligence” is proposed to make the evaluation of importance and satisfaction a more robust and consistent process. First, knowledge of experts is integrated with knowledge extracted from patents, market analysis, scientific literature and commercial literature. Second, the generation of new alternative solutions, coming from problem solving activities, are integrated in the evaluation process. Third, decision making and the definition of an innovation strategy are supported with a concise diagram that summarizes the gathered knowledge and facilitates the assessment of each requirement. After several academic case studies, this methodology has been applied in a big multinational firm for two different products and is now on-going for the development of a third product.