In order to create a new product, start with an existing one. The recommended practice is to branch from a product expected to be the most similar to the one you are creating. The alternative is to branch from what you consider as the base product, which shares the common core with all the other products from the family.

In order to create a new product, start with an existing one. The recommendation is to branch from a product expected to be the most similar to the one you are creating. The alternative is to branch from what you consider as the base product, which shares the common core with all the other products from the family.

Preconditions:

• Product Line contains at least one product that can be used as a starting point
• New variant requested

Postconditions:

• A new product variant established, but not yet analyzed or configured for development

Steps

1. Review the incoming request for a new variant, along with your current product line definition, which should list existing product variants.

2. Select the base product or a similar product in the product line, from which to branch the new variant. This information should be provided in the request.

Recommended Practice: reuse common assets by branching from a product closest in terms of its definition (parts that can be re-used, requirements that can be re-used, etc.) An alternative is to branch from the one product that you consider as your “base” product in your product line. You can always change the composition of the newly branched product, but you will reduce the amount of work if you branch from the most similar existing product

3. Branch a new modifiable copy of the selected source product.

a. Provide a name for the new product variant. See Naming Convention.

b. Specify Properties or Dimensions, set their values to distinguish this product variant from others in your product line.