Tech Tip: Using a Hierarchical Approach for System-level Planning

Typical design flow

Architectural planning for a new product starts with some simple basic decisions like how many units or modules the product will consist of and what the basic function and interconnect of these modules will be. This task is the responsibility of the product engineering team.

An example would be a product consisting of 2 ECUs or units.

Hardware engineering owns the underlying functional definition for each unit.

Unit X	Unit Y

Design engineering is responsible for each of the Boards that the end-product requires.

This division of responsibilities and the resulting design flow is a perfect fit for a hierarchical approach using System Planner.

Designing a product in today’s world is NEVER be a serial process

Many of the tasks listed above will happen in parallel. Detail design is almost always started before all the underlying functional details are ironed out. Components and circuitry may move between boards. Loose threads do exist! Hierarchical product planning and System Planner can really help.

Stay tuned in to the Zuken Blog! There is more to come about using System Planner.