Analysis of the Ability of the OSLC Standard to Improve Data Traceability in System Development

The development of systems offers a particular challenge for the interoperability of different tools used by collaborating developers like requirements management, design, or simulation tools. The difficult and time-consuming process to integrate and exchange data between different systems can lead to data inconsistencies and reduced efficiency in the development process. The integration standard Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) targets the integration of engineering software applications. Its approach supports loose tool coupling, in which each application autonomously manages its own product data, while providing RESTful web services through which other applications can interact. This paper aims to analyze the suitability of OSLC as an overarching integration mechanism for the complete set of engineering artifacts created during system development. This paper presents use cases for the application of OSLC at the company MAHLE. For these use cases, the employed OSLC based toolchain is assessed. The analysis in this paper confirms that OSLC's capabilities allow users to support traceability and can support the exchange and integrate data according to the defined requirements, but it is not sufficient for sophisticated data processing functionalities, such as safety analysis or simulation. The OSLC integration does correspondingly compare favorably to integration technologies already in use regarding traceability, while transformation of data in domain specific tools is needed to achieve deeper levels of integration.