Using a formal requirements management tool for system engineering: first results at ESO

The attention to proper requirement analysis and maintenance is growing in modern astronomical undertakings. The increasing degree of complexity that current and future generations of projects have reached requires substantial system engineering efforts and the usage of all available technology to keep project development under control. One such technology is a tool which helps managing relationships between deliverables at various development stages, and across functional subsystems and disciplines as different as software, mechanics, optics and electronics. The immediate benefits are traceability and the possibility to do impact analysis. An industrially proven tool for requirements management is presented together with the first results across some projects at ESO and a cost/benefit analysis of its usage. Experience gathered so far shows that the extensibility and configurability of the tool from one hand, and integration with common documentation formats and standards on the other, make it appear as a promising solution for even small scale system development.