Popular industry terms frequently lose their exact definitions over time. Specific, niche technical concepts are often hijacked or coined by software providers to fit their own use cases, creating widespread confusion. Our new ‘frequently asked questions’ blog series tackles these issues. We spoke to our experts and addressed common misunderstandings to provide clear, actionable insights.

In this blog, we will clarify the critical relationships between Object Type Libraries (OTL), and a Requirements Library. Both within the context of Systems Engineering. 

You can catch up on part one of this blog series here. Part three of this blog post will be shared next month. Make sure you keep an eye on our LinkedIn when we share it!

What is the relationship between an OTL and a Requirements Library?

An OTL and a Requirements Library are fully independent systems. Each one works on its own. But when used together, they unlock something far more efficient. An OTL can be used in relation to a Requirements Library to find the subjects of requirements. This offers faster navigation, smarter reuse, and less time lost in documentation.

In Systems Engineering, defining what a project must comply with often means revisiting the same standards, guidelines, and best practices repeatedly. That’s how Requirements Management is a part of Systems Engineering. 

To handle this efficiently, frequently reused standards and best practices are broken into small, reusable digital pieces and stored in requirements libraries. These libraries enable software applications to automatically pull relevant information, saving significant time across large projects. These can be considered ‘digital requirements libraries’. Every requirement has a subject. Take this example: “The cladding must be fire-resistant at 1000 degrees Celsius.” The cladding is the subject of that requirement.

However, it is important to note that a list of subjects pulled from a Requirements Library is not the same as an OTL. Those subjects carry meaning only within the context of that specific library.

The relationship between an OTL and a Requirements Library can be used for navigation in software. In this case, requirements are related to an OTL, whether or not via their subjects. When an application user then wants to quickly see which requirements apply to ‘upholstery’ or similar concepts, the software can display this collection of requirements.

This is precisely what makes the navigation use case work. By mapping requirements to OTL concepts, software can retrieve and present requirements across libraries in a consistent way, regardless of how each library internally defines its subjects.

In Summary

An OTL and a Requirements Library are not the same thing, and they do not need to be. They are independent systems built for different purposes, and that independence is precisely what makes their combination powerful.

Here are the key takeaways!

• An OTL and a Requirements Library are fully independent systems, each functioning on its own without the other.
• A list of subjects extracted from a Requirements Library is not an OTL. Those subjects only carry meaning within the context of that specific library.
• When requirements are mapped to OTL concepts, software can navigate and retrieve relevant requirements consistently across libraries.

To get the most out of this relationship, both systems must be maintained as separate, well-structured data products, with clear agreements on how they connect.

Come back next time, when we will answer: ‘How do digital libraries relate to applications?’.

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