In this blog, we preview a section of our recent Whitepaper – To read it in its entirety, visit “Empowering Complex Development with Responsible AI”

Empowering Complex Development with Responsible AI

Streamlining Efficiency and Compliance with Scalable Solutions

Product and system development is entering a new era, driven by AI innovation. Highly regulated industries like aerospace, automotive, medical devices, and financial services are facing unprecedented challenges such as escalating regulatory scrutiny in some cases, rising product complexity, and the relentless demand to accelerate time-to-market. Navigating these challenges requires a balance of innovation, compliance, and efficiency.

Artificial intelligence is beginning to demonstrate its potential in requirements management by automating manual processes, enhancing decision-making, and streamlining compliance. However, harnessing AI’s full potential requires a commitment to responsible AI practices, ensuring transparency, fairness, and security.

This whitepaper explores how AI is shaping the future of product development, offering insights into its applications, best practices for governance, and the role of Jama Software and AWS in delivering scalable, secure, and responsible AI solutions.

RELATED: Write Better Requirements with Jama Connect Advisor™

Today’s Systems Have Become More Complex

Systems of Systems (SoS)

• A System of Systems (SoS) is a collection of independent systems, integrated into a larger system that delivers unique capabilities
• It is difficult to produce accurate predictive models of all emergent behaviors, so global SoS performance is difficult to design
• Testing and verifying upgrades to a SoS is difficult and expensive (sometimes prohibitively) due to scale, complexity, and constant evolution

AI Applications in Complex Product Development

1. Challenges in Product Development

Complex product development demands businesses to manage an increasing number of variables, such as system interconnectivity, regulatory requirements, and shorter development
cycles. This intensifies the need for precise requirements management tools.

Modern systems, such as self-driving cars, embody system of systems architectures, integrating hardware, software, AI functionality, and cybersecurity. While this creates immense innovation opportunities, the complexity of these systems presents significant challenges:

• Predicting behaviors accurately
• Designing test frameworks for integration
• Scaling verification and validation processes efficiently

These challenges are amplified as the systems grow in complexity and sophistication. Accurately predicting behaviors becomes increasingly critical as interconnected components interact
in unpredictable ways, potentially leading to performance issues, safety concerns, or unintended outcomes. Addressing this requires advanced modeling and simulation techniques capable
of capturing the intricate relationships across subsystems.

Designing effective test frameworks for integration presents its own hurdles. Comprehensive testing must account for the diverse interfaces, software dependencies, and hardware configurations found in modern systems. Without a robust plan, teams risk delays, inefficiencies, and gaps in system validation that can lead to compliance failures or product recalls.

Scaling verification and validation processes to match the demands of high-complexity systems also requires significant innovation. Traditional, manual methods are often unable to keep pace,
resulting in slowed time-to-market and increased resource consumption. Automated solutions offer a scalable pathway, providing traceability, consistency, and efficiency needed to manage
these complex operations effectively.

Ultimately, organizations must balance innovation with rigorous oversight to address these challenges while ensuring safety, reliability, and compliance. Adopting tools designed for enhanced requirements management, streamlined traceability, and automated testing is paramount for achieving these goals in an evolving technological landscape.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: How to Select the Right Requirements Management and Traceability Solution

2. AI Solutions to the Challenges

AI-driven solutions are addressing these challenges in profound ways:

Automating Requirements Validation

• AI uses natural language processing (NLP) to verify that project requirements are complete, precise, and testable
• By identifying ambiguous requirements early, businesses reduce the risk of failures
• Automated test case generation cuts time and ensures that all requirements are tested

AI-driven solutions are fundamentally transforming the way businesses address traditional challenges in requirements management and validation. Through the use of natural language processing (NLP), AI automates the validation of project requirements by ensuring they are complete, precise, and testable. This advanced capability allows ambiguities or inconsistencies within requirements to be identified early in the development process. By addressing potential issues proactively, businesses can significantly reduce the risks associated with failures, enhancing overall project efficiency and success.

Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

• AI tools can help map requirements to stringent regulatory standards in sectors such as aerospace, defense, automotive, and medical devices
• Automated monitoring ensures continuous compliance throughout the product lifecycle, minimizing risks

Ensuring regulatory compliance is critical for organizations operating in highly regulated industries such as aerospace, defense, and medical devices. AI tools can play a pivotal role in this process by mapping requirements to stringent regulatory standards, ensuring that all necessary conditions are met without manual oversight. These tools offer automated monitoring, which enables continuous compliance throughout the product lifecycle. By reducing the likelihood of human error and streamlining the regulatory process, businesses can minimize risks and maintain adherence to evolving standards, ultimately supporting the success and longevity of their projects.

Accelerating Development Cycles

• Predictive analytics can enable immediate impact assessments of change requests, minimizing rework and speeding up delivery timelines

Predictive analytics play a crucial role in accelerating development cycles by enabling immediate impact assessments of change requests. This capability minimizes rework, allowing teams to address potential issues swiftly and efficiently. By streamlining workflows and reducing delays, organizations can significantly speed up delivery timelines, ensuring that projects are completed on schedule while maintaining high-quality standards.

Enhancing Collaboration

• Distributed teams benefit from AI-powered traceability that links requirements, tests, and design components in real time

Efficient collaboration is critical for success, especially for distributed teams. Jama Connect enhances collaboration by providing AI-powered traceability that seamlessly links requirements, tests, and design components in real time. By fostering better communication and streamlining the sharing of critical project information, Jama Connect empowers teams to work more cohesively, reducing misunderstandings and improving overall productivity.

TO READ THIS ENTIRE WHITEPAPER, VISIT: Empowering Complex Development with Responsible AI

Mergers and Acquisitions in MedTech: Positioning Your Company for Success

The MedTech Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) scene is more active than ever. As global healthcare needs grow and regulatory landscapes shift, strategic acquisitions are becoming a key route to innovation, growth, and market expansion. For emerging MedTech companies, understanding this environment and positioning themselves smartly within it can shape their future.

Recent activity shows that opportunity is abundant for companies that are prepared. Strategic buyers are on the lookout for innovative technologies, strong product pipelines, and solid regulatory foundations. But having a breakthrough product is not enough. Success in M&A hinges on preparation, documentation, and systems that can stand up to intense due diligence.

The Current M&A Landscape: A Shifting Landscape

The MedTech M&A scene has evolved dramatically over the past year, marked by fewer deals but significantly larger transactions. While deal volume dropped by over 40%, the average deal size surged to $636 million, driven by strategic acquisitions like Stryker’s $4.9B purchase of Inari Medical and Thermo Fisher’s $4.1B buyout of Solventum’s filtration business.

Strategic Focus: Bigger Bets, Sharper Targets

Major players like Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic continue to lead the charge, but their strategies are shifting. J&J, for example, has spent over $30B on acquisitions since 2022, including Shockwave Medical ($13.1B) and Abiomed ($16.6B). These deals weren’t just about scale as they targeted technologies that redefine standards of care, particularly in cardiovascular intervention.

Medtronic, meanwhile, is leaning into tuck-in acquisitions to transform slower-growth units into innovation hubs. With 11+ deals in the past five years, the company is focused on strategic adjacencies and long-term portfolio optimization.

Trends Driving the Market

• Portfolio Shifts: Companies are divesting non-core assets and doubling down on high-growth areas like robotics, diabetes, and structural heart technologies.
• Private Equity’s Role: PE firms are increasingly active, both as buyers and partners in divestitures, helping streamline portfolios and unlock value.
• Cultural Fit Matters: Executives emphasize that successful deals go beyond financials. Shared values and aligned visions for patient impact are now critical to integration success.

What Strategic Buyers Seek: The Acquisition Criteria That Matter

To attract the right buyer, emerging MedTech companies need to align with what strategic acquirers value most. Here is what consistently matters:

Technology Differentiation & Market Position

Buyers want technologies that offer real clinical advantages such as better outcomes, simpler procedures, or cost savings. Proprietary tech backed by strong patents is especially attractive.

The best targets complement the buyer’s existing portfolio and address unmet clinical needs. Think AI diagnostics that plug into existing imaging platforms or minimally invasive tools that expand surgical options.

Regulatory Clarity

A clear regulatory strategy is a major plus. Companies that have engaged with the FDA, gathered solid clinical data, and understand approval pathways stand out.

Detailed documentation like pre-submission notes, trial protocols, and quality systems reduces risk and speeds up integration. It also boosts valuation.

Commercial Potential

Buyers assess market size, competition, and go-to-market strategy. Companies with clinical relationships, distribution channels, or early traction are more appealing.

Technologies that target large markets with clear reimbursement paths, and show signs of physician adoption, are especially valuable.

Financial Performance and Scalability

Even early-stage companies need to show a viable business model. Efficient use of capital, clear milestones, and scalable operations build credibility.

Detailed financials like cost breakdowns, revenue forecasts, and funding needs help buyers model ROI and integration scenarios.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements Management and Traceability Solution for Medical Device & Life Sciences

Getting Acquisition-Ready: Preparing for Due Diligence

Due diligence represents the most critical phase of any acquisition process. Companies that invest in comprehensive documentation and systematic organization significantly improve their chances of successful transactions and favorable valuations.

Product Documentation

Keep everything up to date: design requirements, risk files, and testing protocols. Use document control systems to manage versions and changes.

Requirements management is key. Acquirers want to see how products were developed, validated, and maintained. Full traceability from concept to release builds trust.

Risk & Quality Systems

Risk documentation such as hazard analyses, mitigation controls, and post-market surveillance plans is essential. Quality systems should be fully implemented and certified (ISO 13485 is a big plus).

Design controls should be complete and easy to navigate: planning, inputs/outputs, reviews, V&V protocols, and change logs. A well-organized design and development file makes due diligence smoother and less risky.

Testing and Validation Evidence

Strong testing documentation is essential to prove your product’s safety and performance. This includes everything from software testing protocols and biocompatibility studies to electrical safety tests and clinical evaluations.

To stand out, companies should maintain:

• Detailed test plans
• Clear procedures
• Organized results

This shows a systematic approach to validating product performance. When testing documentation is thorough and easy to navigate, acquirers can quickly assess technical risks and regulatory readiness.

Validation should not stop at product launch. Ongoing monitoring, post-market studies, and performance tracking signal a commitment to continuous improvement — something buyers value highly.

RELATED: Industry-leading Practices Modernize Legacy Public Health Software System, a Deloitte Customer Story

Intellectual Property and Regulatory Assets

Your IP and regulatory documentation are more than just paperwork — they are strategic assets. Patent portfolios, FDA submissions, and clinical data all play a key role in valuation and deal structure.

To prepare:

• Keep patent files current
• Document freedom-to-operate analyses
• Develop a clear IP strategy

On the regulatory side, maintain organized records of:

• FDA correspondence
• Clinical trial data
• Post-market surveillance reports

Well-managed documentation shows a strong compliance history and gives acquirers confidence in your ability to navigate future regulatory hurdles.

How Jama Connect^® Supports M&A Readiness

Requirements management and traceability are critical for M&A success and that’s where Jama Connect shines.

The platform helps companies maintain acquisition-ready documentation throughout the product lifecycle by:

• Connecting requirements to design decisions, tests, and regulatory submissions — giving acquirers full visibility into development processes.
• Organizing documents with version control — making it easy for due diligence teams to trace product history and compliance.
• Generating detailed reports — showcasing the maturity of your quality management system and development discipline.
• Supporting collaboration across teams and locations — ensuring documentation integrity even in distributed environments.

With Jama Connect, medical device and life sciences companies can confidently present their development story and proof of compliance, a major advantage during acquisition discussions.

RELATED: Jama Connect for Medical Device & Life Sciences Development Datasheet

Building Long-Term Value Through Strategic Preparation

The MedTech M&A landscape is evolving fast. As healthcare needs grow and technologies advance, new opportunities are emerging for companies that are ready.

Success isn’t just about having a great product. It’s about:

• Operational excellence
• Regulatory sophistication
• Systematic development processes

Investing early in documentation, requirements management, and quality systems pays off. These capabilities lead to faster development, lower regulatory risk, and better product quality.

If you’re looking to strengthen your M&A readiness, start by evaluating your documentation systems. Book a demo with Jama Software to see how structured requirements management can streamline your development and boost acquisition appeal.

Note: This article was drafted with the aid of AI. Additional content, edits for accuracy, and industry expertise by Tom Rish and Decoteau Wilkerson.

An Inside Look at the Airborne Fire Control Radar Market: The Sky’s AI

These days, air superiority isn’t just about speed and firepower; it’s also about data and information. At the center of this data-driven battlespace is the Airborne Fire Control Radar (AFCR), a cutting-edge system that gives pilots unparalleled situational awareness. The AFCR systems on an aircraft act as its eyes and brain, enabling it to track, detect, and engage targets with remarkable accuracy from a considerable distance. They have a significant impact on the outcome of aerial engagements and the effectiveness of combat aircraft, making them vital to military aviation.

This blog will examine the ever-changing AFCR market. We’ll look at the current developments that are fueling its expansion, such as evolving geopolitical environments and technological advancements. The main participants in the industry, their difficulties, and the prospects for this crucial defense technology will also be discussed.

What is an Airborne Fire Control Radar?

Military fighters, bombers, and attack helicopters are the main aircraft equipped with the advanced sensor system known as an Airborne Fire Control Radar. An AFCR offers the high-resolution information required to direct weapons to a target, in contrast to conventional surveillance radar, which merely detects objects. It provides the aircraft’s fire control computer with the target’s range, altitude, speed, and trajectory. This enables the pilot or system to fire cannons or launch missiles with a high chance of hitting a target directly, even if the target is moving quickly or evasively.

It is impossible to exaggerate the significance of these systems. They enable a single aircraft to engage multiple threats at once, monitor large areas of airspace, and discriminate between friendly and hostile forces. To put it simply, an air force that has a better AFCR system has a clear combat advantage.

Current Drivers and Trends in the Market

A number of important factors are propelling the global AFCR market’s steady growth. The main drivers are global air force modernization and geopolitical tensions. Countries are investing in new-generation fighters with cutting-edge technology and updating their current fleets of aircraft with more sophisticated radar systems.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements Management and Traceability Solution for Aerospace

Developments in Technology

The primary force behind change in the AFCR market is technology. There are two noteworthy developments:

• AESA Radar Dominance: The industry standard today is Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars. Because AESA systems can electronically steer their beams, they can track multiple targets in different directions simultaneously, unlike older mechanically scanned radars. They are essential for contemporary air forces because they are more dependable, more difficult to detect, and more resilient to electronic jamming.
• AI and Cognitive Radar: “Cognitive” radars are being produced by combining machine learning and artificial intelligence. These systems have the ability to learn from their surroundings, adjust in real time to new threats, and more accurately separate targets from clutter. By lessening the pilot’s workload and accelerating decision-making, this technology has the potential to completely transform air combat.

Increasing Need for Unmanned Systems

A new area for AFCR systems has been made possible by the widespread use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones. Sophisticated, portable radars are necessary for advanced combat drones to conduct autonomous missions and surveillance. Compact and effective AFCR solutions designed for UAVs will become more and more necessary as their use in military operations grows.

Obstacles in the Market

The AFCR sector still faces many obstacles in spite of its expansion. These difficulties may affect development schedules, expenses, and the general growth of the market.

High Costs of Development and Production

The complexity of AFCR systems necessitates years of study and billions of dollars in funding. They are costly to manufacture and maintain because they require sophisticated electronics and exotic materials. The potential market size may be constrained by these exorbitant expenses, which may act as a deterrent for smaller countries seeking to update their air forces.

RELATED: Empowering Efficiency: Parry Labs Selects Jama Connect^® for Seamless Use, Unparalleled Traceability, and Streamlined Review Cycles

Tough Regulatory Obstacles

The export of sophisticated AFCR systems is strictly regulated since it is a vital military technology. To keep sensitive technology out of the wrong hands, governments enforce stringent regulations. Market expansion may be slowed by these export restrictions and international arms control laws, which can make international trade and cooperation more difficult.

Complexity of System Integration

One of the biggest engineering challenges is integrating a new radar system into an existing aircraft. Aircraft hardware types and avionics interfaces differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, creating interoperability challenges. For the radar to function flawlessly with the aircraft’s other avionics, mission computers, and weapon systems, significant hardware and software adjustments are needed. Program upgrades take longer and cost more because of this complexity.

Prospects for the Future and New Technologies

With ongoing innovation poised to unlock new capabilities, the AFCR market appears to have a bright future.

The shift to multifunction RF systems is among the most exciting developments. Future aircraft will use a single, integrated aperture that can do all of these tasks at once, rather than having distinct systems for communications, radar, and electronic warfare. This will significantly increase an aircraft’s capabilities while decreasing its size, weight, and power consumption.

The creation of distributed and networked radar is another expanding field. This idea uses real-time radar data sharing between various platforms, including fighters, drones, and satellites, to produce a single, complete image of the battlespace. This networked strategy increases the effectiveness and survivability of all friendly assets and makes it nearly impossible for an adversary to hide.

In conclusion, a market ready for innovation

A key component of the contemporary defense sector is the market for airborne fire control radars. The need for more capable and intelligent radar systems will only increase due to technological advancements and the ongoing requirement for air superiority. Despite ongoing regulatory obstacles and exorbitant costs, the industry is progressing. The sky’s eye is growing more potent than before with the introduction of AI-driven cognitive radars, multifunction systems, and networked capabilities, giving pilots the advantage they need to manage the air.

Note: This article was drafted with the aid of AI. Additional content, edits for accuracy, and industry expertise by Mario Maldari, Cary Bryczek, and Decoteau Wilkerson.

Tech Giants Turn to Nuclear Power for AI’s Energy Appetite

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing industries at breakneck speed, with UBS CIO estimating global company spending $480 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026. This technological leap comes with an enormous energy cost. As AI workloads and data centers consume unprecedented amounts of electricity, tech giants are making a bold strategic pivot toward nuclear energy partnerships to meet their growing power demands while maintaining carbon-neutral commitments.

The energy requirements for training and running AI models have reached critical levels, forcing companies to seek reliable, preferably clean, power sources that can operate around the clock. Unlike solar and wind energy, nuclear power provides consistent baseline electricity that doesn’t fluctuate with weather conditions—a crucial advantage for data centers that require uninterrupted power supply.

AI’s Explosive Energy Demands Drive Infrastructure Crisis

The computational power required for artificial intelligence applications has created an energy consumption challenge that traditional power grids struggle to accommodate. Modern AI data centers consume significantly more electricity than conventional facilities, with some requiring the equivalent power of small cities to operate effectively.

Training large language models and maintaining AI inference capabilities demand continuous, high-intensity computing power. These operations cannot afford power interruptions or fluctuations that occur with renewable energy sources dependent on weather patterns. The reliability factor makes nuclear energy an attractive solution for sustained AI operations.

Data center operators face mounting pressure to expand capacity while meeting corporate sustainability goals. This dual challenge has accelerated interest in nuclear partnerships as a viable path forward for powering next-generation computing infrastructure.

RELATED: Accelerate Nuclear Design Assessments and Reduce Certifications and Engineering Costs with Jama Connect^® for Nuclear Reactor Design & I&C Development

Nuclear Renaissance Through Advanced Reactor Development

The nuclear energy sector is experiencing renewed momentum through innovative reactor technologies designed specifically for modern energy demands. Small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced nuclear systems offer enhanced safety features, reduced construction timelines, and flexible deployment options that appeal to tech companies.

Dedicated next-generation nuclear facilities can be built closer to data centers, reducing transmission losses and improving grid reliability. Advanced reactor designs incorporate passive safety systems and simplified operations that address historical concerns about nuclear energy deployment.

Nuclear developers are actively pursuing projects that can deliver power within the next decade, aligning with tech companies’ aggressive expansion timelines. This convergence of technological advancement and market demand is creating unprecedented opportunities for SMR-powered nuclear energy growth.

Strategic Partnerships Transform Energy Landscape

Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet/Google, and Meta, which contribute most of the global spending on AI infrastructure according to UBS CIO, have emerged as leaders in forging partnerships with nuclear energy developers, recognizing that traditional renewable sources cannot fully meet their expanding cloud and AI datacenter energy requirements. These collaborations represent billions of dollars in commitments toward nuclear power development.

Amazon’s approach includes investing in SMR technology and securing long-term power purchase agreements with nuclear developers. The company’s strategy focuses on deploying nuclear power near major data center clusters to ensure reliable electricity supply for cloud computing and AI services.

Microsoft has signed a 20-year nuclear power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy that will help restart the Crane Clean Energy Center’s Three Mile Island Unit by 2028.

Alphabet/Google has announced partnerships aimed at bringing gigawatts of nuclear capacity online by 2030, emphasizing the need for carbon-free energy that operates continuously. The company’s nuclear strategy complements its existing renewable energy portfolio while addressing the specific demands of AI workloads.

Meta’s nuclear initiatives focus on securing clean energy sources that can support the company’s ambitious AI research and deployment goals. These partnerships demonstrate how social media and technology platforms are adapting their energy strategies to accommodate next-generation computing requirements.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: How to Select the Right Requirements Management and Traceability Solution

Nuclear Power’s Competitive Advantage for Data Centers

Nuclear energy offers unique advantages that align perfectly with data center operational requirements. The consistent power output eliminates concerns about energy storage systems and backup generation typically required with intermittent renewable sources.

Cost predictability represents another significant benefit, as nuclear fuel costs remain relatively stable compared to fossil fuel price volatility. Long-term power purchase agreements with nuclear facilities provide tech companies with budget certainty for their expanding operations.

The carbon-neutral profile of nuclear energy helps tech giants achieve environmental commitments without compromising operational reliability. This combination of sustainability and dependability positions nuclear power as an essential component of future data center strategies.

Powering Tomorrow’s Digital Infrastructure

The convergence of AI’s energy demands and nuclear power capabilities marks a transformative moment for both industries. Tech companies are demonstrating that meeting ambitious technological goals requires innovative approaches to energy procurement and infrastructure development.

These nuclear partnerships signal a fundamental shift in how major corporations approach energy planning for next-generation computing workloads. As AI continues expanding across industries, the demand for reliable, clean power will only intensify, making nuclear energy an increasingly critical component of digital infrastructure strategy.

The success of these early partnerships will influence broader industry adoption and accelerate nuclear energy development timelines. Organizations planning significant AI deployments should evaluate nuclear power options as part of their long-term energy strategies.

Note: This article was drafted with the aid of AI. Additional content, edits for accuracy, and industry expertise by Mark Levitt and Vlad Tanasescu.

In this blog, we recap “Engineering Governance:
The Engine Behind Automotive Excellence” – Click HERE to read the entire Whitepaper.

Engineering Governance: The Engine Behind Automotive Excellence

The automotive industry is a world of constant change. Engineering governance is the invisible engine that keeps everything humming smoothly.

Innovation to support AI-powered software-defined vehicles, electric and hybrid drivetrains, and sustainability initiatives are navigating where the automotive sector is going. But while technology makes headlines, what happens behind the scenes to manage the complexity of automotive development to stay on the right course is just as critical.

What Is Engineering Governance?

Engineering governance is a system of policies, processes, and standards that guides everything from vehicle design to production. It serves as the GPS for automotive engineering teams to ensure that they are building the right vehicles in the right way, so that every decision aligns with regulatory, safety, and quality standards and the broader goals of the company.  It helps with the unification of the hardware and software siloes to not only avoid defects resulting in costly recalls and accelerate product development, but also provide an holistic operational overview of the complete engineering organization reducing risks and driving efficiency.

When designing a new hybrid, for example, engineering governance ensures that the final product adheres to emissions laws, passes stringent safety tests, and meets customer expectations. It
touches every stage of a vehicle’s lifecycle — from initial design to when it rolls off the assembly line and beyond.

AI is accelerating development of systems to enhance safety, enable convenience, and make maintenance more effective. Engineering governance will ensure that concerns about cybersecurity risks and ethical decision-making are addressed. OEMs face the significant challenge of seamlessly integrating diverse software from hundreds of suppliers. Modern premium vehicles have more than 100 million lines of software code — far exceeding the 14 million lines of code in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Dealing with safe-critical, non-safe, secure, open-source, and proprietary software, each with its own requirements and standards, necessitates robust engineering governance, efficient collaboration, and cutting-edge tools to ensure that the systems coexist harmoniously.

RELATED: The Impact of ISO 26262 on Automotive Development

Why Engineering Governance Matters

For automotive companies, failure to follow strong engineering governance risks expensive recalls, lawsuits, and fines, as well as harm to customer health and property, leading to significant negative brand impact. Here’s why getting it right matters so much:

1. Ensuring Compliance with Regulations: Automotive companies operate within a tightly regulated environment. Engineering governance provides a structured approach to ensure compliance with all relevant regulations across markets where vehicles are sold.
2. Managing Risks Proactively: Helps identify and mitigate risks early before they escalate. Without comprehensive safety and quality testing, defects might surface after vehicles are delivered to customers, rather than during development when fixes are much less costly.
3. Maintaining Quality Standards: A robust framework ensures that vehicles meet or exceed performance and reliability specifications without cutting corners during design, manufacturing, or testing.  It enables a comprehensive view of all aspects of vehicle safety by unifying hardware and software development siloes.
4. Driving Innovation Responsibly: Innovation without governance can spiral into impractical or unsafe ideas. Engineering governance ensures innovation is balanced with feasibility, compliance, and cost control. Companies racing ahead with autonomous vehicle technology, for example, need engineering governance to ensure that these vehicles undergo rigorous safety tests, align with evolving regulations, and deliver innovations responsibly.
5. Achieving Sustainability Goals: Sustainability has become a business imperative for automakers in response to demands from governments and consumers. Engineering governance helps automakers achieve sustainability goals by embedding eco-friendly practices into every stage of development and production.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements Management and Traceability Solution for Automotive

Engineering Governance Scenarios

Here’s how engineering governance plays a role at every step in the development of any new vehicle or system:

1. Design Phase: Ensures vehicles comply with emissions standards and fuel efficiency standards in the United States, the European Union, and other regions.
2. Testing and Validation: Frameworks ensure rigorous testing of every component — from the engine to the suspension system and software. Engineers follow defined processes to simulate driving conditions to ensure safety and durability.
3. Supply Chain Oversight: Identifies system or parts suppliers whose products and processes meet quality and sustainability standards.
4. Post-Market Monitoring: Even after vehicles are sold, engineering governance mechanisms monitor performance through data collection to identify recurring issues and develop structured response plans to ensure quick fixes that reduce customer dissatisfaction.

For automotive executives, engineering governance is more than a technical concern; it’s a business strategy driving competitive advantage by ensuring that reliable, innovative, and compliant vehicles hit the market faster than the competition. It builds customer trust, bolsters investor confidence, and helps companies stay ahead of the constant changes in regulations.

How Jama Software Helps

Jama Software empowers automotive companies to excel in their engineering governance initiatives by providing a centralized platform called Jama Connect^® that ensures traceability, compliance, and collaboration across complex development projects. By facilitating real-time alignment between teams and maintaining a clear connection between regulatory requirements, development processes, and business goals, Jama Connect helps streamline decision-making and reduce risk. This enables organizations to confidently manage innovation, comply with regulatory standards, and accelerate time to market — all while maintaining high levels of quality and accountability.

To learn more about Jama Connect for Automotive, visit jamasoftware.com/solutions/automotive/

TO DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE WHITEPAPER, VISIT:
Engineering Governance: The Engine Behind Automotive Excellence

In this blog, we recap our recent Datasheet, “Accelerate Nuclear Design Assessments and Reduce Certifications and Engineering Costs with Jama Connect® for Nuclear Reactor Design and I&C Development.”

Accelerate Nuclear Design Assessments and Reduce Certifications and Engineering Costs with Jama Connect^® for Nuclear Reactor Design and I&C Development

Designing and constructing nuclear systems and facilities, with instrumentation and control systems, is one of the most intricate and regulated endeavors any organization can undertake. The process of managing, defining, and tracing functional, safety, security, design, performance, independence, reliability, and special treatment requirements for complex nuclear reactors, along with their facilities, systems, subsystems, structures, and components, is compounded by strict, country-specific regulatory guidance and standards.

The design process is iterative and driven by continuous risk, safety, hazard, accident, and security analysis and mitigations. Revisions during and post-design and construction, based on safety/risk assessments and regulatory feedback lead to rework and reengineering, increasing costs and elongating timelines.

Effective requirements management, end-to-end traceability across the entire systems engineering process, continuous risk analysis and mitigations across the entire design cycle, and a single source of truth for systems engineering data aggregated across the digital thread are critical for project success. Failure to accurately categorize safety and security functions, classify structures, systems and components (SSCs), and assess the criticality of initiating events and hazards in compliance with the applicable regulations (IEAE, ONR, etc.) can delay certifications and project completion, dramatically increase costs, and jeopardize the safe state of the nuclear plant.

KEY BENEFITS

• Streamline safety design assessments: Jama Connect offers a single source of truth for the digital safety assessment of a nuclear system, including qualitative hazard evaluations, probabilistic safety assessments, design failure, accident, and dose consequence analysis, FHA, security analysis, and combined risks mitigations.
• Enhance collaboration across development teams and supply chain: Jama Connect natively enables co-development within the supply chain and external subcontractors, and improved communication and alignment between cross-functional teams and with external safety assessors.
• Achieve end-to-end traceability across your development toolchain: Jama Connect’s Traceability Information Model™ outlines an end-to-end process for the requirements and design definition and decomposition, V&V, risk/safety/security analysis, and system implementation. With Live Traceability™, exchange system implementation specific data like models, architectures, parts/assemblies, tasks continuously with MBSE, PLM, work management, and P&ID tools.
• Automate risk categorization and classification: Replace manual, error-prone categorization of risks and classes by letting Jama Connect automatically assess and calculate the criticality, categorization and classification of events, functions, and SSCs.

Jama Connect for Nuclear Reactor Design and I&C Development is purpose-built to guide engineers through the systems development and digital safety assessment of a nuclear system, automatically measure the completeness and quality of traceability across the entire digital thread, and enable the automated creation of digital safety reports.

Jama Software’s nuclear framework is oriented towards and based on the guidance of the NRIC for the usage of digital engineering tools for nuclear DSAs (digital safety assessments), the guidance of IAEA and ONR for the Categorization and Classification of Functions and SSCs, and IEC 61513, and IEC 61508 for the development of I&C systems.

RELATED: Energy Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements Management and Traceability Solution for Energy

Here’s how Jama Connect can help your team streamline processes, improve safety outcomes, and meet regulatory requirements:

End-to-End Traceability Across All Levels

With Jama Connect, you can ensure complete traceability across the design and engineering process – from product definition and design to V&V, safety and security classifications, categorizations and analysis, and product implementation. Our platform connects every design element — from mission-level objectives down to individual components, assemblies, and parts. Live Traceability not only satisfies regulatory demands but also provides critical insights into how changes at any level and any stage impact the entire system.

• Traceability at every level: From mission needs and platform designs, to systems, subsystems to individual components, Jama Connect traces risks, requirements, V&V, and implementation elements are connected in an iterative, risk-driven process.
• Event-function-SSC traceability: Map initiating events, safety, and security functions, and SSCs seamlessly, helping ensure safety-critical events are covered at every level.
• Dynamic risk-response integration: Feed critical information like initiating events, identified hazards, safety, security and reliability requirements, and special treatments directly into the design, ensuring risks are evaluated and mitigated throughout the lifecycle.

Streamlined Safety Design Assessments

Regulatory requirements for nuclear reactor certification differ from country to country, but the principles of risk/safety/security analysis, safety and security classification, and categorization remain universal. Jama Connect simplifies this process by guiding teams through compliance-specific workflows.

• Safety and security classification and categorization: Automate initial and final classification of safety/security functions, SSCs, and events. Automatically assign safety categories using calculated fields and lookup metrics based on global or country-specific nuclear standards.
• Iterative compliance support: Conduct preliminary safety assessments early and refine security functions as the design evolves. Ensure that every regulatory stage is met with precision, from early safety categorizations to final licensing approvals.
• Digital export for documentation: Generate detailed certification-ready documentation of classification assignments, risk analyses, and hazard outcomes for key documentation items like safety and security cases or preliminary and final design safety reports.

Seamless Integration Across Digital Engineering Tools

To ensure every aspect of the development process stays connected and enable the DSA (Digital Safety Assessment), Jama Connect integrates with industry-standard tools used for model-based systems engineering (MBSE), product lifecycle management (PLM), and after simulation:

• • MBSE: Collaborate effectively by connecting Jama Connect with tools like Cameo Systems Modeler (aka CATIA Magic) or Enterprise Architect to exchange architecture, models, and design data.
  • PLM: Sync parts, assemblies, and change requests with PLM tools like PTC Windchill, Aras PLM, or Siemens Teamcenter to manage parts and mechanical implementations efficiently.
  • P&ID: Diagram synchronization (either direct or via PLM) with tools like PTC Creo or Siemens NX.
  • Software development and work management: Easily sync tasks, stories, and epics with tools like Jira or Azure DevOps to ensure software requirements are implemented.
  • Digital threads: Create and manage a fully integrated digital thread that ties all relevant data from requirements and designs, V&V, MBSE, PLM, simulation and visualization, safety assessment, and risk management, enabling end-to-end traceability, completion measurements, change impact analysis, and the automatic detection of gaps and risks.

Risk Analysis and Hazard Management

Risk analysis is the backbone of safety in nuclear reactor design. Jama Connect supports rigorous risk, safety, and security analysis throughout the iterative design lifecycle, from the initial qualitative hazard evaluation to the analysis of initiative events, classification and categorization of functions and SSC, DID analysis to the probabilistic safety assessments, SSA, and DCA.

• Initiating events from qualitative hazard evaluation: Identify events that could jeopardize the safe state of the nuclear power plant. operation, including those rooted in design, external hazards, or past regulatory findings.
• Hazard analysis and mitigation – probabilistic safety assessment: Collect and analyze identified hazards, assess severity, and create safety requirements that feed directly into system updates. Out of the box HARA and HAZOP data models.
• SAA, FHA, DQA, and combined risks: Conduct severe accident analysis, fire hazard analysis, dose consequence analysis, combine/enveloped risk assessments, and derive mitigations and special treatments as part of Jama Connect’s end-to-end traceability.

RELATED: Overcoming Top Challenges in the Energy Storage Industry with Jama Software

Enhanced Efficiency and Collaboration

By centralizing all information within a single source of truth, Jama Connect eliminates inefficiencies, reduces rework, and fosters alignment between teams.

• Agile-compatible iterations: Adapt requirements and designs iteratively as new risks or design details emerge.
• Collaborative team environment: Share updates and insights in real time, ensuring stakeholders, engineers, and regulators remain aligned at every stage. Easy to initiate and complete reviews and approvals.
• Automated workflows: Save time by automating time-intensive, repetitive tasks like hazard categorization and safety classification.

AI-enabled Intelligent Engineering

AI analysis and automation with Jama Connect Advisor™ improves productivity and product development outcomes.

• Requirements quality intelligence: Enhance the quality and clarity of requirement language to significantly reduce a major cause of defects.
• Test case intelligence: Streamline verification by automatically generating test cases derived from requirements.

For additional AI initiatives under consideration, go to labs.jamasoftware.com

Organizations at the forefront of nuclear innovations — including those overseeing and developing small modular reactors (SMRs) — recognize Jama Connect as a transformative tool in navigating the unique challenges of the industry.

From guiding teams through compliance workflows to empowering iterative risk analysis, Jama Connect for Nuclear Reactor Design and I&C Development is reshaping how the nuclear industry approaches design and certification. Its ability to combine traditional systems engineering approaches with modern digital iterative processes and digital safety assessments are redefining what’s possible in a nuclear reactor development.

To learn more about managing your nuclear requirements, tests, and risks with Jama Connect, visit jamasoftware.com

TO DOWNLOAD THE FULL DATASHEET, VISIT: Accelerate Nuclear Design Assessments and Reduce Certifications and Engineering Costs with Jama Connect for Nuclear Reactor Design & I&C Development

In this video, learn about the Consumer Electronics Development Solution in Jama Connect.

Jama Connect^® Features in Five: Consumer Electronics Development Solution

We value your time, but this Features in Five video goes beyond the five-minute mark to deliver an information-packed session, hosted by Vlad Tanasescu, GM, Industrial & Consumer Electronics, Jama Software.

Developing consumer electronics is complex, but Jama Connect’s new out-of-the-box solution simplifies the process. Discover how Jama Connect helps teams bring products to market faster while ensuring safety, cybersecurity, and seamless collaboration.

With AI-driven automation, real-time gap detection, and integrations with tools like Jira and GitHub, Jama Connect delivers end-to-end traceability and reduces risks. Whether managing product lines or collaborating with subcontractors, this solution is designed to help you work smarter.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Vlad Tanasescu: Hi, this is Vlad from Jama Software, and today I will walk you through a brief live demonstration of our new out-of-the-box consumer electronics development solution. In this video, we will cover how Jama Connect’s intelligent, guided, and measurable product development approach enables us to launch products to market faster, reduce product recalls and re-engineering, how we can leverage Jama Connect’s engineering AI to automate manual day-to-day engineering tasks, how we can natively co-develop with external subcontractors and contract manufacturers in Jama Connect so that we achieve a central source of truth across our entire engineering data, as well as external traceability, and how we can better leverage product cybersecurity, safety, and risk management in the context of our integrated consumer electronics development.

In Jama Connect, we use process models to define end-to-end product development processes, starting from the ideation definition and design of our products, all the way to the manufacturing, software development, and testing. Jama Connect will use these models to guide engineers through the end-to-end development, automatically measure system and process completion, and automatically detect gaps and risks so that organizations know where to take action. Our out-of-the-box consumer electronics solution contains process guidance for the development of integrated consumer electronics products like laptops, phones, computers, or tablets, as well as for the development of consumer electronics app systems like battery systems, displays, or systems on chips, as well as for the development of standalone software consumer applications.

Within Jama Connect, we can measure and manage the end-to-end traceability from the definition of the product from the highest level of the stakeholder need, all the way down to the part and line of code. As part of the development of end-to-end consumer electronics products, practitioners are integrating Jama Connect with multiple other tools for task management, source code management, and product lifecycle management. Jama Connect will exchange data bidirectionally and continuously with these tools, so that in Jama Connect, we can manage the impact of changes across the end-to-end engineering data, and so that in Jama Connect, we can measure completion and detect gaps programmatically across the digital trend.

RELATED: Empowering Complex Development with Responsible AI

Tanasescu: For example, here on the left, we can see a project tree. This project tree will enable findability across the entire engineering data and will enable us to display our product structure, including the components, subsystems, and disciplines that are part of those subsystems and components. The project is entirely customizable. For example, within my software component, I can find the software user story that is linked in traceability with the software functional requirement. This software user still exists in Jama Connect and is bidirectionally and continuously synchronized with tools like Jira, Azure DevOps, as well as with manufacturing tools for parts or design tools for models and architectures.

The developers, the mechanical engineers, the designers, they will not make any change to their way of working, and Jama Connect will manage the end-to-end traceability from the highest level of the requirement all the way down to the implementation. Jama Connect will then measure product completion and detect gaps as mentioned before, across the entire product data. Here we can see to what extent the decomposition of our requirements, the testing against the requirements, or the allocations to architectures is complete, and due to the integrations with other software development, task management, or mechanical tools, we can also measure the completion of the implementation and development of our system. This capability enables organizations to know where they have their biggest gaps and product risks so that they know where to take action, and this type of intelligent product measurement hasn’t been possible historically.

For teams developing standalone consumer electronics software applications, Jama Connect can exchange data bidirectionally and continuously with source code management tools like GitHub and GitLab to enable end-to-end life traceability and the understanding of the impact of changes from the requirements all the way to the lines of code.

Product line engineering is a very important part of our consumer electronics framework. In this project, for example, I’m working on the development of a laptop. This laptop has multiple other variants our engineering teams are working on in parallel, and with a couple of clicks, we can get an overview of all of our variants as well as understand the delta between variants with respect to requirements or designs that are only part of one variant or with regards to shared requirements which are part of both variants one and two but slightly different in each products to fulfill the needs of the variants.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements Management and Traceability Solution

Tanasescu: Once we’ve identified the differences, Jama Connect will allow us to synchronize changes between variants or across our entire product library. These capabilities enable product modularization and help reduce the time needed to start the development of new generations. In Jama Connect, we can also maintain libraries of subsystems, systems, or standard requirements. In this example, I’m maintaining multiple battery versions, multiple versions of a subsystem, and whenever appropriate, I can reuse the respective subsystem version in a new development project.

Jama Connect enables multiple product line engineering approaches, which our customers find very useful. The first one is the approach of the library. From the library, we will be reusing content in different product projects. The second one is the approach of a technology platform where we would be setting up a 150% product containing all the data that we could ever use in a variant, and then when a new release starts or when a new generation product starts, we can branch up the necessary content from the technology platform in the variant.

Jama Connect also enables us to work on multiple releases in parallel and bring over changes from one release to another, and the product line engineering approach in Jama Connect is entirely customizable. Another very important component of our consumer electronics solution is native code development. Consumer electronics companies very often work with external subcontractors and contract manufacturers for the development of subsystem technologies. Contract manufacturers can create engineering content natively in the same environment with the OEM so that the OEM can manage end-to-end traceability and detect gaps externally towards the data provided by the subcontractor. Here as an example, we can use Jama Connect to measure the external traceability.

We can see that only 20% of the specifications that we’ve defined internally have been implemented with designs or parts from our external subcontractors. Functional safety as well as cybersecurity are becoming more and more important for consumer electronics companies. The consumer electronics framework contains out-of-the-box safety, cybersecurity, and failure modes and effects analysis data models, which will enable companies to manage risks and the mitigation of those risks as part of one integrated process with the other functional and non-functional elements of the consumer electronics products. The out-of-the-box data models will enable the automatic calculation and classification of the cybersecurity threats, definition and analysis of the safety risks, as well as the failure modes.

RELATED: In Sync: Harmonizing Development on a Diverse Line of Audio Equipment, a Shure Customer Story

Tanasescu: We believe that artificial intelligence is crucial to reducing time to market. In Jama Connect, we are able to automate key day-to-day engineering tasks. For example, I will manually create a requirement that the laptop shall maintain Wi-Fi connectivity, and then, historically, to test against this requirement, engineers would’ve needed to define the test manually. They would’ve described the parameters and the objectives and then defined the steps that the executor would need to go through. Jama Connect’s engineering AI will derive tests automatically and massively reduce the time needed for test generation and validation. The QA engineer can choose to take over one of multiple tests created by AI, and Jama Connect’s AI* will link the test in traceability with the requirements automatically. Jama Connect’s engineering AI can help automate multiple day-to-day engineering tasks like the generation of requirements, the refinement of requirements, or the creation of traceability across the end-to-end process.

Our AI Relationship Discovery** will enable the user to define what relationship suggestions they’d like to receive. For example, I can choose to ask Jama Connect to show me subsystem requirements and system architecture traceability suggestions for my system requirements, and then Jama Connect will query our product library and display multiple objects that we can choose to relate in traceability with our source objects. The user will have the ability to visualize the content of the suggested relationship, and then will be able to intuitively create a traceability link between the source object and the suggested object.

Thank you very much for your time. If you’d like to find out more about our consumer electronics solution, please visit our website. Thank you.

*Test Case Generation available through our add-on product, Jama Connect Advisor™

**Relationship Discovery coming soon as part of Jama Connect Advisor™

To view more Jama Connect Features in Five topics, visit:
Jama Connect Features in Five Video Series

This blog recaps our recent Features in Five video on the topic of Jama Connect’s out-of-the-box nuclear reactor design and I&C development solution.

Jama Connect^® Features in Five: Nuclear Reactor Design and I&C Development Solution

Learn how you can supercharge your systems development process! We always want to be respectful of your valuable time. Still, in this Features in Five video, we do go beyond the promised five-minute format to include an information-packed session, hosted by Vlad Tanasescu, GM, Industrial & Consumer Electronics, Jama Software.

Designing nuclear reactors is a complex, high-stakes process requiring precision, safety, and collaboration. Jama Connect’s out-of-the-box framework simplifies this complexity by guiding engineering teams through requirement decomposition, safety assessments, and risk analysis while ensuring traceability across the entire digital thread.

With AI-driven automation, real-time gap detection, and seamless tool integrations, Jama Connect empowers teams to streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and accelerate time to market, all while maintaining the highest safety and compliance standards.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Vlad Tanasescu: Hi, I am Vlad. I lead our energy business unit here at Jama Software, and today I will walk you through a brief live demonstration of our new out-of-the-box nuclear reactor design and instrumentation and control (I&C) system development framework. Our engineering management platform, Jama Connect, enables an intelligent, guided, and measurable product development approach. In Jama Connect, we use process rules to define end-to-end engineering and design processes. Jama Connect will leverage this process to automatically guide the engineering organization through their development, intelligently measure system and process completion, and automatically detect gaps and risks so that engineers know where to take action.

On a high level, our nuclear reactor design framework starts from the decomposition of the requirements and the parallel decomposition of our designs and architectures from the highest level of the plant all the way to the mechanical and software implementations. The framework natively enables the initial deterministic safety assessment, the classification of initiating events in design-based accidents, the categorization of security and safety functions, and the classification of structures, systems, and components in alignment with the guidance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and local nuclear reactor design assessors.

The framework also includes the probabilistic safety assessment, the accident, and those consequence analysis and the analysis of combined risks. Nuclear reactor design is highly iterative. As our design and construction progresses, we will continuously find new safety and security requirements and functions as well as new reliability requirements and special treatments, all of which will need to cascade and feedback into the functional and non-functional levels of our reactor. Nuclear reactor design practitioners integrate model-based systems engineering, product life cycle management, pipeline and instrumentation diagramming and software development tools to Jama Connect to extend the traceability from the definition of our reactor to how our reactor is being implemented in mechanical software and electronics disciplines.

RELATED: Power Efficiency and Innovation Across Your Development Process with Jama Connect for Energy Storage Systems

Tanasescu: These integrations will enable us to programmatically measure traceability and system completion across all of our tools, part of the engineering digital thread. For example, from one of our high-level mission needs, energy efficiency, we can directly visualize the allocation to a plant design coming from a model-based systems engineering solution, and then we can follow the decomposition of the requirement and the plan design all the way down to the mechanical implementation.

For example, from this plan design, we have derived multiple system architectures of the key reactor systems, which are further decomposed into multiple subsystem designs, which are further decomposed into component designs, which are ultimately decomposed into mechanical implementations like parts and key assemblies. This end-to-end traceability across the entire digital thread will enable us to understand the impact of changes starting from a requirement all the way down to the lowest implementation level. For example, if I were to change this energy efficiency requirement, I could run an impact analysis in Jama Connect, and then Jama Connect would show me that multiple design levels would be impacted by the change, but five levels down, I would also be impacting implementations in mechanical parts. I would be impacting safety mitigations and risk mitigations as well as executed tests, which is very powerful to understand before the change.

Jama Connect will use intelligent engineer management features like the Live Trace Explorer to intelligently measure the completion of our traceability across the entire digital thread. These intelligent measurements will programmatically summarize the completion of the decomposition of the requirements, the decomposition of the designs, the test coverage, the risk mitigations, as well as the completion of the implementation of our system. Due to the integrations with other tools like product lifecycle management or model-based systems engineering applications, we can start measuring to what extent our component designs have been implemented in parts or our software requirements in software implementations. For example, here we can see that only 2% of our component designs have been implemented in parts or only 2% of our component designs have been analyzed and taken into account in the initial deterministic safety assessment. These intelligent measurements will enable companies to mitigate, rework and reduce their time to market. We will always be able to understand where we have gaps and risks in our system so that we know where to take action.

RELATED: Accelerate Nuclear Design Assessments and Reduce Certifications and Engineering Costs with Jama Connect for Nuclear Reactor Design & I&C Development

Tanasescu: In Jama Connect, we use the project tree to visualize and access all of our engineering data in one view. The project tree will also enable us to set up our product breakdown and systems engineering structure. Here, we can see the key subsystem of the reactor and the balance of plant, each subsystem having its respective requirements, designs, and tests, and then one level down, we can visualize the key components of our subsystem. Each component, including requirements, designs, tests, and mechanical software, electronic specific implementations like parts or software user stories. Our out-of-the-box nuclear reactor design framework also contains data models for the automatic calculations and classifications of initiating events and design-based accidents for the categorization of safety and security functions and for the classifications of structure systems and components. The Jama Connect Nuclear Reactor Design framework will also enable the automatic export of initial, preliminary, and final design safety reports and will enable the programmatic creation of security and safety cases.

Our I&C system development framework is reduced to the scope of the development of nuclear reactor subsystems. And in accordance with standards like EEC or EEC61508, the I&C development decomposition starts at the level of the safety design base. The I&C systems development framework also enables codevelopment. Nuclear reactor OEMs, I&C system T1s, and external engineering partners can use Jama Connect as a central source of truth for the entire design and engineering-related collaboration, and they can use Jama Connect’s intelligent engineering management capabilities to measure system completion and identify gaps across the entire engineering data coming from all the partners from our development ecosystem.

We view the adoption of artificial intelligence as essential for reducing time-to-market and increasing efficiency in nuclear development. Jama Connect’s engineering AI enables engineers to highly automate day-to-day and manual tasks like the definitions of tests or the decomposition of requirements. For example, here I have a requirement related to the nuclear fuel and instead of me deriving the test manually, I will use Jama Connect’s engineering AI to derive multiple tests automatically*, and then Jama Connect’s AI will proceed to derive multiple tests that our engineers could choose to take over and relate in traceability with the requirement.

This way, both the test generation and the traceability creation will be highly automated. Thank you very much for your time. If you want to learn more about our nuclear reactor design and IC system development framework, please visit our website. Thank you.

*Test Case Generation available through our add-on product, Jama Connect Advisor™

To view more Jama Connect Features in Five topics, visit:
Jama Connect Features in Five Video Series

This blog recaps our recent Features in Five video on the topic of empowering project owners in the AEC industry.

Jama Connect^® Features in Five: Empowering Project Owners in the AEC Industry

Managing construction projects can feel like trying to juggle a dozen tasks at once while standing on a tightrope. For project owners in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, the stakes are even higher. Misalignment among stakeholders, inflated risk costs, and compliance challenges can derail even the best-laid plans, causing delays, inflated costs, and unnecessary headaches.

But what if there were a way to simplify the complexity and take control? That’s where Jama Connect comes in. Designed to tackle the toughest challenges in construction project management, Jama Connect gives project owners the tools they need to streamline processes, align teams, and keep projects on track.

In this Features in Five session, we’re featuring a must-watch video with Michelle Solis, Solutions Architect at Jama Software. She breaks down the persistent challenges facing project owners and demonstrates how Jama Connect empowers teams with clarity, accountability, and confidence. Whether you’re managing public infrastructure, real estate developments, or any large-scale project, this is your opportunity to discover smarter solutions for project success. Read on to learn more!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Michelle Solis: Hi there. I’m Michelle Solis, a solutions architect at Jama Software. In this Features and Five video, we break down real problems the AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industry is facing, and how smart teams are solving them. Today, we’re speaking directly to project owners. Whether you’re a public agency, real estate developer, or infrastructure lead, if you’re responsible for project outcomes, this episode is for you.

We’re going to cover three of the most persistent challenges owners face: misalignment across stakeholders, risk-inflated bids, lack of accountability and compliance exposure, and, more importantly, how Jama Connect helps you get ahead of them.

Managing construction projects isn’t easy, and owners face a range of interconnected challenges that can derail success. These challenges include: 

• Misalignment across stakeholders: When teams interpret requirements differently, it leads to design errors, miscommunication, rework, RFIs, and change orders. Without a unified system to manage and communicate requirements, projects are prone to scope creep and wasted resources.
• Risk-inflated bids: During bidding, contractors often pad their numbers due to unclear expectations. This results in risk premiums, vague assumptions and inconsistent comparisons, forcing owners to choose between suboptimal options and inflating costs.
• Lack of accountability: Without clarity on who owns specific requirements, you’re left exposed to safety risk, regulatory penalties, and liability due to non-compliance. Invisible accountability creates confusion, finger-pointing, and increased project risk. Together, these problems affect your ability to deliver projects on time, within budget, and with confidence. Addressing them requires a solution that brings clarity, alignment, and accountability to every phase of the project.

RELATED: Five Key Challenges AEC Project Owners Face and How to Solve Them with Jama Connect

Solis: Jama Connect empowers project owners with comprehensive solutions to streamline construction projects, reduce risk, and improve outcomes. Here’s how it addresses key challenges.

1. Stakeholder alignment: By providing a shared source of truth for all requirements, from design to regulatory to contractual, Jama Connect ensures that everyone is on the same page. Requirements are traceable, version controlled, and validated, allowing teams to see who authored a requirement, what changed and why. This proactive alignment helps catch gaps early and prevent costly mistakes.
2. Clear scope for competitive bids: Jama Connect eliminates ambiguity during the bidding process by clearly defining scope and acceptance criteria. This clarity gives contractors the confidence to price jobs accurately, reduce inflated risk premiums, and ensure you’re comparing apples to apples. The result; faster bids, competitive pricing, and a smarter use of project budgets.
3. Built-in accountability: Accountability is made seamless with Jama Connect. Every requirement is assigned to an owner and tracked in real-time, ensuring comprehensive oversight. Requirements are also linked to compliance standards, contracts, or codes, providing audit-ready documentation whenever needed. If issues arise, traceability tools help resolve them quickly and transparently. Together, these capabilities equip you with the visibility, clarity, and confidence you need to deliver successful construction projects.

RELATED: AEC Buyer’s Guide: Selecting a Requirements and Compliance Management Solution for Complex Projects

Solis: Let’s quickly look at Jama Connect in a project owner dashboard. Jama Connect dashboards are a visual tool to help with the three problems we just explored.

1. Accountability. This bar graph shows us who’s assigned to each of these stakeholder requirements. If multiple PMs are working a project, you can manage them all in one place.
2. Stakeholder alignment. This list of owner requirements is easily configured to show the data owners might be tracking daily. We have the priority column that shows us how the requirement has been categorized and the percent of downstream completed requirements. Owners are able to see all of this information in one place.
3. Clear scope. This last widget is a pie chart that separates the project requirements by their status. I can quickly see which are being worked on, have cost implications or schedule delays. These are all interactive, so I can click into the section like the schedule delay and see the specific information for those requirements.

Here’s the takeaway for project owners. Construction is complex, but you don’t have to lose sleep over scope creep, inflated cost, or compliance headaches. Jama Connect gives you the visibility, control, and confidence you need to deliver successful projects from planning to handover. Thank you for watching this demonstration of how Jama Connect empowers project owners in the AEC industry. To learn more about optimizing your projects, visit our website at jamasoftware.com. If you’re already a Jama customer, your success manager, or Jama software consultant, can provide you additional insights. Together, we can build better outcomes.

To view more Jama Connect Features in Five topics, visit:
Jama Connect Features in Five Video Series

In this blog, we recap our recent webinar, “Managing System-on-Chip (SoC) Complexity: Strategies for Scalable Design”

The semiconductor industry is evolving rapidly, with growing challenges in managing System-on-Chip (SoC) complexity and expanding Intellectual Property (IP) portfolios. How can your team stay ahead while maintaining efficiency and collaboration?

In this webinar, Steve Rush, Principal Solutions Consultant at Jama Software, discussed how Electronic Design Automation (EDA) organizations can adopt a more integrated and controlled approach to IP and SoC management using Jama Connect^®.

This webinar provides key insights and practical guidance, including how to:

• Overcome critical challenges in scaling SoC design and managing growing IP portfolios
• Implement more integrated and efficient workflows using Jama Connect
• Achieve measurable improvements in collaboration, scalability, and development outcomes

Steve Rush: It’s a pleasure to be here today to talk to you about this subject. I’ve worked with many customers and prospects across many different verticals, and semiconductor is certainly a vertical that has its own unique set of challenges. This subject is kind of near and dear to a lot of the conversations that I’ve been having, so I really hope that you find this insightful.

In this webinar, we’ll address some of the challenges that many semiconductor design companies are facing when kicking off SoC projects, leveraging the IP that they’ve already developed. Hopefully the audience out there finds this timely and relevant. We’ll level set a bit on the challenge itself, and then discuss three strategies for scaling SoC projects, along with product administrations to support each strategy, and then we’ll wrap up with some Q&A.

First, let’s start with some definitions: IPs and SoCs, what are they? What do we mean? IP cores, sometimes called IP blocks or foundational elements for systems on chip design. They’re really modular building blocks that are designed and purpose-built, and can be compiled to develop an SoC. An SoC, the system-on-chip, is an integrated circuit that comprises all of the system components onto one piece of silicon, which is made up of different IPs.

Our SoC here contains a processor core, a memory IP network on chip, and then multiple IPs themselves, which in and of themselves might be considered projects. When we zoom in to a particular IP, you can see the multiple components of that IP: the microcontroller that acts as the brain of the IP, designed to perform specific tasks and hold processing instructions. The ROM and SRAM, read-only memory and static access memory, are the internal communication fabric, the on-chip network, controlling multiple components, interrupts, controlling electrical current flow, the IO interface, and the input-output interface, which allows IP to communicate to the outside world.

You might be managing this information in a Jama Connect project for an IP core, multiple projects for multiple IP cores, or even multiple versions of those IP cores, depending on your version management strategy. Now that we’ve level-set a bit, let’s move on to some relatable challenges that you might have found yourself in. As semiconductor companies scale, individual IP projects need to be combined onto a single piece of silicon, these SoCs. As we saw in the last slide, different IPs may need to be combined to compile and build that SoC.

Organizing and tracking which IP, and importantly which versions of those IPs, which might be scattered across multiple repositories following different processes, can be daunting. You can imagine if you’re not using a system like Jama Connect, that might require a lot of manual effort, a lot of copy and paste, a lot of data reentry, and that can feel chaotic. For folks out there that are not using Jama Connect or just don’t have a well-defined process in Jama Connect, you might be relying on a lot of institutional knowledge when the time comes to compile these different IPs to build your SoC.

RELATED: Extending End to End Traceability into the Semiconductor Design Cycle

Rush: Maybe your lead engineer knows which versions of the IPs you need to use, or what third-party software licenses you need to monitor and update, but it’s just not well-documented. You don’t really have a system in place to manage all of this. If someone walks out the door, a lot of that knowledge walks out the door as well. Of course, you do what you can to capture that knowledge, and do a knowledge transfer, but it’s still just a very fragile system that you’re relying on.

Maybe you do have some semblance of a system, but it lacks consistency and unification. The IP core requirements are maintained in different systems, maybe different requirement management repositories. Maybe they’re just documented on Wikis, like Confluence, which comes to mind, but there’s no unifying data model. Without that, this creates traceability risk when you recompile everything to build your SoC project. How can you be sure that you’re completely covered and you have no traceability gaps?

Now, I’m not advocating that everyone has to follow the exact same process down to the T. Some level of autonomy might be necessary for different teams managing different SoC projects, and that is necessary, but there should be some unifying model and some unifying process that teams can follow to address these different gaps and risks. Here’s a slide that might resonate with you all. The current challenges you might be facing, the impact of those challenges, the goals, and business outcomes are all sort of documented here.

This represents a cross-section of a lot of customers and prospects that I’ve been talking to in the semiconductor design industry. The strategies that I’ll discuss and impart today speak to both of those personas: a prospect that’s not using Jama Connect or an existing Jama Connect, that just needs to scale up and optimize their use of Jama. Let’s look and talk about some of these challenges. Customers need to scale SoC management on Jama Connect.

Scale, that can be a vague and overused term, but what I think about when I hear this is that customers are really looking for control, a plan, and a tool with the right functionality to help them manage this complexity. Versions of IPs are scattered across multiple projects or systems. A couple things come into mind right away here: that immediate clarity when it comes to either applying a change, or resolving a defect, or figuring out what third-party software is being used for which project or product, it just is impossible.

RELATED: Compliance Made Easy with Jama Connect® for Automotive and Semiconductor Development

Rush: Future projects are coming down the pike, requiring reusing out-of-context IPs for in-context SoC projects, possibly needing to maintain both the out-of-context IPs and then the new in-context IPs, which make up the SoC. Again, a plan, a process, and a tool are needed to support this. Let’s discuss some of the impacts of these challenges. Disorganization, because you need to manage content across projects or potentially across systems, there can be just a lot of lost time, a lot of lost hours in terms of re-documenting things, and just generally a lot of confusion.

There can be traceability risks, especially if the data that you’re managing does not have a unified data model, or that data is just not integrated across systems. How can you be sure there are no traceability gaps? Future projects just take longer to spin up, because there’s a lot of rework. Yes, you can save that content as and work from there, but syncing those changes across the different copies that you’re making at scale just really isn’t possible without a tool like Jama Connect.

Let’s talk about some of the goals that we hope to achieve by adopting some of the strategies that I’ll outline. We want to scale SoC management, and again, what I think this means is developing a plan, using a tool that can support these use cases, and implementing a controlled yet flexible process. Leveraging libraries and variants to compile your IPs for reuse. This will be one of the strategies that we’ll discuss later on.

Immediate version clarity, both for software licensing and defective change management, and applying those changes across different projects in a scalable way, which leads us to the outcomes. What we hope to achieve by adopting some of these strategies we’ll streamline SoC projects coming down the pike by using and leveraging existing IP in a controlled and organized method. This will give us high-quality source control, using a library approach in Jama Connect, so that defects and changes can be applied to working projects at scale and easily.

Maintaining licensing becomes clearer in this library-managed system, and the path to regulatory compliance can even be eased, as with all the processes we’ve adopted, traceability risks can be mitigated and reduced. A look into live traceability is possible, and we’ll unpack that a little bit later in the webinar today. You can increase time to value, manage change, and increase product confidence with all of these strategies.

WATCH THE ENTIRE WEBINAR HERE:
Managing System-on-Chip (SoC) Complexity: Strategies for Scalable Design