The product line mapping approach to defining and structuring product portfolios

A key activity in product line development is to define and structure the product portfolio which shall be the basis for product line development. We present an approach that aims at supporting this activity. This approach also provides a conceptual structuring of the product line in terms of the features and technical domains that are relevant to it. This structure then provides a basis for the planning of the actual product line development and for architecture definition. We also discuss the validation of our approach in the context of some case studies.