Integrated Vehicle Planning (iVP) Draft Management Platform
Functional Topic & Business Objective
Digital transformation of vehicle release planning, systems-engineering collaboration, maturity tracking, and change-control workflows for automotive product development.
Design and implement a centralized draft-planning application that allows engineering stakeholders to plan, review, and align component and function changes across vehicle projects and composite releases before those drafts are transferred into official release planning.
The objective was to replace fragmented, spreadsheet-driven planning with a governed digital workspace that improves transparency, accelerates change handling, and supports data-driven maturity decisions across vehicle programs.
Industry
| Client | Enterprise Automotive Sector |
|---|---|
| Segment | Enterprise – Automotive Product Development & Systems Engineering |
| Platform | Metadata-driven enterprise application platform (CLUU) with a modern React frontend |
Problem Statement
The customer required a modern and scalable solution to address challenges related to fragmented vehicle-release planning, limited visibility of component and function changes, and inefficient coordination between engineering roles and change-control processes.
The key challenges included:
- Lack of a dedicated workspace for draft planning prior to official release publication
- Difficulty coordinating component-level and function-level changes across vehicle projects and composite releases
- Limited visibility of maturity status, deviation indicators, and cross-system impacts
- Manual, time-consuming change-request handling toward change-control boards
- Need for role-based access so component owners, function owners, change-board users, and viewers could work in the same platform with appropriate permissions
- Requirement to keep draft planning synchronized with official release planning and related engineering systems
- Demand for bilingual (German/English) collaboration across a multinational engineering organization
The objective was to improve planning transparency, simplify engineering workflows, and enable faster, better-governed decisions on vehicle-release content.
Our Role & Contribution
CAXSOL contributed across frontend development, backend business logic, platform integrations, workflow automation, and ongoing enhancement of the application.
Application Development & Engineering
- Developed the React- and TypeScript-based frontend for component planning, function planning, and multi-object planning views
- Implemented metadata-driven backend services on the CLUU platform using .NET and C#
- Designed and delivered interactive product-structure graphs for components and functions
- Built change, maturity, and intended-use workflows used by engineering stakeholders in daily planning
Integrations, Automation & Quality
- Integrated draft planning with official release planning and change-control board processes
- Implemented scheduled background jobs for synchronization, maturity/status updates, cloning, and stakeholder notifications
- Delivered Excel-based planning exports and bilingual email notifications
- Introduced AI-assisted support for maturity-increase descriptions to improve consistency of planning content
- Supported validation, comparison against donor vehicle projects, and automated testing
Solution Overview
A platform was designed and implemented to support component and function planning, maturity management, change-control coordination, and controlled transfer of drafts into official release planning.
The solution enabled the enterprise to:
- Plan component and function changes across vehicle projects and composite releases in a dedicated draft workspace
- Visualize product structure through interactive component and function graphs
- Track maturity levels and operational status using traffic-light indicators and structured descriptions
- Initiate, update, and fast-track change requests toward change-control processes
- Assign intended uses, change types, and usage periods to planned changes
- Compare planning content against donor vehicle projects and clone reusable planning from related model series
- Synchronize draft data with official release planning and keep cloned plannings consistent
- Notify responsible engineers of pending approvals, content changes, and qualification deadlines
- Export planning data for reporting and stakeholder reviews
- Support bilingual engineering collaboration with role-based access control
The implemented platform improved planning transparency and provided vehicle-program stakeholders with a unified interface for drafting, reviewing, and governing release content before it becomes official.
Technology Stack
| Platform & Architecture | CLUU (metadata-driven enterprise application platform), add-in services, domain entity model |
|---|---|
| Backend | .NET 6, C#, CLUU Actions, LINQ-based data access |
| Frontend | React, TypeScript, Material-UI, Webpack, reactive state management |
| Authentication & Authorization | Platform identity with role- and attribute-based access control (administrators, component owners, function owners, change-board users, viewers) |
| AI Enablement | CLUU Assistant for planning-description support |
| Integrations | Official release-planning services, change-control board services, email notifications, Excel export |
| Cloud & DevOps | GitLab CI, CLUU application packaging and deployment, scheduled background processing |
| Code Quality | TypeScript linting, xUnit, Moq |
| Development Methodology | Agile Scrum |
| Source Control | GitLab |
| Keywords | #CLUU #React #TypeScript #NET #CSharp #Automotive #ReleasePlanning #SystemsEngineering #DigitalTransformation #Agile #Scrum #AI #LowCode #Enterprise |
Delivery Context
| Environment | Internal Enterprise Infrastructure |
|---|---|
| Team Setup | Full-stack team with onsite-offshore model; continuous coordination between frontend, backend, platform, and customer stakeholder workstreams |
| Stakeholder Collaboration | Worked closely with engineering, change-control, and platform stakeholders to define planning rules, access control, and workflow requirements |
| Development Approach | Multinational Agile Scrum Environment |
| Operational Context | Continuous enhancement and support of an existing production planning application |
Implementation Scope
The engagement covered frontend application development, backend business-logic implementation, integration with related planning and change-control systems, automation, and ongoing production support.
- Development of React-based UI for project selection, component planning, function planning, and multi-release planning
- Graph-based navigation and filtering of product-structure data
- Maturity, traffic-light, intended-use, and change-type workflows
- Change-request creation, update, and fast-track processing
- Synchronization with official release planning and cloned planning records
- Donor-project comparison and reuse of planning from related vehicle programs
- Scheduled jobs for notifications, maturity updates, and data consistency
- Excel export of draft planning data
- AI-assisted hints for maturity-increase descriptions
- Role-based permissions, bilingual UI, and validation of planning completeness
- Production support and enhancement delivery within Agile sprints
The platform evolved as a long-running product-engineering application, with new planning capabilities and integrations delivered continuously alongside production operations.
Key Achievements & Business Impact
The implemented solution improved visibility into vehicle-release planning by enabling centralized draft management of component and function changes before official publication.
Operational Improvements:
- Supported more efficient monitoring of planning status, maturity, and deviations across vehicle programs.
- Reduced manual coordination between component owners, function owners, and change-control stakeholders.
- Streamlined change-request handling and approval-oriented communication through in-app workflows and notifications.
Technical Benefits:
- Established a governed draft workspace integrated with official release planning.
- Improved consistency of planning data through validation, scheduled synchronization, and cloning logic.
- Strengthened release quality through role-based access, bilingual collaboration, and structured maturity documentation.
Platform Outcomes:
- Created a unified digital planning ecosystem connecting draft planning, official release planning, and change-control processes.
- Enabled scalable enhancement of planning capabilities on a metadata-driven enterprise platform.
- Introduced AI-supported authoring assistance to improve quality and consistency of maturity descriptions.
Differentiators & Highlights
Key Differentiators:
- Dedicated draft-planning workspace on a metadata-driven enterprise platform, separate from but synchronized with official release planning
- Dual planning models for components and functions, including multi-object views across composite releases
- Interactive product-structure visualization with graph navigation, ownership filters, and at-a-glance status
- Integrated change-control workflows, including standard and accelerated request handling
- AI-assisted support for engineering descriptions, combined with rule-based validation of planning completeness
Technical & Engagement Highlights:
- Full-stack delivery with a modern React/TypeScript frontend and .NET/C# backend
- Complex domain logic for maturity, traffic lights, intended uses, cloning, and donor-project comparison
- Automated background processing for synchronization, notifications, and data consistency
- Enterprise integrations across release planning, change-control, reporting, and communication channels
- Role-based access aligned to automotive engineering responsibilities
- End-to-end contribution across UI, backend services, integrations, automation, and production support in an Agile environment
