During the course of the planning phase, the conditions of a successful engineering project will be determined. Alongside the definition or the consideration of the professional framework conditions, the scope of the project must be structured in service packages and then assigned to companies or project groups who are participating in the project. The definition of the development sections (service contents, deadline specifications, dependencies) and the determination of the respective budget shares create the requirement for a differentiated and prompt project controlling. The adjustment of the interfaces and data structures of the IT systems that are used in the project ensures a high and efficient data consistency.

Here is a list of some of the obligations that belong to the planning process:

• Creation of specification sheet / creation of catalogues of requirements
• Creation of delivery and service limitations
• Creation of project organisation and the development process
• Creation of the development budget and the milestone process
• Organisation of the data management / data transfer – CAD / PLM / archiving / parts list systems
• Creation of calculation / trial / verification planning
• Planning of the approval and homologations process

Trials / experimental verifications that are demanded by the customer or legislative bodies are also determined during the course of the planning phase and the necessary partners will be incorporated. In order to ensure that the authorisation of vehicles is successful, the state boards of approval are to be promptly informed regarding the intended development process.