## 4 Evaluation
### Application Evaluation
#### 4.4.2 Application Success Criteria
Microsoft Excel is assumed to be available for free due to high market penetration [81]. Python is an open-source product [82]. Validation result: SC-9 is fulfilled. Success Criterion SC-10 Early Availability of Required Information  
Required information for method application (input data and expert knowledge) is examined with regard to availability in the project initiation phase. The answers to question 17 (cf. Appendix C) in the survey of the pilot users (questionnaire and interviews) is used as a basis for evaluation. All required input information is queried (data and expert knowledge). Availability in the course of development is ensured by the support evaluation (cf. Section 4.1) and is not determined separately. SC-10 is considered fulfilled if the median of user ratings for each information category is Available. This assessment assumes that the information is available within the development team and that any information perceived to be missing is due to deficits in internal communication. Evaluation result: Pilot users' feedback proves the availability of all required information: median for all questions is Available. Originating from role specific responsibilities, some answers indicated Unavailable information. Requirements engineers partly answered not to be able to select proactive measures, because this is part of the project leaders' responsibility. The same concern was stated for knowing the initiator of a change, which is also part of project management. This concern is not considered an issue regarding SC-10 as the right to access this kind of information is exclusively given to project management. Another finding is that availability of data is limited. Documentation is carried out differently by development teams, based on varying preferences and specific project needs. Often, it does not include change initiators, ground truth on requirement dependencies and change impact, although standards demand for such information (for instance, Automotive SPICE requires documentation of requirement dependencies [26]). That information exists in terms of expert knowledge and needs to be elicited to apply the ProMaRC method. Since all pilot users confirmed that information is available or can be gathered within the development team, success criterion SC-10 on early availability of required information is approved. Validation result: SC-10 is fulfilled. Success Criterion SC-11 Generic Applicability  
To evaluate generic applicability, the requirements and restrictions of the method on input data and expert knowledge are examined. The requirements are compared with guidelines and standards for the development of complex technical systems, since these are considered to be representative of the state of the art and are used in different branches. The restrictions are derived from the method. SC-11 is considered fulfilled if guidelines and standards for development practice demand that the required input data are available in accordance with the restrictions. Evaluation result: VDI2206:2021 (Development of mechatronic and cyber-physical systems) as well as VDI 2221:2019 (Development of technical products and systems) as key guidelines for developing complex technical systems in Germany require explicit description of requirements at the beginning of a development project [83,84]. The same applies to the international systems engineering standard ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 [85]. Since requirement descriptions are the only required input data, this can be seen as fulfilled. Necessary expert knowledge is available regardless of the project phase, so that all information demands are assessed as generically available. As a restriction, the method is limited to natural language requirement descriptions. Regardless of the documentation practice (document based or model based; unstructured or structured), natural language text is used somehow [86], so that the restriction can be assumed to be fulfilled. There are no restrictions regarding initiators or dimensions of impacts.