Patent ID: 8412741

Claim:
A method for managing product networks, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more computer systems, a request to access one or more product files stored as database elements in a central database, wherein the database elements are produced from a multiplicity of different native authoring programs providing a multiplicity of different file types; retrieving, by one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, the database elements from the central database; receiving, at the one or more computer systems, information linking one or more requirement trees produced by requirement management software to the database elements; and generating, by the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a metafile according to a common metafile type configured to be viewed by users without the native authoring programs based on the database elements and the information linking the one or more requirement trees produced by the requirement management software to the database elements; wherein one or more sections of the metafile are configured to retrieve one or more portions of the one or more requirement trees produced by the requirement management software according to a requirements tree context manager evaluating a set of predetermined rules to determine which portions of the one or more requirements trees are exposed to the users; and wherein the generating, by the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, of the metafile according to the common metafile type configured to be viewed by users without the native authoring programs based on the database elements and the information linking the one or more requirement trees produced by the requirement management software to the database elements comprises exposing one or more subtrees of the one or more requirements trees.