Overview
Margins are usually decided locally at design parameter level ? an extra millimetre of clearance, a slightly larger pump, an additional safety factor. The reason for those margins lives further up: a stakeholder need, a requirement, or an architectural choice. Margin Deployment Cascading makes that vertical link explicit.
The module borrows the cascading idea from Quality Function Deployment (QFD): the outputs of one matrix become the inputs of the next, so allocations made at one level of abstraction propagate and refine at the level below. Margins follow the same chain.
The cascade
3Each matrix relates two levels of abstraction. The prioritised items on its bottom edge become the input of the next matrix.
Translate stakeholder needs into measurable system requirements, with weights that reflect relative importance.
Map weighted requirements onto architectural elements, subsystems, or functional blocks that contribute to satisfying them.
Decompose architectural allocations into the design parameters engineers set, producing target margins for each parameter.
What the module supports
Edits at one level update the next so the cascade stays consistent without copy-paste between sheets.
Relationship weights roll up to target margins on requirements, architecture elements, and design parameters.
Relationship matrices can be read in classic QFD form, including correlations where useful.
The resulting allocations keep a visible line back to the stakeholder needs that motivated them.