This systematic literature review examines the benefits of using software tools to support the fuzzy front end stage of innovation processes. The researchers conducted searches of 8 databases and identified 11 relevant studies. The review found that software tools can provide benefits such as increased process speed and reduced costs through collaboration, knowledge management, and decision support. Specific tools like idea banks, decision support systems, and online brainstorming were found to enhance creativity, improve decision quality, and reduce risks. However, the review was limited by the small number of primary studies included. Future work could involve interviews and case studies to identify additional benefits of software tool use in the fuzzy front end stage of innovation.

1. Software Support for the Fuzzy Front End Stage of the
Innovation Process: a Systematic Literature Review
Cleviton Monteiro1, Fabio Q. B. da Silva1, Daniel F. Arcoverde1, Henrique S. Ferreira1
1Center of Informatics, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
{cvfm, fabio, dfa, hsf}@cin.ufpe.br

2. Agenda
• Context
• Researh Question
• Method
• Results
• Findings and implications
• Concluding remarks

3. Context
• Fuzzy Front End (FFE)
– Set of execution and evaluation activities
– The period between the oportunity identification to the decision
to product
• The best phase to promote enhancements in the
new product development process (NPDP)

4. Context
• Benefits in the use of software tools in other
business process
• There is some evidence that points to benefits in the
use of software tools
• Little is know about whether, how and why these
software tools improve the process

5. Objective
• Gather, analyze and present experimental evidence
about the use of software support tools in the FFE
• These evidences will assist industry practitioners that
need to make informed choices about software tool
use

6. Research Question
What are the benefits achieved by the use of
software tools in the fuzzy front end of innovative
product development?

7. Method
• Systematic Literature Review (SLR)
• Protocol
– Research Question in PICOC* structure
• Population: the Fuzzy Front End of innovative product development
• Intervention: use of software tools in the fuzzy front end
• Context: open to any type of organization that makes innovation
• Outcome: the benefits of tool support, in particular of its features
• Comparison: NA
*PICOC - Population, Intervention, Context, Outcomes, Comparison

8. Method
• Protocol
– Search Strategy
a) Derive the major terms from the research questions using PICOC;
b) Identify a list of synonyms, abbreviations and alternate spellings;
c) Building search strings using AND and OR to include synonyms and
abbreviations;
d) Check the search strings built using steps a) to c) by running pilot searches;
e) Make adjustments if necessary.
(software* OR system* OR tool* OR program* OR application*) AND ("fuzzy front end" OR "fuzzy front-end" OR "innovation front
end" OR "innovation front-end" OR "front end * innovation" OR "front-end * innovation" OR "pre-development" OR predevelopment
OR "up-front homework" OR "up front homework" OR "upfront homework") AND ("innovative product*" OR "major product*" OR
"new product*" OR "radical product*" OR "breakthrough product*" OR "incremental product*" OR "sustaining product*" OR
"evolutionary product*" OR "product innovation" OR "product development")

9. Method
• Protocol
– Search Process
a) Two researchers searched each of the selected sources using the same search string. This
was the primary search;
b) The studies found in the primary search were assessed by reading the title and, if necessary,
the abstract;
a) Irrelevant excluded and potentially relevant articles documented in a list
c) Relevant articles were independently evaluated (abstract, introduction and conclusion) by two
researchers by checking the inclusion criteria;
a) The lists of included and excluded studies were created
d) All the relevant works were read in full for data extraction and quality assessment;
e) The references included in the relevant works were listed and the steps ‘c’ and ‘d’ were
repeated for them. This was the secondary search.
The search was performed in 8 search engines

10. Method
• Protocol
– Study Selection
• (i) Papers that are freely available for consultation through licenses permission
obtained from the Federal University of Pernambuco online access
• (ii) Work that fit in one of the categories defined
• (iii) Studies that show, primarily or secondarily, the benefits provided by
software that gives support to the FFE
• (iv) Studies that contain full and complete text, content, and results
• (v) Work that is written in English
• (vi) Work not duplicated
• (vii) In the case of doubt the word should be included

11. Method
• Protocol
– Data Extraction
• Designed to collect all information necessary to address
the issues of review
– Fields: id, revision date, title, authors, study type, source (search engine), publish date,
published source, inclusion reason, related evidences (benefits of software tool use in
the FFE), additional info, references, quality assessment criteria, reviewer name and his
agreement
– Data analysis
• Constant Comparison Method
– Grouping the similar benefits in higher level classes related to them

12. Results
Total 1090
Non-relevant 1042
Potentially relevant 48
Included 10
Excluded 20
Not available through UFPE’s accesses licenses 18
Primary Search
Secondary Search
Potentially relevant 22
Included 1
Excluded 7
Not available through UFPE’s accesses licenses 13

13. Results
Distribution over the years

14. Results
Distribution by source
The others were The Journal of Marketing Research, Creativity and Innovation Management, The
International Technology and Innovation Conference, The Computers in Industry and The Journal of
High Technology Management Research

15. Results
• Benefits
– (B1) process speed up
– (B2) cost reduction
– (B3) collaboration and communication
– (B4) quality of decision
– (B5) knowledge management
– (B6) risk reduction with patents
– (B7) creativity enhancement

16. Results
• Software Tools
– (C1) idea banks (including newsgroups and forums)
– (C2) idea generators
– (C3) decision support systems
– (C4) on-line brainstorming
– (C5) on-line surveys
– (C6) patent management systems
– (C7) real time chats
– (C8) multimedia prototypes

17. Results
Tool Category Outcomes
Idea Banks B1[8,27,28,29]; B2[8,20,29];
B3[20,28,29];
B4[29]; B5[28,29]; B6[28,29]
Idea Generators B7[24]
Decision Support Systems B4[7,8,21,22,29,31]
On-line Brainstorming B7[7]
On-line Surveys B1[30]; B3[30]
Patent Management Systems B6[8]; B7[8]
Real Time Chats B2[30]; B3[30]
Multimedia Prototypes B1[30]; B2[30]

18. Concluding Remarks
• Contributions
– Categories of tools used
– Benefits that can be achieved and what tools should be
adopted to acquire them

19. Concluding Remarks
• Limitations
– The data was collected from only 11 primary studies
• Although this number is consistent with other reviews in software engineering, it may constitute
a limitation
– Only the clearly stated benefits were extracted from
studies
• Avoids bias related to researcher’s assumptions and beliefs
• Precluded the identification of potential benefits that were only vaguely of indirectly mentioned

20. Concluding Remarks
• Future Work
– Interview specialists to identify qualitatively their opinion
about the benefits found in this study
– Some case studies and experiments with organizations
that use tools in their FFE
• Achieve more evidences

21. Software Support for the Fuzzy Front End Stage of the Innovation
Process: a Systematic Literature Review
Cleviton Monteiro1, Fabio Q. B. da Silva1, Daniel F. Arcoverde1, Henrique S. Ferreira1
1Center of Informatics, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
{cvfm, fabio, dfa, hsf}@cin.ufpe.br
Thank you!

22. Software Support for the Fuzzy Front End Stage of the Innovation Process: a
Systematic Literature Review by Cleviton Monteiro, Fabio Q. B. da Silva, Daniel F.
Arcoverde, Henrique S. Ferreira is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at the 5th IEEE International Conference on Management of
Innovation and Technology, Singapore, 2010.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available
at http://www.haseresearch.com