Quantifying the “Amount of Change” to Enable Inconsistency Risk Evaluation in Cross-Generational Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering

Quantifying the extent of engineering changes is essential for assessing inconsistency risk in cross-generational development of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), yet existing metrics remain largely domain- or artifact-specific. This paper develops a domain-independent basis for operationalizing the Amount of Change. Based on a systematic literature review, relevant metrics are identified, evaluated, and synthesized into a framework that integrates relative cross-generational deviation with the absolute extent of affected elements. Its applicability is demonstrated in a brake system case across requirements and functions, showing how Amount of Change can be quantified in a structured, comparable way across different view types.