It happens often that the design tools is "missused" to do other kind of work that was not design for. Notice that I use quotes since someone might say that the right tools is the one that gets the job done, independently of other tools out there that might be suitable.
When there is a small team, this issue might not be such. For example, below is an example of a student team that use the same platform for design (model plant and control algorithm), Prototype (using tether IO on a scale system) and Deploy (deploy the algorithm to a Real Time system).
http://multimechatronics.com/images/uploads/movies/NI%20RPI%20Transporter.wmv
This is an example on how using the same platform helps speeding up the left side of the V Diagram.
But there are instances where the team in charge of the plant modeling would like to use one tool. Let's say SimulationX. The team that design the control algorithm use another tool. Let's assume LabVIEW. The embedded team doesn't have any idea of either modeling or control design as they only care to deploy to and embedded target. And there is the validation team that is in charge to validate the embedded code that is more concern on how to build a test system capable of consistently and automatically test different test scenarios. How to bring everything together?
Here is where a platfrom that integrates different tools and can be used without programing skills is very useful.
The image above show a combination where we have a tool to automate the tests (TestStand) and another tool to run the dynamic simulation (VeriStand). This kind of approach allow users to use the tool more suitable to their needs (or the one they are more comfort with) while reusing and interacting with different parts of the organization. And all while saving money in the process!
Here is a video that goes in detail explaining the architecture in detail.
http://zone.ni.com/wv/app/doc/p/id/wv-2618
Enjoy!
