Intel^® strategic marketing groups conduct research that, when combined with other secondary sources and analysis, identifies promising usage models for Intel technology and products. Historically, usage model descriptions were handed off to "platform" architecture and planning teams, whose task was to identify the requirements necessary for the processor, chipset, software, and other components needed to enable the usage models. However, platform teams had difficulty gleaning actionable engineering requirements directly from the usage model descriptions, since the descriptions did not include all of the elements that make up fully defined usage models.

In 2004, Intel's User Centered Design (UCD) Group proposed and implemented the "Usage-to-Platform Requirements" (U2PR) program. The goal of this program is to discover usage requirements and to establish a foundation for the desired user experience inherent in the usage models. This is accomplished by analyzing and refining the usage models through a process consisting of user research, existing product evaluation, use case development, and usage requirements writing.

In 2006, other efforts have encouraged wider adoption of the U2PR process. First, the Intel Platform Product Life Cycle has incorporated the core process and deliverables from the U2PR program. Second, the UCD group and platform quality methods experts have widely disseminated the U2PR process through Intel training courses. Third, the U2PR deliverables and process have been formally adopted by multiple organizations across Intel consumer, business, and mobile product groups.

In this paper we discuss the U2PR process, describing the types of research necessary to inform the process, the methods we have evolved in developing use cases and usage requirements, and the importance of visual collateral to concretely communicate the usage vision. We also explain the wider context in which the U2PR process contributes to the development of an Intel platform, which involves challenges beyond the development of an individual product.