The challenge
A leading supplier of components for the commercial vehicle market, together with a renowned original equipment manufacturer (OEM), codeveloped a new electronic system for trucks. The objective was to bring an existing prototype to series maturity, ready for the intended series production.
To support system development (requirements engineering, modeling and test management) with an integrated toolchain, the supplier had deployed application lifecycle management (ALM) toolchain Polarion Connector for Enterprise Architect years before. The employees followed isolated documented processes and used a network drive for storing project data.
As a result of a change of management, the employees’ job responsibilities frequently shifted. The supplier worked as the system manager with three subcontractors, who controlled the software and the electronics of the end product. Individual Microsoft Word and Excel planning and synchronization documents were used for exchanging data with the subcontractors.
Project duration
15 months
Our approach
The first step for the UL Solutions Software Intensive Systems (SIS) team was to base the toolchain on DOORS and Polarion. The team created an integrated Polarion project configuration (definition of attributes, workflows and process descriptions) that originated from requirements engineering. At the same time, the project employees were supported in their daily work by one-on-one coaching sessions by SIS consultants. After a few weeks, the engineering processes (system requirements, system architecture, hardware/software requirements and hardware/software architecture) were transitioned to Polarion by the SIS team.
Based on Automotive SPICE® engineering processes, the SIS team turned their attention to Automotive SPICE® supporting processes (configuration, defect and change management). The team created plans and strategies for all three areas and implemented them concurrently. At the same time, SIS consultants trained new employees were trained for the configuration manager, defect manager and change manager roles via one-on-one coaching sessions.
After seven months the ASPICE® HIS Scope was completely implemented in the customer-defined pilot project. The next objective was to roll out the projects defined in the pilot project throughout the entire organization.
To do so, the SIS team created a project template that could be adapted by tailoring in the areas of project documentation and work. For the purpose of standardization, the SIS team migrated running projects that did not conform to Automotive SPICE® with all the data to the project template. The strategies created by the SIS team for this meant that individual projects were each able to be migrated in only a half day. SIS Automotive SPICE® assessors identified gaps in the documentation and project work through recurring Automotive SPICE® pre-assessments and then closed these gaps using coordinated measures.
Over the course of the project, the SIS team created more than 400 individual problems and managed them transparently with a ticket system for the project managers. After 15 months, the SIS team handed over all tasks related to Automotive SPICE® as well as the administration and configuration of Polarion to the supplier’s employees.
Highlights of our approach
- Configuration manager
- Defect manager
- Change manager
Customer benefits
At the conclusion of the project after 15 months, Automotive SPICE® Level 1 was achieved throughout all processes in the project. The SIS team transparently documented concepts, interpretations and Automotive SPICE® best practices for the project manager and the employees in discussions with Automotive SPICE® assessors during an assessment. Thanks to the integrated training concept and project documentation, new employees were able to work productively in the project within 14 days
The key benefits to our customers included:
- Automotive SPICE® Level 1 for all processes.
- Consistent process landscape.
- Easy-to-understand process descriptions.
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