Smooth integration and successful validation.
Today's automotive products, mainly vehicles but more and more transportation solutions, are highly complex mechatronic systems. Many components are working together to create the experience desired by customers. Transportation solutions are becoming more and more integrated with each other and with the environment and bring new challenges to traditional integration and validation methods. The market requests faster delivery times and shorter issue resolutions than ever, generating additional challenges to the product development and maintenance.
iProcess helps designing and documenting the strategy for simple and complex projects, to determine or evaluate existing or planned tool chain, test systems and plans.
What is system integration in automotive?
System integration is a very substantial part during the development cycle of complex mechatronic products. All components are being developed and tested by themselves, most issues however first show up when these components are working together. System integration is responsible for both: defining how those components are supposed to work with each other as well as the actual integration when components are received or updated.
What is system validation?
The terms verification and validation are often mixed up in the industry. Verification proves that the developed product is working according to its specifications and within its defined environment. While the verification process can pass without issues, this is not a guarantee for a working and successful product. The system validation process tests the product against the desired behavior, that includes the specification, the design, the architecture and the performance, as well as the customer and market expectations.
What is mandatory content of an effective strategy?
The goal of the strategy is to provide a synchronized and agreed documentation about the levels involved in the integration and validation of the product. Members of the teams of each level as well as the product and project teams and the management contributes and therefore agrees on the defined steps, timelines and requirements.
The integration method (Continuous Integration, Bottom-up, Top-down, Backbone, Big bang, etc.) has to be defined, as well as the integration sequence and responsibilities. The strategy has to define the different level of integration and the associated coverage in validation, also the communication in between those levels. Further more, the strategy contains the methods of execution, the required inputs and the provided output of each level as well as success criteria, tools and roles needed.
