SynSpace

The Solution

As an external con sultant, SynSpace creates solution strate gies based on quality goals agreed jointly with the client. Various quality goals were agreed between the automotive supplier and its customer for old and new code. A risk assessment was conducted under the motto “Never change a running system” and a valid procedure established in accordance with the Automotive SPICE standard. This involved comparing both processes: the development of new soft ware and the further development of existing software that has grown over the years and for which there is no soft ware architecture whatsoever.

In turn, this meant that the development processes had to be expanded to include a software archaeology approach. On this basis, a higher-level architecture was defined and the development process adapted accordingly. Of course, the existing software does not fully match the architecture because functional and non-functional requirements were only identified retrospectively. However, new code must comply with the architectural specifications; old code is only adapted when it is revised.

The Axivion Suite is the tool that is being used to check the code and architecture. This is enabling the software to be aligned with the recently developed architecture as part of a continuous integration and improvement process. The Axivion Suite facilitates continuous tests while also allowing the depth of testing to be con stantly increased. The solution is being implemented in an agile approach with continuous integration and a Git pull request workflow.

The Success

With the Axivion Suite old (unchanged) and new (changed or added) code can be examined separately in a delta analysis. The Axivion Suite enables static code analysis as well as other tests that are integrated into the process, revealing any architectural violations immediately: unacceptable deviations of the code from the architecture are apparent right away. Deviations of the architecture and warnings from the static code analysis can be properly assessed and compared against each other. In turn, this provides a good basis for risk assessment, in other words for deciding whether changes are absolutely necessary or useful, or whether they involve risks that are difficult to calculate.

Using the Axivion Suite also increases the depth of testing continuously because it ensures a continuous test process with access to the config system. The regular tests create a higher level of acceptance among developers in code programming and also ensure a better understanding of the defined architecture in the long term.

The project is set to run for another 10 years. During this time, new software features will be implemented based on the existing code and the software will be adapted to the architecture as part of a continuous integration and improvement process. Even though the project is still in the initial phase, the automotive supplier’s Engineering and Quality Assurance departments are already highly satisfied with its success. And from SynSpace’s perspective, there
is nothing substantial to prevent an assessment being carried out according to SPICE Level 3. The auto motive supplier is on track to achieve this goal at an early or middle phase of the project.