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What topics, technologies and trends matter in 2012? Where is engineering of innovative products and solutions heading? Vector Consulting Services has spoken with clients in different industries to identify what will matter in engineering and technology in 2012. Our study is freely available as of now.

Ebert: Systematisches Requirements Engineering, dPunkt Verlag, 2012. Templates für Requirements Engineering (Lastenheft, etc.)


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Engineering today is typically done by distributed teams. But how to make such teams successful? "Global Software and IT" is the new book of Vector with experiences and guidance for distributed software and IT projects. This insightful book delivers proven strategies and practices for software development and IT sourcing on a global scale. Most importantly, readers will learn how to engineer a first-rate product as efficiently as possible by fully leveraging global personnel and resources.

Estimating size or resources is one of the most important topics in development projects. Our presentation from Metrikon 2011 conference which is also published in IEEE Software provides an overview on estimation methods, techniques and evaluation of popular estimation tools.

The success of any product depends on the skills and competence of the product manager. This webinar with Dr. Christof Ebert introduces product management. It provides concrete guidelines about key success factors as well as a case study. The webinar highlights the presenters broad experiences introducing and improving product management in different IT and software domains around the world. To allow better transfer of achieved results to your own settings, the webinar provides concrete guidelines about key success factors. An empirical study from implementing the product management competence in a Fortune 100 organization is presented. The webinar is hands-on and allows participants to raise their own respective needs and challenges. Presenter Dr. Christof Ebert, managing director at Vector Consulting Services will share his broad experiences in introducing and improving product management in companies around the world.

Estimating size or resources is one of the most important topics in product development and IT. You won’t deliver according to expectations if you don’t plan, and you can’t plan if you don’t know the underlying dependencies and estimates. This Vector white paper published in IEEE Software is an overview on estimation methods, techniques and tools. It covers estimation methods and provides an overview and evaluation of popular estimation tools.

(published in IEEE Software, 2/2011)

Requirements engineering is a key success factor in medical technology´and healthcare. Hospitals and healthcare reforms demand high quality at a shorter cycle time and tight budgets at the same time. Traditional development processes, that achieved innovative healthcare products with high quality through a cumbersome process are challenged today. We demonstrate with practical examples and industry experiences, how we improved product development towwards efficiency and cycle time with lean requirements engineering and product line engineering. Siemens Healthcare shows in our presentation how the cost of rework can be reduced by approximately 30%.

Automotive systems and thus electronic control units must be designed to function under a variety of operating conditions and must adhere to a number of mechanical, hardware and software constraints. Functional safety must be designed from a top-down approach and then embedded into each somponent. Frameworks such as AUTOSAR facilitate consistent design. In this article, we describe how functional safety can be achieved in the AUTOSAR environment. We provide practical examples from working with global OEMs and tier-one suppliers on implementing safety standards in E/E development.

Global software engineering is the consequence of the rather friction-free economic principles of the entire software industry. Many such distributed projects however are not successful and do not deliver the expected savings. GSE bears many challenges, specifically if done with an external supplier. We will look in this article to lessons learned from GSE to effectively and successfully manage supplier relationships. Both experiences and practical guidance result from our work with clients in automotive and telecommunication industries. They can be readily implemented, specifically our checklists for effective supplier management.

Requirements are the initial and basic building blocks combining processes in a product’s life-cycle. We take the position that only by taking an RE perspective in four key product life-cycle management activities, the underlying projects will be successful. The article describes a field study with data from 246 industry projects in the domains of software platforms, embedded systems and software applications. We found that these four life-cycle techniques must be used simultaneously to achieve tangible performance improvement measured by schedule adherence. Each technique is elaborated by concrete, practical experiences.

Requirements engineering is the systematic approach to providing direction before and during software development. It provides the means to deliver the right products or solutions at the right time for the right markets. Requirements Engineering (RE) bridges the entire life cycle and thus determines success or failure of a product or solution. This mini tutorial of Dr. Christof Ebert of Vector Consulting Services shows how to best use RE and master its challenges. It practically describes how to develop and write good requirements and how to manage them during the project. The presentation underlines the basic concepts and practices of RE with broad industrial experiences.

Individual support for the development of ECU software and in-vehicle networks

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(published in IEEE Software, Sep. 2010)

Developing software is complex, especially with many interacting people and teams. A variety of tools exist to model the development process and thus facilitate communication, automation, and collaboration. This article looks to support tools for process modeling and their underlying methodologies.

(published in IEEE Software, Mrc. 2011)

To survive in a fast changing environment, we need to continuously improve productivity, reduce rework, and optimize product strategies. Lean development and lean management offer the right ingredients: Eliminating waste, empowering teams, delivering as fast as possible, seeing the whole. But there is a dark side, as recent industry experiences show. Too lean is mean. Lean often fails due to lack of vision, organizational misalignment and insufficient execution. It is thus crucial for companies to successfully manage change towards lean development. Dr. Christof Ebert, managing director at Vector Consulting Services shares his broad experiences in introducing lean development.

Data sheet about COMPASS, the Vector solution for planning, executing and evaluating assessments and audits.

Software engineering involves people collaborating to develop better software. Collaboration is challenging, especially across time zones and without face-to-face meetings. We therefore use collaboration tools all along the product life cycle to let us work together, stay together, and achieve results together. This article provides an overview of tools and technologies for improved collaboration.

(published in IEEE Software, Mrc. 2010)

Brochure (English) about the scope of services Vector Consulting Services is offering (8 pages).

Brochure (English) about the tool COMPASS, Vector's solution for performing assessments and audits (8 pages).

Functions such as adaptive cruise control, crash protection systems, active body control and ESP are increasing in complexity and taking an ever more active role in controlling the car. These functions are realized by systems of sensors, actuators and interconnected electronic control units. The systems must be designed to function under a variety of operating conditions and must adhere to a number of mechanical, hardware and software constraints. In order to be able to manage the emerging product liability risks associated with such systems as well as ensuring the high level of quality required of automotive systems, significant improvements to engineering processes are necessary. In this article, we describe our experiences in adapting companies’ development processes to conform to safety standards and to cope with the challenges mentioned above. We detail key success factors in overcoming these challenges and provide practical examples from working with global OEMs and tier-one suppliers on implementing safety standards in E/E development.

Based on the specific challenges of automotive security, OEMs and suppliers have to realize an effective protection against manipulations of automotive E/E systems. Key points in the development of protected E/E systems are the proper identification of security requirements, the systematic realization of security functions, and a security validation to demonstrate that security requirements have been met. Based on our experiences in several client projects, we show which security engineering activities are required to create secure systems and how these activities can be performed efficiently in the automotive domain.

Benchmarking: Strategy for Analysis and Test Testing consumes almost half of the life-cycle costs of technical products and is absolutely necessary for product quality and market success – as recent incidents, that were immediately published, show. Our overview presentation from 2010 Euroforum highlights, how a thorough strategy for analysis and test can help to optimize quality while reducing cost and cycle time.

Read our presentation: "Requirements Engineering (RE) in Healthcare: Challenges, Solution Approaches and Best Practices" which we authored together with Siemens. It starts with an analysis of recent trends in medical systems, then proceeds to issues and challenges. Insufficient requirements enegineering is a major cause of errors in medical systems. We show with this presentation seven RE best practices to address the challenges and thus improve product engineering in medical systems.

To survive in a fast changing environment, we need to continuously improve productivity, reduce rework, and optimize product strategies. Lean development and lean management offer the right ingredients: Eliminating waste, empowering teams, delivering as fast as possible, seeing the whole. But there is a dark side, as recent industry experiences show. Too lean is mean. Lean often fails due to lack of vision, organizational misalignment and insufficient execution. It is thus crucial for companies to successfully manage change towards lean development. This keynote will introduce to lean principles and practices. It will draw upon the vast experiences at Vector from client projects in a variety of industries. Topics include lean transition, change management when introducing new tools, improving engineering processes, and setting up a global software organization. The Vector change check is highlightes so that participants can address their specific challenges.

Software tool for assessments and audits. The demo includes the CMMI Staged model (V1.2) as well as the Automotive SPICE model (PAM 2.4, HIS-Scope). The following restriction is implied in the demo: Runtime limitation for a period of 45 days, starting from the first time the program is run.

MD5 checksum: 16947f9a4ba4427c02897f57bb3b11a7

Rising cost pressure is forcing manufacturers and their suppliers to jointly and consistently master product development. Our case study shows how Volvo over time is achieving effective interaction of engineering processes, tools and people on the basis of product and application life-cycle management (PLM / ALM). Starting from establishing the relevant engineering processes, we show how they can be effectively automated for best possible usage across the enterprise and even for suppliers. We practically describe how such a profound change process is successfully managed together with impacted engineers and how the concepts can be transferred to other companies. Concrete results for efficiency improvement, shorter lead time and better quality in product development combined with better global engineering underline the business value – specifically in times where cost are to be cut and performance must substantially grow.

DE: Software-Messung stellt sicher, dass wir bei unserer Arbeit und in unseren Projekten die Kontrolle behalten und erfolgreiche Ergebnisse wiederholen können. gemessen werden Produkte (z.B., Leistung und Qualität), Prozesse (z.B. Verbesserung der Effizienz), Projekte (z.B. Lieferunggenauigkeit), und die beteiligten Personen (z.B. Entwicklung der Kompetenz). Dieser Artikel beschreibt, wie praktisch gemessen wird. Er bietet eine konkrete Anleitung und Beispiele für Projekt-und Prozess-Messung.

EN: Software measurement is the discipline that ensures that we stay in control and can replicate successful processes. It applies to products (e.g., ensuring performance and quality), processes (e.g., improving efficiency), projects (e.g., delivering committed results), and people (e.g., evolving competence). This article discusses software measurement and provides practical guidance for project and process measurement.

(published in CrossTalk, Jul 2009)

Improving the Exchange of Requirements and Specifications between Business Partners. Increasingly complex supplier-relationships dominate product development, independent of industries and products. Mostly the primary source of risks and later problems is insufficient coherence with requirements engineering methodology and collaboration between different business partners during the project. This article based on experiences from various industries and projects provides insight into how to effectively collaborate in requirements engineering. The Requirements Interchange Format has quickly moved forward over the past two years first in automotive and currently starting in domains such as medical and aerospace. This paper describes typical RE collaboration scenarios and what we recommend in order to mitigate risks and thus effectively manage complex supplier relationships.

Emerging from the Crisis: Improving Engineering Efficiency in Tough Times. Increasing cost pressure, shortening innovation cycles, global competition and grow-ing saturation in many markets demand efficiency improvement in product develop-ment. Successful organizations consider efficiency improvements an investment in their future – and in the current crisis of the world economy this need is even stronger. Many of our clients ask us whether the current situation with lots of cost cutting measures is the right time for process improvement. If done well and with good guidance on the necessary change management, process improvements will lead to quick wins and improved efficiency. Profound process improvement helps to trim RD&E specifically for the crisis. This article provides experiences and empirical evidence from such improvements in different context and companies.

(published in SPICE Days 2009 and Metrikon 2009, Sep. 2009)

Increasingly complex supplier-relationships dominate product development, independent of industries and products. Mostly the primary source of risks and later problems is insufficient coherence with requirements engineering methodology and collaboration between different business partners during the project. Our article at the IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering (RE09) based on experiences from various industries and projects provides insight into how to effectively collaborate in requirements engineering. Methods and tools are one side of the medal, but true collaboration also means having a platform to effectively and efficiently exchange requirements, specifications and their entire change management across impacted stakeholders. The Requirements Interchange Format (RIF) has quickly moved forward over the past two years first in automotive and currently starting in domains such as medical and aerospace. This presentation describes typical RE collaboration scenarios and what we recommend in order to mitigate risks and thus effectively manage complex supplier relationships. We will not “sell” any tool but rather indicate how RIF is applied in order to share, communicate and collaborate across different tools.

Our world and society are shaped and governed by embedded systems. It’s difficult to imagine day-to-day life without such systems. IEEE Software and IEEE Computer present insight from Vector Consulting Services, Siemens and world-renown Capers Jones on trends and evolution in embedded software. Read this intro article to get the opinion of the leading experts in the field on how embedded software will evolve.

(published in IEEE Software, May 2009)

Collaboration between OEM and suppliers. Rising cost pressure is forcing manufacturers and their suppliers to jointly master product development. Instead of throwing specifications "over the fence" continuous collaboration is expected. Our experiences in working with Bosch, Ford and Volvo practically show, how to connect requirements engineering and downstream systems development with respect to interfaces, data management and traceability. The described experiences provide a starting point for similar improvements in other companies. Read our contribution with experiences at Bosch, Ford and Volvo...

Finally installed, and then? With current cost pressure PLM and new tools are introduced to automate engineering workflows. However, the expected benefits are often not visible. Instead, employees are frustrated and continue working with their current work practices. The new interfaces create additional frictions and delays. Our consulting projects show that the root cause is often the same: There are many levers for tool support and improved efficiency, but implementation with sustainable results requires profound change management – which is rarely taken into account. To introduce PLM from concept to implementation has three key incredients. Learn from our experiences how to successfully introduce tools. Read our presentation on the practical implementation of PLM...

Globally distributed software development poses substantial risks to project and product management. This article systematically introduces risk management in global software en-gineering (GSE) for development projects and product evolution. Methods include using basic project, supplier and quality management techniques, process frameworks (e.g., CMMI), product life-cycle management, effective communication processes, SLA based escalation, competence management, and innovation management. A longitudinal empirical field study over several years from a captive SW center of a world-wide leading ICT company in India provides practical experiences and indicates how to effectively apply GSE risk management practices.

The market success of software and system products depends on the skills and competence of the product manager. This article from famous "Crosstalk" magazine provides an overview on software product management. We highlight 4+1 concrete practices that will boost software product management in your company and thus the success rate of products in terms of predictability, quality and efficiency.

(published in CrossTalk, Jan 2009)

Driven by the success from software process improvement and growing market requirements, companies like automotive suppliers start looking at systematically improving their hardware and mechanics development processes. This paper provides hands-on examples of applications from several process improvement projects. The overall experience and the strong user feedback encourage us to further pursue SPICE for hardware development.

Improving project management, product development and engineering processes is for many companies crucial to survive in a fast changing environment. However, these activities are rarely integrated well due to the diversity of stakeholders with individual knowledge about projects, products and processes. This case study shows how Alcatel-Lucent over time achieved effective interaction of engineering processes, tools and people on the basis of a knowledge-centric product life-cycle management (PLM).

(published in Information and Software Technology, 50 (2008))

Vector Consulting partner Christof Ebert had been interviewed by IT Metrics and Productivity Journal. This article covers the interview in a format easy to access major themes around software productivity. It elaborates how software productivity is measured and how to improve it. Starting with a goal-oriented measurement approach, it emphasizes the need to take a value-oriented perspective when improving productivity. It explains an objective-driven process improvement approach and how to get most business value from improvement activities.

(published in IT Metrics and Productivity Journal, 12/2006)

Presentation from the European Software Engineering Process Group Conference (E-SEPG), 12.-15.06.2006, Amsterdam.

PIID creation is mission critical for conducting a SCAMPI appraisal effectively and efficiently. Nevertheless it is observed that organizations often perform PIID creation with low maturity, i.e. on capability level one. Therefore a process for PIID creation based on capability level two is needed and will be presented. This process is divided into four phases which are aligned to the phases of a SCAMPI appraisal and which guide the PIID creation from gathering generic PIIDs to maintaining PIIDs during the document review and onsite activities. Real-life examples will be shown.

The share of semiconductors in the total value of an automobile has been growing in recent years. It is 10 % for the average medium-sized automobile today, and is expected to rise to 20 % in 2015. Associated with this trend are an intensified competitive environment and growing demands for new strategies and evelopment processes. Mastery of complexity, further improvements in development quality and reductions in development costs are called for. This paper by Robert Bosch GmbH and Vector Consulting GmbH shows how the CMMI model is applied to semiconductor development with a special focus on management involvement.

(published in ATZ elektronik, 3/2006)

With the intensified entry of software, even into safetycritical areas such as steering and braking [1] product safety is becoming a hot topic. Besides leading to costly recall actions that also take a toll on a producer’s image, substantial financial risks are also incurred, above all in product liability and producer liability. How can product safety be assured, and what consequences does this have for the development process? Does everything need to be restructured – or is it possible to build upon tried and true methods? In this article Dr. Klaus-Jürgen Amsler, Senior Consultant, Dr. Joachim Fetzer, Director of Vector Consulting GmbH and Dr. Meinhard Erben, Legal Counsel for IT Law, explain what is meant by a safety-relevant development process.

(published in AEP, 5/2004)

The possibilities of virtual design are highlighted in this article of Vector Informatik GmbH and Vector Consulting GmbH using the example of an automobile ECU network. Here, all elements of the network and the total system are modeled and simulated with the help of suitable CA(S)E tools. Only after successful conclusion of the simulation does the successive implementation on real control units occur. Design certainty - especially in the early phase of development - is thus improved significantly.

(published in Automotive Electronics, I/2004)

A glance at the last decade shows that nearly all important innovations in vehicle technology have been made with software-based electronic systems. This especially becomes clear if one considers the degree of networking in vehicles – as this article from Vector Consulting GmbH and Audi AG shows.

(published in ATZ, 9/2003)

Speech held an the European Software Engineering Process Group Conference (E-SEPG), June 14-17, 2004 in London.

Increasing comfort demands and the postulation of reduced environmental impacts lead to an ever growing complexity of software intensive mechatronic and electronic systems in the vehicle. The resulting challenge for automotive development: reduction of quality problems and their connected costs.

(published in Automotive Electronics, 03/2003)