Gentex Process Improvement

The Challenge

Gentex approached Atomic Embedded for consulting help on rolling test-driven development into their software creation process. Gentex’s customers, automotive companies like Audi, BMW and Ford, were calling for higher standards for software quality, including full branch coverage via unit testing. Additionally, some OEMs are requiring Automotive SPICE Level 3 assessments. Beyond unit-testing, the SPICE certification requires integration testing (to ensure that individual subsystems function as expected when brought together) and traceability measures so that test cases can be related back to requirements.

The Process

Fluent in agile, Atomic Embedded has long recognized the value that agile methods can bring to a software team, even in the embedded context. The large set of process and traceability measures required by SPICE, however, have not traditionally been satisfied in an agile context. Atomic Embedded was therefore pleased to observe the many synergies between SPICE and agile practices with respect to validation and quality. Atomic and Gentex collectively met the unique challenges of bringing TDD to embedded development (the C language and low horsepower processors) with the help of our homegrown tools (Unit, CMock and Ceedling) designed to streamline the process.

AE additionally was sensitive to the disruption new process can introduce. Both parties recognized that an outright overhaul of Gentex’s existing development process would disrupt many processes that were in place for good reasons. AE was careful to take a pragmatic strategy in applying new practices, making changes to the existing workflow in a controlled manner. By adopting a pragmatic and introspective approach, AE helped Gentex make a successful transition to a new system-of-play to address the new challenges that SPICE presented.