Tag Archive for: DO-178C

Tailor Plans and Templates in Jama Connect®: The Value of Having Process and Tools in a Single Place

There are dozens of regulations, best practice frameworks, and corporate governance standards that all describe the value of documenting the processes used to design and develop systems upfront before development begins and suggest that evidence be collected to demonstrate that the documented processes were followed. The end goal is to effectuate process improvement and develop behaviors that decrease risks in service, product, and software development. To the engineers in the trenches doing the work, it can be daunting to keep up with following the right process, especially in aviation. Observations I have after working in the industry for over 25 years is that:

  • Engineers have difficulty translating what is in the process document to how to perform their work every day.
  • Engineers do not have the time to go searching for the latest process documents.
  • Engineers are not certain the content in process documents are enough or correct to satisfy critical audits.
  • Engineers wish that the process of documentation and evidence demonstration was captured automatically in the tools they use day to day.
  • Engineering managers wish that more time could be given for training in state-of-the art engineering techniques rather than process training.

Related: ARP4761A Introduction for Engineers and Managers

EASA and the FAA point towards industry standards which all call for a plethora of documentation that needs to be created to support the objectives. DO-178C (Airborne software), DO-254 (Airborne firmware/hardware), and ARP4754A (Aircraft/Systems) also require reviews, audits, and proof thereof. Some of the best “proof” is detailed and complete checklists covering the primary lifecycle activities and their generated artifacts.

Jama Connect® can provide engineers with a single place to author and read documentation without having to leave the requirements tool in which they are working and look in a file share. The process guidance need not be static but should also assist engineers to follow the process while performing their work. The Jama Connect workflow engine and process documentation can be tailored together to take advantage of streamlining the work that engineers do and assist in the automation of evidence collection and reporting.

The built-in Review Center in Jama Connect can also assist with review of process documentation in each stage of involvement (SOI) in addition to review of requirements, verifications, and risks. By taking an iterative and collaborative approach to reviewing lifecycle data in real-time, Review Center improves stakeholder alignment, reduces lengthy review cycles, and eases the path to compliance. Traditional review processes often stifle collaboration resulting in misalignment, long review cycles, versioning issues, and an abundance of unnecessary meetings. Having a centralized place to manage and collaborate on reviews eases keeping track of the findings and observations, making reviews more efficient and scalable.

Related: Afuzion Plans and Checklists for DO-178C, DO-254, and ARP4754A

AFuzion’s Aviation Compliance Templates and Checklists are now integrated within Jama Connect™. This proprietary content is used by 17,000 engineers worldwide in 25 countries for most certification agencies including FAA, EASA, NASA, ESA, TC, CAAC, CASA, DASA, STM, INTA, RNZAF, MOD, US ARMY, US Air Force and many more. AFuzion has spent 200 person-years of expert aviation engineering time to develop these full templates; this means you begin effective aviation development/certification work immediately instead of expending 10-16 person months developing inferior plans/standards/checklists on your own.

Using DO-178C and DO-254 templates for Plans, Standards, and Checklists ensures that you have an appropriate framework for successfully developing and certifying your system. These templates and checklists can also help in getting organizations to the goal of higher SEI CMM/CMMI ratings (preferably Level 3 – 4+). Usage of AFuzion’s process templates and checklists are intended to maximize the probability of project success and quality by:

• Reducing costs by using pre-built material from the most well-known industry experts instead of spending 2-3 person years typically necessary to develop these internally
• Eliminating tools silos by keeping your Process documents in line with your requirements data
• Enabling better communication of process requirements to your engineering teams


safety-critical product development

Bridging the Gaps in Safety-Critical Product Development

In increasingly complex, competitive, rapidly evolving, and highly regulated industries (including aerospace, automotive, and defense), market forces are creating new challenges for development teams building safety-critical products. To address this challenge, Ansys is hosting a webinar to discuss how combining a product development platform like Jama Connect with a model-based embedded software tool can help you bridge safety-critical product development gaps.

Date: September 15, 2020
Time: 11 AM EDT / 3 PM GMT /8:00 a.m. PT / 17:00 p.m. CEST

Designing complex cyber-physical systems not only requires a significant number of specialized stakeholders, but also efficient collaboration during development and verification activities. With some teams working remotely around the globe, there may be gaps in communications, locations, or tools that must be overcome to deliver the expected product in time and on budget, while being compliant with functional safety regulations.

In this webinar, Ansys and Jama Software show how to bridge the gaps by integrating a modern product development platform, such as Jama Connect, and a model-based embedded software tool, such as Ansys SCADE. From high-level requirements to V&V activities to implementation, you’ll be able to share a single source of truth that provides value to all stakeholders and facilitates alignment across teams.

Register and learn how to:
  • Design a product from stakeholder requirements to implementation according to safety standards like DO178-C or ISO 26262
  • Move from natural language requirements to formalized implementation with a high level of automation and using appropriate guidelines
  • Manage end-to-end traceability from requirements to tests and code that provides transparency to practitioners and management
Speakers:

Francois Xavier Dormoy, Senior Product Manager, Ansys
Michael Jastram, Senior Solutions Architect, Jama Software

 

DO-178C Avionics Development Best Practices

We’ve all heard the joke, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.” The adage is true for many goals in life we strive for.  As defined, practice is…

“Repeated exercise in or performance of an activity or skill so as to acquire or maintain proficiency in it.”

From an early age, we’re taught that the more we do something, the more we learn about the best way to do it. If practice doesn’t always make perfect, it gets us closer to perfection.

But in avionics development there is hardly time to practice. When moving quickly and passing regulatory compliance audits are top priorities, teams can’t sacrifice time or effort to repetition and refinement.

Adding to this pressure, avionics development has precious little margin for error, with schedules, budgets and safety all on the line.

During each avionics product development project, every organization wants to minimize the same things: cost, schedule, risk, defects, reuse difficulty and compliance and regulation certification roadblocks.

So, how then can “practice” be reconciled with avionics development?

The best answer is to understand the breadth of current development processes and glean the best knowledge and solutions from the aviation ecosystem.

Welcome to DO–178C Best Practices.

Creating and instilling a set of DO-178C best practices for avionics development helps engineers and stakeholders focus on the right processes at the right times.

Certain avionics software development practices are self-evident, such as utilizing defect prevention and automating testing. The DO-178C best practices we have identified are subtler and considerably less practiced, and yet, when utilized together, they greatly increase the probability of avionics project and product success.

According to Vance Hilderman, founder of two of the world’s largest avionics development services companies and primary author of the best-selling book on DO-178 and DO-254,  here are the top 10 not-always-obvious DO-178C best practices that every avionics developer needs to know:

  1. Improved LLR Detail: If requirements are the foundation of good engineering, detailed requirements are the foundation of great engineering.
  2. Parallel Test Case Definition: If a tester cannot unambiguously understand the meaning of a software requirement, how could the developer?
  3. Testing Standards Implementation: Requirements, design and code all have standards. What should a software test standard cover?
  4. Model Framework Templates: Software modeling will eventually fade away … when software functionality, complexity and size all decrease 90%.
  5. Fewer, Better Reviewers: Why one great reviewer is better than many good reviewers.
  6. Automated Regression & CBT: How devoting upfront time to a test automation framework can provide the single largest reduction in development expense.
  7. Automated Design Rule Checker: On their best days, humans perform satisfactorily when checking software design rules; in the safety-critical world, not all days are best days.
  8. Advanced Performance Testing: Would you want to buy a new car model which has never been tested in aggressive driving conditions?
  9. Parallel Traceability / Transition Audits: The reasons why experienced developer teams deploy proactive SQA and tools to monitor bi-directional traceability continuously.
  10. Technical Training Workshops: The four critical processes that yield improved productivity, consistency and high ROI.

To learn more about how these best practices can make a difference in your avionics product development projects, read DO-178C Best Practices For Avionics Engineers & Managers