Model-Based Development's Promise for Avionics. To manage and balance the challenges of improving productivity and reducing cost, many organizations are implementing model-based design/development activities into their overall software lifecycle process.

Outsource Planning—Are You Doing It?. Outsourcing has increased significantly over the last 20 years and has really become a more mature business model, so we were disappointed by recent survey results from Deloitte Consulting LLC indicating a widespread lack of outsource planning.

Legacy Systems and DO-178B Certification. Some military aircraft project managers may feel overwhelmed when scoping projects to upgrade legacy avionics for DO-178B certification, especially with tight budgets. However, it is possible to cost-effectively meet DO-178B requirements with the right approach.

AVISTA Happenings. Just a quick update on news and events at AVISTA Incorporated.

AVISTA Brain Candy. Our continuing cartoon series from Mark Anderson, poking fun at some of the particulars of software development and office life in general.

March 2008

Formal Process Improvement Can Also Be Lean
As an SEI CMMI Level 5 rated company, we know from first-hand experience that achieving a CMMI maturity level rating isn't easy. However, we've heard industry comments questioning the value and cost of this type of process improvement. We believe that having a quality end-product is a direct result of using quality production processes.

When a product is developed correctly the first time, it eliminates re-work--making the development process leaner and more efficient. The trick to putting mature CMMI practices in place is to identify the point at which you've reached 'good enough', and not to overextend process improvements which could impact productivity. By employing a common sense approach to process improvement, it is possible to ensure the effort is applied to an area with the biggest potential return.

Do you believe organizations can achieve 'lean process improvement' coupled with a common sense approach? If your organization has a formal maturity rating, or if you're considering it, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Jim Schneller
President
AVISTA Incorporated

Model-Based Development's Promise for Avionics

While safety is the driving factor in the development of avionics software, the growing need to improve productivity and reduce cost is putting pressure on avionics system developers. To manage and balance these two challenges, many organizations are implementing model-based design/development activities into their overall software lifecycle process.

Model-based development relies on the use of formal methods to describe the system requirements and known objectives of the system. While model-based development has been used successfully in non-embedded and non-critical systems for years, its use in embedded avionics is still relatively new—although growing.

With the unique software/hardware relationship of embedded systems, the application of complete end-to-end model-based development has not yet occurred. Given the special certification requirements for avionics software, the DO-178C working group is addressing this technology in the forthcoming DO-178C guidelines.

AVISTA is one of many organizations using commercial model-driven development tools and is actively researching the impact on the industry to take advantage of its benefits for our clients' projects. AVISTA is also one of the companies participating in the DO-178C sub-group that is addressing this methodology. If you have any questions on how model-based development tools may help your next development project, please contact us at avista@avistainc.com.

Outsource Planning—Are You Doing It?

AVISTA is in its third-decade of providing critical-systems software services for avionics, medical device and military/government organizations. Outsourcing has increased significantly over the last 20 years and has really become a more mature business model, so we were disappointed by recent survey results from Deloitte Consulting LLC indicating a widespread lack of outsource planning.

According to the report, companies that outsource lack a solid outsourcing plan--by a 3-to-1 margin. While this survey is not specific to avionics, medical device and military/government projects, we've certainly talked to some organizations that might fit this statistic. Planning your outsourcing is as critical as properly designing a product—but it can be simpler.

A successful outsourcing strategic plan primarily involves defining your primary objective for outsourcing and the activities to execute the outsourced project. Typical objectives include cutting costs or improving time-to-market. However, some companies assume they can do it all—and have multiple objectives. However, some objectives might be in conflict, depending on the circumstances. While you may be focused on certain specific time-to-market objectives and hope to cut costs, if your outsourced partner is not involved early enough in your requirements definition or systems/software design process, or if timelines are moved up, your outsourcing costs may not be as low as originally anticipated.

All too often, people in an organization have different expectations for outsourcing. By prioritizing and documenting the primary objective, and perhaps identifying complementary secondary objectives, as well as outlining how these objectives can be reached, you can increase your chances of internal success since everyone in the organization will have the same expectations. AVISTA's paper "Making the Decision for Outsourced Engineering Services" walks through some of the considerations for outsourcing. If you'd like a copy of the paper, please email us at avista@avistainc.com.

Legacy Systems and DO-178B Certification

These days more military programs are re-engineering legacy aircraft systems for DO-178B certification. Some project managers may feel overwhelmed when scoping this task, especially with tight budgets. However, it is possible to cost-effectively meet DO-178B requirements with the right approach.

Certified software is highly valuable, so many DO-178B project managers often reuse software to minimize project time and costs. There is a common misperception that very few artifacts can be reused to upgrade to DO-178B, and often legacy teams end up starting from scratch. This approach can lead to inaccurate estimates for costs and schedules. We recommend starting by reviewing the existing software and look for opportunities to reuse artifacts.

Performing a comprehensive gap analysis to identifies the reuse information and defines the remaining tasks to be completed for certification. The recommended steps include:

1.) Determine software certification level for the system (A through E)
2.) Understand the DO-178B guidelines
3.) Determine what existing activities and artifacts can be reused
4.) Take advantage of existing processes

Following these steps, a project team will be able to establish which objectives are completely or partially satisfied, and which are not satisfied. After that, then an action plan can be established to meet certification requirements.

AVISTA has extensive experience updating legacy systems for DO-178B certification. If you're new to DO-178B, or if just you're planning a legacy certification project and want to maximize resources and minimize costs, please give us a call on 608-348-8815 or email us at avista@avistainc.com.

AVISTA Happenings

AVISTA's newest Programs Manager, Iad Al-Dahleh, has received his Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI). Al-Dahleh first joined AVISTA back in 1999 and helped start the company’s Minneapolis-area office. His software engineering experience spans both avionics and medical electronics. Many congratulations, Iad!

One of AVISTA’s engineers, Mark Kelley, will be presenting at this month’s SEPG North America conference, the premier conference on Software and Systems Process Management. Kelly’s presentation, “Why Safety-Critical Processes Make Sense Even If Not Required,” will be held on Thursday, March 20th at the conference. The conference runs March 17-20, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. If you'd like to learn more about this event, please visit: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/sepg/2008.

AVISTA Brain Candy

We think safety-critical software engineering is serious work, but we also like a good laugh. Our cartoonist, Mark Anderson, pokes fun at some of the particulars of software development and office life in general.