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Best Practices to Accelerate

Your Automotive SPICE
(ASPICE) Capabilities
Best Practices to Accelerate
Your ASPICE Capabilities

The automotive industry has drastically transformed over the past

quarter century. The innovation of rear-view backup cameras, Bluetooth
integration, autonomous driving systems and more infuses technology into
every part of the vehicle.

Twenty years ago, passenger vehicles shipped with only 1 million lines of code
onboard. Today, the navigation system alone requires 20 million lines of code,
and fully autonomous electric vehicles of the future are expected to require
over 1 billion lines of code. Technology advancements make driving
more pleasant, but they also make it safer. And with these
innovations come new regulations and standards, such as
the Automotive Software Process Improvement Capability
Determination (known as ASPICE).

If you haven’t adopted ASPICE yet, you might be

struggling to understand what the standards mean
for your software development and worrying
about the learning curve. At first glance, the
standards can feel overwhelming. Understanding
best practices and tips for success will help you
accelerate your ASPICE capabilities and meet
original equipment manufacturers’ requirements
with greater ease.

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Demonstrating ASPICE
compliance: What’s required?

Achieving ASPICE compliance requires you

to improve and evaluate your development
processes against the framework. The What is ASPICE?
documents that you complete vary based on
Provides a framework. ASPICE creates
project the specific project. Teams need to
a framework for auditors to evaluate
select the scope of the framework that applies
an organization’s capability for product
to their project.
development.
For example, perhaps you’re developing
Creates best practices. It defines best
software that runs independent of a system. For
practices for software-based systems
this situation, you don’t need to complete the
within the automotive industry.
documents that pertain to system requirements,
but you do need to explain why.
Is required by many customers.
Manufacturers often look for suppliers
Start this process early, and as you go through
with a specific ASPICE score. This
the product development life cycle, create
allows them to determine whether the
checkpoints along the way. This way, your team
supplier can meet performance, safety
can continuously check their progress against
and quality standards.
what is expected and ensure they’re following
the required processes.
Considers the whole company.
ASPICE evaluates more than the
product; it looks at the company as a
whole.

Offers different levels of compliance.

The assessment isn’t pass or fail.
ASPICE offers six levels of certification,
ranging from 0 to 5.

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The ASPICE process reference model

ASPICE includes a couple of important concerns, such as with autonomous vehicles,

components: the process reference model and you might strive for higher levels even if it’s not
the assessment model. required.

The reference model is a set of base practices Ultimately, the assessment model provides a
based on the V-model, such as creating the structure so that each team understands what’s
requirements documents, building traceability, required for a specific level of compliance.
running reviews and more. This reference
model requires development of of documents
known as work products. The reference model
is a set of process area best practices which ASPICE LEVELS: 0–5
can be used to guide your company’s process Level 0: The process is achieved and
improvement program. partially works.

Working with an outside partner can be useful Level 1: You can produce some work
in this area. Jama Connect® for Automotive, practices, but there may be some gaps.
for example, is designed to provide tools to
Level 2: You are fully capable and can
produce the required documentation to show
manage processes with a goal and checks,
ASPICE compliance. The technology also
and can react when at risk of not meeting
provides a central source of information to
the goal.
break down silos, improve communication and
foster collaboration between teams. Level 3: There are centralized standards
for processes, and the project follows
The second piece is the assessment model. those standards. This level is required to
This grades a team on how well they’re meet ASPICE compliance for many OEM
following processes. Companies typically have providers.
a goal in mind to achieve a specific compliance
level, which is driven by the customer. An OEM Level 4: You’re doing level 3 on a
might work only with software teams at level 3 consistent basis.
for example. Level 5: You’re continuing to integrate and
improve on that process every time you
Once you achieve the goal required by your
develop new software products.
customer, you might decide that is good
enough. However, if your product has safety

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ASPICE versus ISO 26262 —
what’s the difference?

A key difference between ASPICE and ISO standards were written with an awareness
26262 is that ASPICE is a process reference of one another. In fact, ISO 26262 requires
model and ISO 26262 is not. ISO 26262 is a companies to have a quality management
methodology used to develop safe systems system in place and ASPICE compliance can
based on risk level. Both are based on the fulfill that requirement. A couple of examples
V-model. include:

ISO 26262 focuses on functional safety — for  Developing software for an infotainment
example, if you’re building a system where system. If the technology fails, there’s no risk
there is a risk of people being harmed. This set to people, so these software teams might
of standards is focused on developing products not follow ISO 26262. They may elect to
that are robust and resilient to failures that follow ASPICE if the OEM requires it.
could lead to injury.
 Developing a component of advanced
If you’re developing something where there cruise control. Failure could result in bodily
is a safety risk, you would follow both sets of harm or death, so the team would likely
standards, ASPICE and ISO 26262. The two follow ASPICE and ISO 26262.

Key differences between ASPICE and ISO 26262 are as follows:

ASPICE ISO 26262
Applies to the development of all systems focusing Applicable to vehicle systems categorized as safety
on software and system parts. critical

Focuses on “continuous improvement” of the Does not require process improvements unless
implementated process for improved capability level there is a gap in compliance with the standard

Requirements analysis also includes the There is no consideration to schedule or cost

consideration of cost and schedule impacts on the factors, safety is the primary concern of the
product development standard

Focuses on the organization and project level Assessments are performed on system level to
process implementation and the assessment is ensure the functional safety objectives are satisfied
performed on the organization/project level for the defied safety critical level of that particular
system

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Getting prepared: Tips for preparing
for an ASPICE Assessment

Unlike many regulations, ASPICE isn’t a pass-  Use a requirements tool. A requirements
or-fail assessment. Each of the base practices management tool such as Jama Connect
requires 85% or better compliance score streamlines and automates tedious tasks so
in order to achieve compliance. As you’re you’re continuously working more efficiently.
preparing for an assessment, consider the Documentation generation is automated,
following: and the tool encourages structure, so the
team is consistently working with the right
 You might not get it right the first time. processes and the right document reviews,
Even companies that are experienced with which is a large part of showing compliance.
ASPICE might not get it right the first time.
Draft your current processes and compare The need to reassess and improve is part of the
them to the ASPICE V-model to identify any process of meeting ASPICE requirements. But
gaps. as with any compliance rules, you want to get
compliant faster and avoid missing deadlines or
 Embrace the feedback and adjust as you pushing back product releases. A requirements
go. Set your goal, work diligently and forge tool allows you to accomplish this through
partnerships that support that goal. But an established automotive development
remember it’s not a pass-or-fail test, so framework, reaching markets faster and making
any feedback provided can be used for it easier to achieve compliance goals.
continuous improvement. Many teams have
gaps in their processes or procedures, so it’s
important to rigorously test every phase.
ASPICE: Does it take longer
 Start documentation early. Start the
to create products?
documentation process early rather than
backtracking as you go. Doing so will help Complying with ASPICE requirements does
make it easier to show an auditor you’re in add time to the product development cycle.
compliance.
But investing more time on the front end
can save you time on the back end because
there may be fewer defects. Tools such as
Jama Connect for Automotive are designed
to provide the framework required to meet
market demands faster and more efficiently.

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How Jama software can help

Requirements documents are required for  Traceability requirements are done for you.
ASPICE. Jama Connect for Automotive allows Managing changes within spreadsheets
you to remove much of the manual work is a huge manual undertaking. Every time
associated with meeting this requirement. A something changes, it requires time-
single source of truth is maintained, and the consuming updates. Requirements tools
tool takes care of providing unique identifiers. such as Jama Connect handle this task
Jama Connect provides: for you without the risks associated with
manual input.
 A plug-and-play framework. Jama Connect’s
automotive framework is designed to follow Working with a trusted partner also has
ASPICE guidelines. That framework allows benefits during an assessment. If the assessor
you to produce the different components is familiar with the requirements tool, he or she
required so you can create the right work won’t need to check as much. The assessor
products to meet ASPICE guidelines. might say, “We’re familiar with Jama Connect,
and we know it has a unique ID for every item
 Supports first-time users. Jama Connect is and traceability rules, so we’re good in these
skilled at guiding first-time users through areas.” This helps the assessment go faster and
ASPICE compliance. A learning curve more smoothly, assisting you with achieving
existing with any new set of compliance certification faster and with fewer missteps.
standards and having an expert at your side
lessens that curve.

Whether your team is young or seasoned, small or large, all together

or scattered across boundaries, Jama Connect for Automotive can
help improve processes, reduce costs, improve time to market, and
help achieve ASPICE compliance. To learn more about Jama Connect
for Automotive, download our datasheet.

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Interested in learning more about how Jama Connect
for Automotive can help provide your team meet
market demands more quickly and efficiently?

Visit jamasoftware.com/solutions/automotive to learn how

Jama Connect can optimize success for your organization.

ABOUT JAMA SOFTWARE

Jama Software is focused on maximizing innovation success. Numerous firsts for humanity
in fields such as fuel cells, electrification, space, autonomous vehicles, surgical robotics, and
more all rely on Jama Connect™ to minimize the risk of product failure, delays, cost overruns,
compliance gaps, defects, and rework. Jama Connect™ uniquely creates Living Requirements™
that form the digital thread through siloed development, test and risk activities to provide end-
to-end compliance, risk mitigation, and process improvement. Our rapidly growing customer
base of more than 12.5 million users across 30 countries spans the automotive, medical device,
life sciences, semiconductor, aerospace & defense, industrial manufacturing, financial services,
and insurance industries. Visit us at jamasoftware.com.