6 Part 6: V-Modell Reference Activities

6.3 Activities

6.3.10 System Design

6.3.10.7 Preparing System Implementation, Integration and Evaluation Concept

Purpose

When preparing the system or subsystem implementation, integration and evaluation concept (see Figure 24 ), the realization, step-by-step build-up and quality assurance of the designed system have to be defined.

The desired process will be used as a guideline for the preparation of the concept. In a first step, all relevant requirements and framework conditions shall be formulated in the Project Manual respectively by the acquirer. Those requirements and framework conditions will be considered when describing all environments that will be necessary for the realization of the system.

On this basis, it shall be determined in what order, in which environments and with which tools realization, installation and testing shall be carried out. The aim will be the definition of an appropriate iterative development process.

An integration plan shall be defined as additional information for integration. It will describe which instances of the system elements will be integrated in which sequence into a system.

When the integration plan has been determined, it shall be defined which of the elements in the integration plan will have to be subjected to testing. The rules for this will be provided by the evaluation strategy. For each requirement, the integration plan shall specify which elements shall be tested in order to verify that they meet the requirements.

The evaluation strategy and the integration may influence each other. The individual integration steps shall be defined therefore in a way that evaluation redundancies will be avoided and that risks will be reduced to a minimum by early quality assurance measures. Before the integration begins, it must be ensured that the segments or units to be integrated are in the »Product State »Finished and that they fulfil their respective specifications. The impact on system architecture and »Enabling System Architecture shall be considered.

Activity Flow

Figure 24: Activity Diagram "Preparing System Implementation, Integration and Evaluation Concept"

6.3.10.7.1 Identifying Realization Procedures and Target Environments

As preparation for the development process relevant requirements and framework conditions from the project manual shall be identified and defined. For example, the following may be specified:

• the programming language to be used (e. g. Ada, Java, C++, VHDL),
• the platforms to be used (e. g. operating system, communications system),
• the development environment to be used (e. g. IDE, compiler, binder),
• the target environment to be used (e. g. FPGA, processor family),
• the methods be used (e. g. OOA, OOD, SA, OOSE, SD),
• the standards and guidelines to be used (e. g. ISO standards, German DIN standards, VGA standards),
• the line issues and »Enabling Systems to be used (e. g. test equipment, master tooling, host systems, personnel with special training).

6.3.10.7.2 Defining Development Process

When defining the development process, it shall be determined how the requirements and interfaces of the specification can be realized in the system elements.

The process will define a uniform system development approach for all stakeholders in the project. The selected approach should be supported by the selected development environment. An appropriate documentation of this approach will support the familiarization of new stakeholders in the project with the new work.

6.3.10.7.3 Preparing Integration Plan

Parallel to the definition of the development process, the integration architecture shall be derived from the system architecture, and the building plan for the system elements shall be laid down. In this connection at first the system elements that shall be integrated and, on top of that, the integration sequence shall be determined for all system elements.

In order to permit the realization of the integration, also the requirements for each system element shall be described in the order of integration (for example the cabling sequence, individual steps of the software download on the hardware or the description of a makefile).

6.3.10.7.4 Determining Evaluation Strategy

For determining the evaluation strategy the specifications from the »QA Manual shall be adopted. In the evaluation strategy the following shall be determined:

• Which requirements will be tested for each integration step with which environment?
• Which requirements will be tested at what level of the system elements? Usually quality requirements, just as environmental requirements, will be verified at higher levels.
• Which system elements will be verified together because of dependencies concerning content and structure? Typically »Segments will be tested on a vibrating table as a whole and not each of the individual components of the segment.
• Which tests will be covered by simulation at which level? For destructive testing an obvious solution will be to conduct simulations at the lower levels of the system elements and to perform the actual test during final acceptance or at higher system levels.

The individuals of the system elements will refine the evaluation strategy and determine how it is implemented.

6.3.10.7.5 Determining System Elements Critical to Safety and Security

See Determining System Elements Critical to Safety and Security in activity Preparing Enabling System Implementation, Integration and Evaluation Concept.