Automotive

SPICE® Introduction

Automotive SPICE®
Assessments

Kugler Maag Cie GmbH

© KUGLER MAAG CIE GmbH

Seite 1
 Agenda
• Assessments and Assessment Preparation

• Individual Preparation

• Qualification of SPICE Assessors

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 Assessments and
Assessment Preparation

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 Requirements On How to Perform Assessments
• ISO/IEC 15504-2 sets the requirements for
performing assessments, such as planning, data
collection, data validation, process attribute
rating, roles and responsibilities, inputs, outputs.

• Many assessment processes have been developed

over the years.

• Since assessor training has been standardized by

iNTACS for many years, one can expect that most
of the assessments today are performed
according to some minimum quality standards.

• In addition, the VDA published a standard

assessment process which can be used as an
example.

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 Typical Phases and Activities of an Assessment Process
Preparation Execution Conclusion

Initialization Opening Briefing

Consolidation of
Results
Preliminary and
Planning Interviews Consoli- Preparation
dation of Report
Document of
Screening Results

Final Findings
Feedback to Presentation
Team Preparation the Organization

Activities Activities
on-site off-site

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 Example Assessment Schedule - 1

Typical Agenda for Capability Level 2 Assessment HIS Scope according to OEM guidelines

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 Example Assessment Schedule - 2

Typical Agenda for Capability Level 2 Assessment HIS Scope according to OEM guidelines
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 General Approach of OEM Interviews during Assessments
• All persons who perform the process in daily business („experienced staff“) are
interviewed.
• Additionally the project leader and the QA responsible should participate the whole
assessment
• Typically, the assessment team consists of 2 Assessors with one Lead Assessor and
one Co Assessor.
• Where appropriate, also „technical staff“ (e.g. responsible constructing engineer from
OEM) is part of the assessment team.
• Typical sequence of questions:
• Base Practices & Work Product
• Generic Practices of the process attributes: PA 2.1 and PA.2.2
• “Evidence“ (positive as well as negative) is always searched for.
• It is impossible to look at all documents  samples are taken.
• Requirements breakdown is followed through several documents  traceability from
customer requirements to code
• Documents are checked very often during the assessment (online directly from the
project folder or out of the CM System) or via printouts.
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 Example Assessment Report

.....

Seite 9
 Example Assessment Report (cont.)

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 Example Assessment Report (cont.)

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 How to Prepare for an Assessment
2-3 months before
• Negotiate the date for the assessment, finalize the agenda
• Make sure that the right people are in the right interview slots.
• Perform a mapping between the Automotive SPICE practices and how they are
implemented in your organization.
• Perform a gap analysis using this mapping to understand what still needs to be done.
• Try to close the gaps as possible, prioritize the gaps, set up an improvement plan

2-3 weeks before the assessment

• Clean up the project folder (with the project team).
• Make sure everybody knows where important documents are.
• Prepare or select evidence you would like to present.
• Make sure that the people to be interviewed understand the Automotive SPICE
requirements and can explain how they believe they satisfy these requirements. Use the
mapping for this purpose.
• Brief the interviewees on how to behave in the interview situation.

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 Your Questions

Seite 19
 Individual Preparation

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 How can I prepare myself for the OEM Assessment ?
As an interviewee
Each interviewee has to be familiar with

a) The contents of the relevant processes

• Know the related process descriptions and process steps, also know the
generic processes witch addresses Capability Level 2 and 3 aspects (e.g. skill
management, resource management, EPG processes, …)

b) With project binder structure

• Know where the actual work products are stored and find them quick and
easily
• Understand the overall structure
• Know which work products you would like to present, select samples to be
presented (see also work product list as a preparation for this Assessment)

c) The essential terms of Automotive SPICE®

• read and understand the Base Practices and Generic Practices of Automotive
SPICE® of all your related processes (e.g. see Assessment agenda)
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 Automotive SPICE ® Assessment – Interview Session
Do‘s and Dont‘s

• Positive attitude: „Yes, but…“ instead of „No, but…“

• Answer directly to questions, don‘t tell long stories, don‘t start additional topics
• Exception: (strengths) Talk about excellent documents!

• Provide the evidence to the assessor, that he is looking for.

• Avoid long powerpoint presentations  show “authentic” documents instead

• Don’t say “This is not my responsibility” in case you cannot answer a question.
Instead say : “This is not in my responsibility. Please ask Mr. X, he might answer the
question”. Always try to answer the Assessor’s questions, act as a team.

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 Automotive SPICE ® Assessment – Interview Session
Do‘s and Dont‘s

• When you answer in an interview session, keep in mind,

• How is my activity defined for this purpose?
• What are the general guidelines for this activity?
• Do I know where above issues are documented?
• Do I have positive examples in focus, where I can document how the
requirements have been lived and implemented in the project?

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 Automotive SPICE ® Assessment – Interview Session
Do‘s and Dont‘s

• When a process weakness (= not working according to process) becomes obvious,

• Do not lie
• Instead, tell other facts that can compensate this weakness (something you
have done instead)
• In case of improvement actions being defined, show those to demonstrate,
that the weakness has already been identified and actions are taken (e.g. in
an improvement plan).
• Be careful:
• Do not expose additional weaknesses to the assessor!

• In case of process documents having been changed shortly before assessment

• Comment this actively, proven by change-history

• When documents cannot be found during interviews

• Provide them afterwards (e.g. via assessment coordinator)

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 Automotive SPICE ® Assessment – Interview Session
Do‘s and Dont‘s

• Prepare an answer for a possible final question

• What are the issues that were not previously addressed by the assessors?
• What is particularly good, what are you proud of?

 Answer deliberately!

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 Your Questions

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 Qualification of SPICE Assessors

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 intacsTM grades

Instructor
• Didactical skills (Competent level)
• Approval by an accredited instructor
(observation process)
• No training course or exam
Instructor
(Provisional level)

• Continuously and actively contributes to the

international ISO/IEC 15504 community‘s
knowledge & best practices Principal
• No training course or exam (qualified for all PAMs)

• Assessment experience
• Capable of leading assessments Competent (15504-5)
• Training course & exam Competent (Automotive SPICE)

• Little or no assessment experience

• Capable of acting as a co-assessor Provisional (15504-5)
• Training course & exam Provisional (Automotive SPICE)

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 Your Questions

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