Practicing Continuous Integration in a Multi-Supplier Environment for the Development of Automotive Software
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Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Software engineering and technology (MPSOF), MSc
Publicerad
2019
Författare
Abazi, Evio
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Background: Software development in the automotive industry is in transition
from the traditional V-Model to the adoption of Agile methods. Continuous
Integration (CI) is one of the most adopted practices when working Agile since it
enables faster feedback, workflow automation and allows constant testing
activities. However, in the automotive software development process are involved
OEMs and multiple suppliers; the practice of continuous integration in similar
projects may present several challenges.
Objective: The study aims to investigate the problems related to the practice of
continuous integration in a multi-supplier environment for the development of
automotive software. Moreover, it identifies the root causes of such problems and
provides potential solutions for preventing them.
Methodology: The thesis is based on qualitative research. An explorative case
study was conducted at the development sections of an OEM company and a Tier
2 software vendor. Observations and interviews at both companies allowed to
discover the main problems related to the adoption of continuous integration. A
Pareto analysis, in combination with Cause-and-Effect diagrams, identified the
root causes that had a major impact on the discovered challenges.
Results: Eight challenges are identified; their root causes are related to the
development tools adopted, lack of synchronization and barriers to effective
communication. In addition, potential solutions for the causes are provided and
implemented in a demonstrative CI environment for the development of a sample
application.
Conclusions: The study reports the challenges of practicing continuous
integration in automotive software development. In addition, the results show
opportunities for improvement for the identified problems. Since it is a single case
study, the generalizability of the results is still limited; however, inputs are
provided to the companies for improving their development process, and valuable
research insights are provided into the obstacles associated with the practice of
continuous integration in automotive software development.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
software development , automotive , embedded systems , agile , continuous integration , cinders , challenges