Advanced Testing of Systems-of-Systems, Volume 2

3Continuous Process Improvement

The constant improvement of processes aims to reduce design – and test – costs as much as possible and to improve products while respecting existing constraints (e.g. quality, costs and deadlines). These improvements are found in all organizational models (ITIL, COBIT, PMBOK, PRINCE2, CMMI, SPICE, etc.). We will focus on improving the processes related to testing.

Improving the quality of the systems produced – whether software or hardware – requires the systematic analysis of failures and the implementation of process improvement actions to avoid the introduction of such failures. Many safety-critical domains, such as aviation, implement this systematic analysis of failures to prevent their recurrence. This results in a high level of air transport reliability. To obtain reliable data for studying the causes of failures, manufacturers add “black boxes” (painted orange for easy identification) which record various flight parameters (FDR – Flight Data Recorder and CVR – Cockpit Voice Recorder). This data is strongly protected to remain readable and analyzable after a crash. Implementing similar solutions in the case of software is one solution. However, it is also necessary to be concerned with process failures and the need to analyze – objectively and without a priori – the processes to see whether they can avoid the reproduction of failures in the future.

Process improvement can only work effectively if the defects and anomalies identified are ...