Michael Reiner

Automotive Knowledge Alliance AQUA – Integrating Automotive SPICE, Six Sigma, and Functional Safety

This paper discusses (based on the EU project AQUA) how the core elements of three complementary approaches and standards can be integrated into one compact skill set with training and best practices to be applied. In this project experts from Automotive SPICE (ISO 15504), Functional Safety (ISO 26262) and Lean Six Sigma collaborate. In a first analysis the experts identified an architecture of core elements where all three approaches fit together and where a holistic view about improvement is needed. The Automotive Clusters from Austria and Slovenia are trial partners and will roll out this knowledge in pilot courses to the industry. Other Automotive Clusters showed interest and will join the trial phase.

Europe wide industry certification using standard procedures based on ISO 17024

ECQA (European Certification and Qualification Association) is the result of a series of EU funded projects from 2005-2012. This included European projects such as EQN (European Quality Network, 2005-2007), EU Certificates Campus (2008-2009) and DEUCERT (Dissemination of EU Certification), the ECQA nowadays acts as an organization that is independent from funding. The members of ECQA are widely spread all over Europe and vary from universities to companies as well as individuals. ECQA is aimed at a demographic problem of education and training in the European Union. For people at 40-50 it is many years ago that they attended the university and required skills nowadays are changing every 2-3 years. This means that their skills get outdated and we experience in Europe a growing unemployment from the age of 45 upwards. Universities in Europe are currently not addressing this problem. EQN developed a so called role based qualification concept where e.g. an existing software engineer (who studied informatics some 15 years ago) can identify job roles to upgrade so that he remains a value for the organization. He might receive additional industry qualification for e.g. a safety architect (additionally learning how to enrich existing software architecture with functional safety aspects). This way the person, would for instance, grow into a safety architect position and a younger person who knows more about new programming techniques gets his old position. EQN then developed certification mechanisms for this role based approach for university and industry educational partnerships. EU Cert Campus collected about 15 job roles, structured the corresponding skills sets and established online services. The online services comprise skills browsing, skills assessment, and online training. So people from industry can attend job role based qualification training from the work place. DEUCERT established ambassadors for this new job role based qualification concept Europe and worldwide. DEUCERT also helped to create a critical mass of partners. At the moment we do have 26 job professions (ready and in progress) that are certified all over Europe and already outside of the European Union. The concept is meanwhile supported by approx. 60 universities and training bodies in Europe. Human resource managers from leading multinational companies called ECQA “a success story” because so far the universities in Europe do not address the mentioned demographic problem and ECQA has already achieved more than 11000 online trainings and more than 6600 certificates in European industry and at university PhD programs. The processes of the ECQA are mapped onto the ISO 17024 international standard for the certification of persons. The PAC project will integrate further skills sets and certification options into the ECQA platform.

An investigation of software development process terminology

The practice of software development has evolved considerably in recent decades, with new programming technologies, the affordability of hardware, pervasive internet access and mobile computing all contributing to the emergence of new software development processes. The newer process initiatives, which include those which are sometimes referred to as agile or lean methods, have brought with them new terms, which sometimes reflect the introduction of novel concepts. Other times, new terms correspond to long established concepts that have been repackaged. The net position is that we have a proliferation of language and term usage in the software development process domain, a problem which has implications for assessors and assessment frameworks, and for the broader community. In this paper, we explore this problem, finding that it is worthy of further research. Plus, we identify a technique suited to addressing this concern: the establishment of a canonical software process ontological model.

Refactoring software development process terminology through the use of ontology

In work that is ongoing, the authors are examining the extent of software development process terminology drift. Initial findings suggest there is a degree of term confusion, with the mapping of concepts to terms lacking precision in some instances. Ontologies are concerned with identifying the concepts of relevance to a field of endeavour and mapping those concepts to terms such that term confusion is reduced. In this paper, we discuss how ontologies are developed. We also identify various sources of software process terminology. Our work to date indicates that the systematic development of a software development process ontology would be of benefit to the entire software development community. The development of such an ontology would in effect represent a systematic refactoring of the terminology and concepts produced over four decades of software process innovation.

The Future of SPI Knowledge and Networking in Europe – A Vision

Authors of this paper have been founders of the EuroSPI (1994 – now, www.eurospi.net ) network with the first networking of SPI strategies published at CON’93 conference. They were also founders of the idea and establishment of a Europe wide certification network ECQA ( www.ecqa.org ) in 2005 (strategy development 2005 – 2007, online systems set up 2008 – 2009, Europe wide roll out since 2009). In a think tank and network of leading SPI experts we have developed the idea of a future European knowledge networking strategy and how the existing SPI paradigms will shift into a new SPI world applying new principles for collaboration, networking, and using new media which became available in the last 3-4 years.This vision will then impact about how we collaborate and implement SPI in the future.

Forming a European Innovation Cluster as a Think Tank and Knowledge Pool

In the ECQA (European Certification and Qualification Association, www.ecqa.org) there are different Job Role Committee consortia which have developed training and certificates related to entrepreneurship and innovation. This paper elaborates an innovation and improvement strategy for Europe where the different consortia join forces to form a Europe wide alliance based on a pool of several modern certified job roles comprising more than 120 knowledge and training modules, 400 performance criteria and learning outcomes, as well as an online campus. The strategy is to bring these different consortia and qualifications together and create an entrepreneurship and innovation portfolio available for universities and businesses across all the European member states. An ECQA certified terminology manager qualification approach will be used to create an ontology linking all these entrepreneurship qualifications to form a European knowledge pool.

A Conceptual Mixed Realities (AR/VR) Capability Maturity Model – With Special Emphasis on Implementation

This paper investigates the promoting and opposing factors which determine implementation paths (or process improvements) of mixed reality applications in industrial companies. Mixed realities are defined as the combined application of virtual and augmented reality technologies. We review maturity model-related literature to ascertain which reference models are available and how mixed reality phenomena have been treated. The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is the starting point of our analysis. The authors aim at setting the foundation of a mixed reality readiness/maturity model that take into consideration the scientific relevance and the actual requirements of the practical application. The conceptual model incorporates the companies’ technological, organisational and industry value chain-related maturity-levels. To consider empirical implications, we applied a case study approach based on the real-life implementation projects in industrial companies.

Innovative Marketing in Low-Tech Micro Companies - Lessons Learned from Study Projects

In current markets, there is a strong need for innovation (products, marketing, etc.) to set yourself apart from competitors. However, innovation is usually labour and capital intensive, and requires qualified employees with freedom for creative endeavours. Large or medium sized companies in most cases do have resources for that. High-tech micro companies (such as start-ups) appear in the market by creating innovation and therefore lack the pressure of existing companies. Low tech-micro companies on the other hand, work in established industries, have many competitors, and do not have time to do little else besides routine core activities of running their business. Therefore, these companies have a need for innovation but this need is practically impossible to fulfil, because of lack of capital, access to the required innovative technologies, the necessary experts (qualification) and general lack of time. The study project presented was aiming to develop virtual reality marketing game prototypes for low-tech micro companies. Participants of the project were marketing students from Lithuania, business administration students from Austria and computer science students from Germany. Oculus Rift game prototypes were successfully developed because of this project to two Lithuanian micro companies, one veterinarian practice and a tree nursery. Both micro companies now are having the opportunity to use these marketing innovations in cooperation with the universities. Project results were supported by feedback from the companies. Experts of the field as well as participating companies rated the transfer of innovation as good practice and a transferable model for innovation within low-tech micro companies.

Innovation and Project Management in International Distributed Teams. A Description of an Current Project Work

This project tried to combine students from different degree programmes together in workgroups to get the best learning in communication within project teams with dirstributed teams. Students were given tasks weekly and reports were made continuously. Learning were made not only by programming for the companies, but also in information exchange of business-, media- and programming studentns.