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testfield efficiency TEST LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO TEST JOBS AVL’s Test Lifecycle Management solution offers a consistent and networked collaboration platform for the organization of testing processes and related knowledge. Leading automotive manufacturers and suppliers use it to achieve maximum robustness, efficiency and Before any new functionality, components or concepts can be integrated 2 8 F O C U S into a vehicle and brought to market, they must pass a number of tests in a simulation environment, on the testbed and in the vehicle, all of which must be carried out as early, as consistently and with as wide a scope as possible. Since the systems are becoming more and more complex and are increasingly networked with each other, testing complexity is increasing accordingly. This results in test processes becoming susceptible to errors and delays that could have serious consequences. Now place yourself in the role of a developer or a test facility engineer and imagine the following scenarios: • Your testbed is down because a component is missing. You are unable to resolve overbooking conflicts and hence projects are delayed. • You are studying the results of an endurance test and you suddenly realize that the test has been conducted with the wrong software release. You need to repeat several weeks of work. • You realize that a faulty sensor has been used. Unfortunately you cannot trace for which tests and measurement points this sensor was used and you have to organize repeat tests. • In the data analysis phase, you are no longer able to confidently determine what equipment level the vehicle had at the time of the test and are therefore unable to provide a robust evaluation. • You discover that a sensor has been used whose maintenance interval has been exceeded. You cannot trust the results. Even minor irregularities during the test process can result in the sub-optimal utilization of test resources or cause tests to be repeated. If you are trying to make the most out of your budget under these difficult circumstances, you need a strategy. This strategy will have to bundle all test information that emerges throughout the lifecycle of a development project in real-time and use the information in a targeted fashion; in other words, a systematic Test Lifecycle Management. This makes it possible for an organization to create a collaborative environment that enables the coordination of diverse test jobs across departments and site boundaries. This brings transparency, robustness and traceability into the processes. At the same time, results, experience, errors and faults can be captured centrally and used in later projects. This creates a structure for the entire testing cycle of a development project: flexibility in an agile development environment.


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