Model-Based Design Process Assessment and Maturity Framework

A Model-Based Design Process Assessment™ is delivered by senior consultants from MathWorks Consulting Services and provides an efficient and cost-effective evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of an organization’s current Model-Based Design methods, tools, practices, organizational structure, and environment. Utilizing this information, MathWorks consultants identify the highest-priority areas for improvement and recommend a detailed plan for making these improvements to meet the goals of the organization.

In performing assessments across a wide range of industries and applications, MathWorks has developed the Model-Based Design Maturity Framework™ which represents the fundamental capabilities needed to develop embedded systems using Model-Based Design. The six core competencies crucial to deploying a mature Model-Based Design development environment make up the pillars of the Framework and are: Modeling, Simulation and Analysis, Implementation, Verification and Validation, Process, Tools and Infrastructure, and Enterprise Management. These competencies are independent of the industry, application, organizational size, and development process used. An organization’s processes are assessed against the goals and practices described in the Framework.

Modeling: The competencies, techniques, and expertise required to develop algorithms, environment, plant and system-level models. This includes qualities such as architecture, modeling language, and modeling standards.

Simulation and Analysis: The competencies, techniques, and expertise required to utilize simulation and analysis throughout the development cycle to realize an accurate, optimized, and robust design.

Implementation: The competencies, techniques, and expertise required to generate optimized code that meets the embedded application requirements.

Verification and Validation: The competencies, techniques, and expertise required to measure, enforce, and perform verification and validation activities throughout the development process to improve product quality and reduce effort and time required for testing via early problem detection, automation, and reuse.

Process, Tools, and Infrastructure: The quality, completeness, documentation, and maintenance of the process, tools, and infrastructure required to ensure engineers have adequate support for utilizing Model-Based Design.

Enterprise Management: The business practices, strategy, organizational alignment, and supplier alignment required to meet business objectives and maximize ROI on the tools for Model-Based Design, people, and infrastructure.

The overall maturity of a deployment of Model-Based Design is determined by quantifying the maturity of each of the six pillars in the Framework. To facilitate the observation and measurement, the Pillars are further decomposed into multiple Process Groups. Each Process Group is further broken down into Process Attributes. The figure below illustrates two additional levels of decomposition for the Modeling Pillar.

Using the Framework provides information at multiple levels of detail:

• At the Pillar level, corporate targets can be defined, comparisons to competitors are made, and major enterprise-wide improvement priorities established.
• At the Process Group level, data identifies areas of concentration needed in order to have the best effect on individual Pillar maturity.
• At the Process Attribute level, specific improvement needs are identified and targeted actions initiated.

A typical assessment follows three steps:

1. Evaluation of Existing Processes, Organization, Technology, and Objectives

MathWorks Consulting Services reviews your current software development process, organizational structure, development, and testing tools in use, and the objectives at both the group and organization levels.

2. Management and Technical Staff Interviews

Using the Framework, senior MathWorks consultants interview management, software developers, and Model-Based Design practitioners within your organization to understand existing organization, processes, and technology capabilities and issues and objectives for improving the existing environment. From these interviews, our consultants develop an overview of your organization’s needs, a recommended set of critical improvements, metrics, and actions that can be implemented immediately within key project teams.

3. Immediate and Long Term Improvement Plan

MathWorks Consulting Services provides feedback and suggestions regarding recommended changes and improvements, giving priority weighting to those of near-term value. We present findings and recommendations to your organization and discuss opportunities for improvement across the core competencies, including an overview of what’s required to achieve the organization’s stated goals. We outline the overall requirements and cost for implementation.

Benefits of a Process Assessment include:

• Obtain a baseline for improving quality, productivity and return on investment
• Improve Model-Based Design processes
• Provide immediate and long-term improvement plans
• Promote use of in-house best practices across the whole organization
• Evaluate Supplier interface

Contact MathWorks Consulting Services to discuss your specific requirements.