The ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE: Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination) depicts the worldwide accepted standard for the rating of the process capability and for process improvement. In the automotive industry – especially in Europe – the ISO/IEC 15504 is used for the rating and qualification of control unit and software suppliers.

Due to tightened competitive conditions companies establish process improvement projects as means for an improvement in efficiency and quality intensification in their development departments. As a basis for the process ranking and improvement the automotive manufacturers demand from their suppliers the use of Automotive SPICE^® as an ISO/IEC 15504-2 compliant assessment model which is aligned to the needs of the automotive industry.

By means of numerous practical exercises and hints the course prepares the participants for the independent – yet under the responsibility of a Competent Assessor – work on single topics in assessments in order to assess the processes according to Automotive SPICE^® in their own company or at suppliers and optimize them on this basis.

Conception
This seminar discusses the basics of the ISO/IEC 15504 and Automotive SPICE^®. The content of this training is standardized by the intacs™ curriculum.

The certificate has the title “intacs™ ISO/IEC 15504 Provisional Assessor (Automotive SPICE^®)”.

In order to pass the training as Provisional Assessor (Automotive SPICE^®) the active participation during the course and the pass of the independent exam at the end of the course is necessary.

Please mind that we recommend an independent pre- and post-processing on each seminar day for a successful participation of the exam.

Content
The content equates the curriculum published by intacs™.

• Process assessment concepts
• ISO/IEC 15504 architecture: components and dependencies
  • The capability dimension: capability level and process attributes
  • The measurement framework: process profiles and rating of capability level
  • The process dimension and process reference models using the example of ISO/IEC 12207 Amd1 & 2 and Automotive SPiCE^®
  • Assessment models and indicators
• Requirements to conformity of an assessment model
• The assessment models in ISO/IEC 15504-5 and Automotive SPICE^®
• Use of assessment results
• The assessment process
  • Assessment preparation, composition of inputs
  • Assessment planning
  • Gathering of data: examination of documents
  • Gathering of data: Interviews
  • Data Validation and process rating
  • Presentation of assessment results
  • Verification of conformity of the assessments
• Competence of assessors
  • Qualification criteria and their verification
  • The International Assessor Certification Scheme
• Case study with role play – a realistic case study with according documents is used in order to give the participants the chance to conduct a smaller assessment. The main activities of an assessment – including preparation, interviews, document analysis, data validation and results presentation – will be practiced by the participants.

• Recommended are 3 years of work experience in an IT area (e.g. software/system development, project management, quality assurance or similar).
• For a certification as Provisional Assessor a 2 year work experience in the automotive domain has to be proven
• Successful participation of the training “intacs™ certified ISO/IEC 15504 Provisional Assessor Automotive SPICE^®” including passed exam.
• Academic education

The prerequisites can directly be downloaded in the current valid version at www.intacs.info.

Language
The training materials are in English. The seminar is offered in the languages:

• German
• English

Conditions and certificate
The seminar fees are EUR 2.500.00 exclusive of VAT and an examination fee of EUR 450.00 exclusive of VAT which is charged by the VDA in case of a participation at the exam (the current released fees of the VDA-QMC do apply: see www.vda-qmc.de).