A Sustainable Approach for Achieving Capability Level 3 for ASPICE Test Processes

Testing is the most important activity in quality assurance for software. However, years of experience in assessing test processes in the automotive industry have shown that it seems to be very hard to establish test processes that are both effective and conforming to standards like Automotive SPICE (ASPICE) on a sufficient process capability level. Proper training for test personnel like test managers and testers is needed for all decisions on the test process. They need to be trained on ASPICE requirements to understand the fundamental framework of the automotive test process. They also need to be trained on testing terms, test process steps and test methods to be able to understand both the terms used in ASPICE and to decide upon how to implement ASPICE in their development and testing teams. Lastly, they also need experience and training on the job to plan, supervise and perform their daily testing tasks. We propose to use specific modules from the ISTQB® Certified Tester Scheme to qualify test managers and testers to come up with proper test processes up to capability level 3 (CL3). Additionally, we propose a sustainable approach for continuous stabilization and improvement of these test processes to permanently keep CL3 in the face of change.