personAuthor: Process Fellows
You can have perfect compliance and a failed product — or vice versa. ASPICE supports quality, but success also needs vision, execution, and market fit.
arrow_forward "Empowering engineers through ASPICE awareness"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
Engineers often see ASPICE as abstract or irrelevant. But when they understand how practices improve quality — and save their own time — engagement rises. Offer short trainings, show how their work fits into the bigger system, and connect practices to real project wins.
arrow_forward "The assurance of the quality"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
Assuring quality in product development is the task of a role that could be called a quality manager.
This does not mean that the quality manager produces the quality. This is the task of the roles responsible for the processes. This means that everyone of the project team is responsible for the quality of their work results!
Nevertheless, the quality manager is generally responsible for ensuring quality. To this end, he or she must check the process and work results (on a random basis), identify deviations, and ensure that these are resolved by the respective responsible team members.
If this does not happen, either the resolution of the deviations or the supervisory activity of the quality manager, the low quality often falls back on the quality manager. In assessments, a corresponding negative evaluation can then be expected.
arrow_forward "When and How to use supporting processes"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
Supporting processes like SUP.9 (Problem Resolution) or SUP.10 (Change Request Management) are often misunderstood as “back-office.” But they’re vital for delivering quality. Make sure your teams know when to invoke them — and how to record their outcomes. A 2-minute log of a problem review can save hours of debugging.
# PROCESS PURPOSE
The purpose is to provide independent and objective assurance that processes comply with predefined provisions and that non-conformances are resolved.
# PROCESS OUTCOMES
O1
Process quality assurance is performed independently and objectively without conflicts of interest
O2
Criteria for process quality assurance are defined
O3
Conformance of process activities is verified, documented, and summarized
O4
Non-conformances of process activities are recorded, analyzed, and managed until closure
O5
Independent escalation mechanism is implemented
# BASE PRACTICES
BP1
Establish independency and objectivity for process quality assurance. (
O1 )
Ensure process quality can be assured objectively without conflict of interests resulting from dependencies within organizational structures. Note 1: Organizational structures may be influenced by hierarchy or standardized process frameworks.
BP2
Implement an escalation mechanism. (
O5 )
Ensure that quality assurance can escalate problems independently to appropriate levels of the organization for resolution.
Linked Knowledge Nuggets: arrow_forward "Managing quality issues and escalation effectively"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
When quality issues or required corrective actions are not resolved in a timely manner, relevant stakeholders must be informed, as such delays may jeopardize project success.
To address this, a structured escalation strategy is essential. This strategy should define:
Escalation levels
Responsible stakeholders
Escalation criteria and thresholds
Methods and channels for escalation
However, implementing an escalation strategy goes beyond simply initiating escalations. Management must ensure that escalated non-conformances are actively tracked and resolved, with clear accountability and follow-up mechanisms in place.
BP3
Define criteria to assure quality of process activities. (
O2 )
Define quality criteria for process activities and assure that the processes meet their defined goals according to the (Project = Endeavor with defined start and finish dates undertaken to create a product or service in accordance with specified resources and requirements.) schedule. Collect and analyze data of process quality assurance and initiate (Project = Endeavor with defined start and finish dates undertaken to create a product or service in accordance with specified resources and requirements.)-related actions.
Linked Knowledge Nuggets: arrow_forward "Cybersecurity: Audit or Assessment?"
personAuthor: Timo Karasch
How can you get through the many cybersecurity requirements for suppliers? Some ask for audits, others for assessments. Various standards are referenced, such as ISO/PAS 5112, ISO/SAE 21434, Automotive SPICE®, the ACSMS. Sometimes even ISO 26262 or ISO 19011 come into play!
In this webinar, we will try to bring some order to this audit and assessment chaos. What types are there, what are they used for and when should we carry them out? Based on some recommendations shown in the webinar, all participants are invited to contribute their experiences and problems.
school
Webinar recording and slides
arrow_forward "How to run a lightweight internal process audit?"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
Audits don’t have to be painful. Pick 1–2 key processes. Interview team leads. Sample 2–3 work products. Ask: What’s working? What’s unclear? Capture findings, assign actions. You’ll uncover gold with minimal effort — and strengthen both compliance and team engagement.
arrow_forward "Process quality checks should not focus on assessments only!"
personAuthor: Process Fellows
Process quality criteria should include verification of compliance with organizational standards, defined processes, and procedures. In addition to internally established quality requirements, externally defined criteria—such as those specified by customers—must also be taken into account.
While Automotive SPICE® is an important framework, it represents only one aspect of process quality. Relying solely on Automotive SPICE® practices is insufficient for ensuring comprehensive quality and compliance. A broader, integrated approach is necessary to meet both internal and external expectations effectively.
BP4
Ensure resolution of non-conformances. (
O3, O4 )
Deviations or non-conformances found in process quality assurance activities are recorded, analyzed, and managed until closure.
BP5
Summarize process quality assurance activities and results. (
O3 )
Summarize activities, deviations, and trends of process quality assurance.
# OUTPUT INFORMATION ITEMS
14-02
Corrective action (
O4 )
Identifies the initial problem
Identifies the ownership for completion of defined action
Defines a solution (series of actions to fix problem)
Identifies the open date and target closure date
Contains a status indicator
Indicates follow up audit actions
Used by these processes:
PCOM Partner and Collaboration Management
POPM Potential Project Management
PQAS Process Quality Assurance
18-52
Escalation path (
O5 )
Defined mechanisms to report and confirm escalation relevant issues
Identifies stakeholders to be included in the escalation path
Identifies levels of escalation
Used by these processes:
PQAS Process Quality Assurance
16-50
Organizational structure (
O1, O5 )
Disciplinary reporting line
Organizational units and sub-units, if applicable
Used by these processes:
PQAS Process Quality Assurance
18-07
Quality criteria (
O2, O4 )
Defines the expectations for work products and process performance
Including thresholds/tolerance levels, required (Measurement = “The activity to find the size, quantity or degree of something”.), required checkpoints
Defines what is an adequate work product (required elements, completeness expected, accuracy, etc.)
Defines what constitutes the completeness of the defined (Task = A definition, but not the execution, of a coherent and set of atomic actions.)
Defines what constitutes the performance of the defined (Task = A definition, but not the execution, of a coherent and set of atomic actions.)
Establishes expected performance attributes
Used by these processes:
PQAS Process Quality Assurance
13-19
Review evidence (
O3, O4 )
Provides the context information about the review:
what was reviewed
lists reviewers who attended and their area of responsibility
status of the review
Provides information about the scope of the review:
PQAS
Process Quality Assurance
