The Creation of Modern Software

There is hardly a machine or plant from both the indus­trial and the private sector that would be conceivable without the use of imple­mented software. Whether measuring, control­ling, monito­ring, protec­ting, commu­ni­ca­ting, documen­ting, etc. – modern programs fulfill a multitude of tasks to make our lives more conve­nient, more effective and ultim­ately safer. In parti­cular, the software’s assump­tion of respon­si­bi­lity for safety requires extensive expertise and experi­ence, which we have acquired in countless successful projects. Conse­quently, the develo­p­ment of standar­dized as well as demand-specific programs have to consider a multitude of requi­re­ments before they can be integrated into the system and finally tested. Do you need a concep­tual design, valida­tion or perhaps the develo­p­ment of custo­mized software? Please do not hesitate to contact us; our highly qualified IT specia­lists will be happy to advise you and develop your indivi­dual solution – for sure!

The Requi­re­ments

The functions can only be executed reliably if they are described in detail. The course of the entire develo­p­ment must be planned in this phase and written down in the planning documents. If the functions can be expected to take respon­si­bi­lity for safety, the corre­spon­ding safety requi­re­ments must now be defined. The greater the respon­si­bi­lity for safety, the more demanding the measures that must be applied throug­hout the develo­p­ment process. The appro­priate measures must be selected in such a way that errors in the creation of the software are minimized in accordance with the safety respon­si­bi­lity.

Imple­men­ta­tion

The imple­men­ta­tion of software requires not only knowledge of the programming language, but also of the computer platform on which the software is to run. In turn, real-time systems place special demands on the develo­p­ment. GRABAND is your competent partner to meet even the highest demands.

Hardware/Software Integra­tion

Software is created for special computer hardware, but is imple­mented with powerful develo­p­ment environ­ments on suitable computers. Only when the software is running on the target hardware, i.e. when the hardware/software integra­tion has been achieved, can the function of the system be demons­trated. By the way, at each step of the process it is important to check whether the requi­re­ments from the previous step have been imple­mented correctly. We have a lot of experi­ence in this process, the verifi­ca­tion, from the defini­tion of the tests and analyses to the execution and evalua­tion of their results.

Testing and Valida­ting

Extensive testing at all stages of develo­p­ment must prove that the software works as required. All these tests must be defined, planned and carried out. Huge amounts of tests quickly arise and only automatic test sequences can cope with them. GRABAND has the experi­ence required to create and execute meaningful tests, whether software module tests, integra­tion tests or valida­tion tests, in order to conclude that the functional requi­re­ments regarding safety and quality have been met and to document this in the valida­tion report.

Prepa­ra­tion of an Expert Opinion

The processes used and the product created must be evaluated by an assessor. This involves assessing whether all relevant requi­re­ments from the respec­tive speci­fi­ca­tion have been imple­mented during the develo­p­ment of the product and whether the relevant regula­tions have been correctly applied. Our EBA (Federal Railway Office) accre­dited experts perform product and process assess­ments or inspec­tions based on the relevant standards such as EN 50126, EN 50128 and EN 50129.