Flying to India for Software Testing

Ramesh Pillai

Aerospace companies today are facing increased pressure to shorten the entire development cycle and increase time to market, all while simultaneously reducing costs. Delays in development, testing, design and manufacturing can be detrimental to an aerospace company's bottom line. And with innovative business models currently being implemented and tested by many aerospace companies, the aerospace sourcing market has been forced to adapt to a changed global landscape. Many global companies are balancing more programs than ever before and with lack of skilled labor being an ongoing challenge, these companies are seeking new ways to outsource projects and tasks to external companies.

Tapping India

India has long been recognized as one of the premier outsourcing destinations in the world. In fact, Gartner confirms that India is "unequivocally" the global leader in offshore IT and process services. With more than 2.5 million graduates entering the workforce every year, and with the second largest pool of scientists and engineers in the world, India offers aerospace companies access to a pool of professionals with exceptional engineering expertise, coupled with high quality product development and proven experience in long-distance project execution.

Many aerospace manufacturers are partnering with offshore providers in India that enable them to compete in an industry that requires rapid development and top quality output at a reduced cost. These manufacturers have found sourcing projects such as software engineering, hardware design, test engineering (including sourcing of test equipments), tool development, mechanical engineering and manufacturing cost-effective solutions that enable them to focus on more value-added business priorities such as R&D. According to Gartner , the adoption of offshore services has been steadily gaining traction and is "an irreversible trend." Many aerospace companies are following this trend and looking to outsource projects to help with development, testing and manufacturing processes.

Since many India-based outsourcing companies were early entrants in the aerospace industry, they have many years of experience testing and executing mission critical, turnkey projects for global aerospace customers. As such, Indian companies have certifications and services tailored to meet the specific aerospace quality standards. HCL was the first Indian company to be awarded the AS9100 certifications for its expertise in tools processes and methodologies. Furthermore, Indian companies such as HCL have services tailored to meet aerospace standards such as DO-178B for software and DO-254 for hardware engineering

In the aerospace industry, specifically, software and testing services are areas that are growing rapidly from a sourcing perspective. Indian IT services have the experience as well as the capabilities to offer a range of testing solutions that comply with the aerospace industry's stringent quality requirements, including the design and development of testers (functional, production and in-circuit testers), data acquisition systems, integrated test rigs, interface test adapters, system software development, test program set development and execution and legacy test software conversion.

Companies such as Boeing accelerated the development process of the Dreamliner family of 787s when the company announced it would leverage several of its strategic global partnerships to create a worldwide team dedicated to the vision of building this super-efficient airplane. The 787 is a family of airplanes in the 200- to 300-seat class that will carry passengers on routes between 3,500-8,500 nautical miles. The 787 will allow airlines to offer passengers more of what they want: affordable, comfortable, non-stop, point-to-point travel to more destinations around the world. In addition to bringing big-jet ranges to mid-size airplanes, the 787 will fly at Mach 0.85, as fast as today's fastest commercial airplanes, while using much less fuel.

In August 2004, Boeing selected HCL as a software development partner for the 787 Dreamliner program, which opened a new chapter in the outsourcing aerospace services practice. Under this multi-year, multi-million dollar software development agreement (SDA), HCL began providing software, hardware and mechanical engineering services to Boeing and their Tier 1 systems suppliers for the 787 program. As part of this effort, HCL developed the next generation system to support flight test and worked at a systems requirements definition level for the Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) with some of Boeing's Tier 1 systems suppliers for the 787 program.

Ironing Out Differences

Since validation, verification and testing are often considered "non core" activities, they have emerged as ideal projects to use as pilot programs. When working with any partner overseas, differences in cultures, processes and technologies are inevitable. Identifying projects that are suitable for early success and then expanding the relationship by scope and size is a strategic way to build the confidence of the executive team and iron out the cultural differences early in the relationship. Through this approach, many aerospace companies have reaped benefits of initiating a pilot program, then expanding the relationship beyond non-core work to take advantage of outsourcing companies' capabilities in developing and executing complete end-to-end projects, including development of software and hardware engineering.

When developing a pilot program, establishing performance and operational review processes on all levels with both the aerospace company and IT partner will ensure that issues are addressed and plans are revised as needed, on an ongoing basis. Additionally, agreeing upon a process model for the engagement is necessary. It's advisable that aerospace companies require a well-defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) and establish project metrics to regularly measure productivity, quality and scope of work.

Aerospace companies are increasingly realizing the advantage of leveraging a global delivery model for best of breed, high quality solutions at a reduced cost. As offshoring continues to emerge as a strategic model for reducing time to market and costs, aerospace companies will continue to seek partners to help achieve these goals. Many aerospace companies, including Boeing, have already discovered the benefits of partnering with Indian IT services provider for software testing and development. By launching pilot programs focused on activities, such as validation, testing and verification, aerospace companies are finding early success in the offshore model and then, are able to expand these relationships to included end-to-end projects. This trend will undoubtedly continue to revolutionize the way aerospace companies develop products and conduct business. And while the nature of these business models might change, one thing is for sure-the aerospace industry will continue flying overseas to places like India to reap the immense benefits of global partnerships.

Source: Dataquest