This post starts a section looking at the timing and requirements of each phase of establishing a Model-Based Design culture.   With that in mind, the timeline for adopting an MBD process and establishing an MBD culture is dependent on multiple factors including, but not limited to

• Current usage of modeling tools:  The level of current knowledge and usage of modeling tools will influence the initial training and evaluation required.
• Current software development processes:  The software processes adopted as part of a Model-Based Design workflow will leverage or extend many of your current software development processes.  The more formalized the existing processes the simpler the transition.
• Compliance with high integrity software development processes: For a subset of software development projects compliance with high integrity processes such as the DO178-C or ISO 262622 imposes verification and traceability requirements that other processes can omit.
• Processes required for development:  The Model-Based Design environment offers multiple tools for the development of software.  Determination of which tools and processes are required is done as part of the initial adoption phase.

There are 5 phases of adoption and a 6 ongoing optimization phase.  The adoption and establishment can take between 3 to 5 years depending on scope as outlined above

1. Exploration phase: 1 ~ 3 month
2. Initial adoption: 3 ~ 6 months
3. Validation project: 6 ~ 9 months
4. Group roll out: 12 ~ 18 months
5. Department roll out: 15 ~ 24 months
6. Optimization: ….

In future posts, we will look at these phases in detail.