{"id":93,"date":"2026-07-23T17:28:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/?page_id=93"},"modified":"2026-07-23T17:28:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:28:55","slug":"case-study-automated-software-planning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/case-study-automated-software-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Study &#8211; Automated Software Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-006f131a wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Automated Software Planning and Supplier Tracking for an Automotive ECU Program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The challenge<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A software-planning team supporting the development of engine-control ECUs had to coordinate deadlines, software changes and communication with an external software supplier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Information about requirements, changes and planned software versions was maintained in a dedicated collaboration tool. However, the relevant data was also copied manually into an existing Excel template for internal tracking and reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This work had to be repeated frequently and created several problems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Considerable time was spent transferring information by hand<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Manual entries increased the risk of missing or inconsistent data<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tracking which changes belonged to which software version was difficult<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Internal reporting required repeated preparation and checking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The team had limited capacity for additional planning and coordination work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The process was used by a mixed project team consisting of two employees from the client organisation and three external consultants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The opportunity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After taking over the project as team lead, the existing workflow was reviewed more closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It became clear that the collaboration tool could export the underlying data directly. Each requirement and change had its own identifier, making it possible to connect individual items with the relevant software versions and track their status systematically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This meant that the daily manual transfer of information was no longer necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The solution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The existing Excel template was redesigned into an automated tracking and reporting solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of entering information manually each day, the team exported the complete dataset from the collaboration tool once per week. The Excel solution then processed and structured the exported information automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The solution supported:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Import and processing of exported project data<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identification of requirements and changes using unique IDs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Assignment of changes to the relevant software versions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Structured tracking of deadlines and delivery status<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Clearer monitoring of the software supplier<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Automated preparation of internal reporting information<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Consistent weekly updates without rebuilding the report manually<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The approach retained the tools already familiar to the team while removing the most repetitive part of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The result<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The automated workflow significantly reduced the amount of manual data entry required for software planning and reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team gained a clearer overview of planned software versions, associated changes, deadlines and supplier progress. Internal reporting became easier to prepare, and supplier commitments could be followed more consistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By reducing repetitive administrative work, the five-person project team had more capacity for coordination, analysis and additional project responsibilities. This allowed the team to manage a greater workload without increasing the amount of routine reporting effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Technologies and capabilities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Excel automation, exported-data processing, requirements traceability, software-version planning, supplier tracking, reporting automation, data validation, workflow analysis and process improvement.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Automated Software Planning and Supplier Tracking for an Automotive ECU Program The challenge A software-planning team supporting the development of engine-control ECUs had to coordinate deadlines, software changes and communication with an external software supplier. Information about requirements, changes and planned software versions was maintained in a dedicated collaboration tool. However, the relevant data was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-93","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94,"href":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/93\/revisions\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uphoffnet.de\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}