In the development of complex automotive HMI systems, car manufacturers don’t make use of their full potential. Although efficient reference processes and innovative development approaches exist companies prefer the application of established methods and tools. The shift towards new development approaches takes place slowly and step by step to avoid a negative impact on running processes. The consequences include an insufficient flow of information, the lack of consistent interfaces and exchange formats and unclear areas of responsibility.
One approach to counteract the consequences of this development is the application of collaborative measures. The integration of new possibilities for communication and interaction has the potential to improve the cooperative work of process participants permanently. The selection of the most beneficial solution from the extensive range of collaborative software initially demands a detailed knowledge of the usecase and the associated requirements. Therefore this thesis analyzes the development process for the HMI-graphic and interaction specification of the Porsche AG to identify and integrate a suitable collaboration solution into the running process on the basis of a requirement analysis.
At first the HMI-development process of the Porsche AG is described and documented. During the process analysis several interviews and workshops with the roles involved in the process are held and evaluated to gather the requirements for a measurement for process optimization. On the basis of the results possible approaches are evaluated. The integration of a software solution is identified as the most beneficial solution and is applied. A preliminary selection from the collaboration solutions is made on the basis of the requirements. By comparison with multiple selection criteria a collaborative platform with extendable functionality is selected since its features comply best with the identified requirements. A local file and application server is then set up and configured to guarantee the secure operation of the software components that together provide a collaborative working environment for HMI development.

Master thesis of Felix Schröder, April 13th 2015
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Ansgar Gerlicher, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Timo Seehaus (Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG)