SmartDelta Methodology: Automated Quality Assurance and Optimization for Incremental System Engineering

TL;DR

Software evolution creates version and variant deltas that can degrade quality if not managed systematically. The authors introduce the SmartDelta Methodology—a six-stage, delta-aware framework for continuous engineering—and demonstrate it with seven tools across requirements, design, and quality assurance. The contributions include formalizing delta management in software engineering, mapping tools to stages, and delivering practical artefacts (dashboards, an interactive methodology web version) to support automation and decision making. The work has practical impact for organizations pursuing incremental development by enabling targeted quality assurance, tool-assisted recommendations, and visualization of delta impacts across versions and variants.

Abstract

Modern software systems undergo frequent updates, continuously evolving with new versions and variants to offer new features, improve functionality, and expand usability. Given the rapid pace of software evolution, organizations require effective tools and methods to mitigate the challenges associated with these changes, also called deltas. To address these challenges, the international SmartDelta Project joined industry and academia to develop and test solutions for incremental development and quality assurance. This paper provides insights into the SmartDelta project achievements and highlights one main contribution: the SmartDelta Methodology, a domain-unspecific concept for delta management in incremental software engineering. This methodology enables companies to identify gaps in their continuous engineering environment across six stages and helps to discover new tools in various technical areas. Additionally, the paper presents seven selected tools at different stages of the methodology.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: Step-by-step industrial evaluation setup and contribution to the Methodology
• Figure 2: SmartDelta Project Working Structure
• Figure 3: The SmartDelta Methodology
• Figure 4: Usage of NALABS Tool from GUI.
• Figure 5: The red bar indicates the complexity density of the Java project compared to other projects.