Formula 1™ Electronics Information System
Innov8ive Software™ personnel worked closely with a Formula 1™ World Championship winning team to provide a system to manage the electronic components of the race car for the 2008 season. An earlier project using another software supplier had resulted in a system which provided the functionality requested, but which was unreliable and exhibited some serious performance deficiencies, and was considered unfit for use in a production environment.
The challenge was to develop a system in time for the commencement of the 2008 car build process, which started in October 2007. Given that we became involved in June 2007, the timescales would not allow for a traditional approach.
We commenced with a précis of the functional requirements of the new system, and immediately began to prototype the core functionality of the system. Weekly reviews with our clients and the key users provided valuable feedback, and we took the opportunity to suggest improvements to the system. This prototyping period required some time commitment from our clients, but had great benefit in that we could learn first hand about their working practices, and they could gain confidence in our ability to transform the knowledge we gained into working software.
The short timescales for the initial software delivery required an innovative approach, so we focussed on the areas of functionality which our customers advised us were actually required on the target release date. We discovered that the initial phase of the car build process involved the definition of electronics part designs, with the physical production of components following some two months later. By focussing on the functionality which was vital from day one, we delivered a tested and usable system within 10 weeks of commencing development.
Over the following months leading up to the start of the 2008 season we delivered a series of further releases providing further functionality on a “just in time” basis. Throughout this period we agreed priorities with our clients on a two weekly basis, and delivered software with the agreed functionality at the end of the two weeks. This approach was designed not to produce a predefined package of software, but to deliver the maximum business benefit based on our customer’s judgement of what would be most valuable to them.
By the start of the race season the system was integrated with other factory systems. This provided the ability to easily check the mileage covered by individual components, publish details of servicing carried out on components to other systems, and view usage history, race team comments, and documentation relating to the electronic components being managed. Previously a user needed to access several systems to view this information, which could now be viewed in a single user interface. Facilities to print and scan barcodes on components were also integrated into the system.
One of the keys to our ability to deliver new software every two weeks was our slick deployment and upgrade processes. At each release we delivered multiple versions of the code correctly configured for each test or production environment, with database upgrades delivered as a single database script. The client application uses an automatic upgrade process which automatically detects and installs any newer version available.
The electronics information system is now being used in the 2009 race season, and has resulted in efficiency gains in exchange for low ownership costs. On visits to our clients it is always satisfying to see the system in use.