SYNECT is a data management and collaboration tool with a focus on the efficient and automated verification and validation of ECU (electronic control unit) software.
Automated and Scalable Test Execution
Automate HIL, MIL, and SIL testing with unified workflows for higher efficiency.
Complete End‑to‑End Traceability
Ensure complete traceability from requirements all the way to test results.
Seamless Tool & Process Integration
Integrate SYNECT with ALM tools to bridge requirements, management, and execution.
Dashboards & Reporting
Monitor global test progress with customizable dashboards and comprehensive reports.
What is SYNECT?
SYNECT helps you manage and automate testing in local as well as globally distributed teams and connects management processes, actual test work, and tools. SYNECT provides full traceability from requirements to test results. Powerful monitoring options, such as reports or dashboards, visualize the test status and progress. With its integrated variant management, SYNECT provides a systematic and transparent approach for testing ECU variants and versions.
SYNECT furthermore automates test system setup, including HIL preparation and build processes, and enables agile development by supporting continuous testing. Using SYNECT will help you set up 24/7 testing and optimize HIL utilization.
Application Area
- Manage and automate testing
- Automate HIL testing and achieve more efficient HIL utilization
- Establish full traceability from requirements to test results
Test Management and Automation
Highlights
- Manage and automate MIL, SIL, and HIL testing
- Use your favorite expert test authoring tools
- Enjoy full traceability from requirements to test cases, test parameters, and test results – directly ensuring ISO 26262 compliance
- Monitor all test activities with comprehensive dashboards and custom reports
- Benefit from automatic consistency checks to prove that your tests are pertinent for the variant under test
SYNECT helps centrally manage data for the main test tasks, such as test development and test management. dSPACE offers a powerful testing tool chain optimized for the dSPACE test portfolio. From test authoring, test automation and test management to test execution on simulation platforms, SYNECT supports and optimizes the entire test process.
Test Development – Efficient and Traceable
- Develop requirements-based tests
- Use expert test authoring tools, such as AutomationDesk, NI TestStand, Vector CANoe/vTESTstudio, or use Python or MATLAB® scripts
- Transfer tests directly to the test management tool without any manual effort
- Speed up test development for new ECU variants by using variant-based parameterization and automatic consistency checks
- Store and manage test case parameters, and verify the results of assigned tests
The SYNECT Test Management – Test Development module gives test developers the means to efficiently develop tests while maintaining traceability. If formalized test requirements are used, test cases can be automatically derived from the textual requirements. You can easily store different sets of parameter values for different test variants and reference them for future testing.
Test Planning and Execution – Powerful and Monitored
- Systematically plan and control test execution
- Track and evaluate the entire test progress
- Monitor test results, archive the test result history, and generate reports for a comprehensive overview
- Trace requirements up to the test results by connecting to requirement management tools
- Check the requirement coverage and assess the maturity of the system under test at any time
- Manage test execution on different platforms: HIL systems, VEOS, MicroAutoBox, Simulink®
- Visualize SYNECT test results in business intelligence tools or other applications using the SYNECT OData API.
The SYNECT Test Management – Planning & Execution module helps you manage and automate test execution. Execute tests on specific test systems or queue tests to be automatically executed by available test systems, whether the test systems are next door or in another country. The built-in execute queue displays the status of all executions on the different test systems.
Using SYNECT Test Management in combination with the integrated HIL workflow management, you can fully automate all steps required for HIL system setup, test preparation, execution, and evaluation, making testing much more efficient.
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and Test Tool Integration
- Integrate ALM tools and processes to bridge the gap to actual test execution
- Establish ISO 26262 compliance through full traceability from requirements to test cases and test results
- Centrally store test results of all test platforms, e.g., MIL/SIL/HIL, and even of in-vehicle tests in one place
- Track the impact of requirement changes
- Benefit from our standard integrations or let us integrate your tool of choice
ALM tools are used to manage functional requirements, test specifications, software configurations, and defects. Companies often prescribe which ALM tool to use. The tools are usually not intended to connect to test implementation and automation tools. Therefore, the testers have to manually report their test activities, such as test results, tested variants and test parameters, to the ALM solution to achieve full traceability. SYNECT integrates with several ALM tools and processes to bridge the gap to actual test execution.
Today’s verification and validation strategies comprise different test stages on different test platforms, ranging from MIL and SIL platforms to highly customized HIL test benches to the testing of complete vehicles. This calls for a common solution that manages all test activities of the test platforms and test automation tools. SYNECT is the one tool for managing all tests and test results throughout the different test stages. SYNECT automatically collects the test results immediately after the test execution – No manual report or verdict copying is required.
dSPACE has integrated SYNECT with various ALM and test authoring tools for our customers. This let us implement the multifaceted process requirements of our customers by customizing the tooling to match their processes.
SYNECT is explicitly designed to seamlessly integrate into third-party tool environments – via open, well-documented APIs and on the basis of industry-approved standards.
Workflow Management
Highlights
- Create reproducible and reliable workflows to automate recurring processes
- Enable continuous integration and continuous testing for HIL as well as SIL test systems
- Manage highly complex test systems with countless variants and multiple software interactions
- Reduce HIL downtime by means of automated test system preparation and configuration
Before you start a test campaign, you have to complete several steps, such as preparing and configuring the simulator, downloading the correct software version to the ECU, and choosing the correct variant. If you do this manually, you might introduce errors. This might result in inconvenient downtime of the simulator.
The good news is, these steps can be automated by dSPACE Workflow Management (WFM), a tool that is based on the data management software SYNECT. WFM helps you automate complex tasks by creating easy-to-use workflows and comprehensive variant management.
Workflows can be triggered automatically, for example, for the automatic overnight preparation of large real-time testing applications.
Configuration management support
Automated processes typically rely on data in configuration management (CM) systems. WFM supports the integration of any CM system. We offer off-the-shelf integration for Apache™ Subversion®, Git, or PTC® Integrity® Source. The final build result can also be stored in a different dedicated repository manager, such as JFrog Artifactory.
Since all configuration management version information can be automatically documented, this level of process automation allows for the reproducibility required for tests of safety-critical systems developed according to ISO26262.
Issue Tracking Management Support
As for configuration management systems, it is possible to trigger workflows based on actions or status changes in issue tracking systems, such as Atlassian Jira, Redmine, Microsoft® TFS, or Microsoft® SharePoint. For example, closing an issue can trigger a dependent build process or it can trigger a test execution.
Managing Variant Information
Highlights
- Stay on top of the skyrocketing number of variants with integrated SYNECT variant management
- Define variant models containing variants, variation points, and constraints
- Use variant-based automation and configuration for your HIL preparation process with SYNECT Workflow Management
In ECU testing, the number of variants and the necessity for quickly testing more and more software releases requires a powerful variant management solution. SYNECT provides a systematic approach to variant handling and lets you define a central variant model, including constraints for individual variants. Furthermore, the individual data handled in SYNECT, e.g., test cases, parameters, and models, can be easily connected to the variants, thus enabling SYNECT to provide the right set of data in the appropriate step of the test process. For example, SYNECT automatically provides the relevant parameter set for ECU calibration, the required real-time application on the simulation platform, or the appropriate set of test cases for each test execution.
Signal, and Parameter Management
Highlights
- Centrally manage signals, parameters, and parameter sets
- Exchange parameters with other tools via import and export plug-ins
- Support of standards and standard file formats, such as dSPACE TargetLink Data Dictionary (DD), DCM, A2L, HEX, MOT, CDFX, and PAR
- Specify variant or value dependencies for each parameter
- Parameterize test cases
SYNECT supports the central management of signals, parameters, and parameter sets throughout the entire ECU development process. It supports commonly used file formats and standards, and provides direct connections to engineering tools, so you can easily store and retrieve signals and parameters. You can use integrated variant management to specify that a given parameter or parameter set has different values for different variants, for example.
Functionality Overview
Module |
Description |
| SYNECT Base |
SYNECT module for working with multiple clients on a common server, including user and rights management |
| SYNECT Test Management – Planning & Execution | SYNECT module for test planning, scheduling, and execution |
| SYNECT Test Management – Test Development | SYNECT module for test case development and parameterization |
| SYNECT Variant Management | SYNECT module for defining and managing variants as well as their impact on design and development data |
| SYNECT Workflow Management | SYNECT module for automatic test system setup, i.e., for HIL simulation and modeling, by means of workflow creation Tool for continuous integration, from autocode generation to SIL and HIL simulation. Support for variant and parameter handling in highly complex build and test environments |
| Workflow Runner Package Required for SYNECT Workflow Management |
Starter/Runner package manages the execution of workflows via the Starter user interface, automated jobs, MATLAB® or Python API Lets you start a custom workflow, e.g., to start dSPACE ControlDesk with the experiment associated with the selected variant configuration |
| Workflow Management Connector Package Required for SYNECT Workflow Management |
Manages the connection between SYNECT and other dSPACE or third-party tools required for automatic test system preparation Handles connections to ConfigurationDesk, AutomationDesk, ControlDesk, ModelDesk, and MATLAB®/Simulink® |
| SYNECT AUD Test Authoring Framework (TAF) | SYNECT-based test authoring and automated test execution with AutomationDesk |
SYNECT 2025-B version offers:
- Introduction of query permissions and extension of the Query Manager
- View configurations for the Global Search
- Persistent storage of server scripts
- Variant filtering in the requirements coverage view
- Receive progress information of jobs via OData
- Configuration of an expiration duration for jobs