With planning done, the DO-178C process moves into its core activity: turning requirements into actual designs and code. But DO-178C isn’t only about building software — it’s about making sure every piece can be traced, reviewed, controlled, and backed up with certification-ready proof.

Managing this manually is extremely difficult. That’s where IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (ELM) offers a major advantage. It connects requirements, architecture, modeling, source code, and verification into one governed environment. This article explains how DO-178C software development objectives align with IBM ELM capabilities and how the suite supports teams in meeting certification requirements efficiently. 

In practice, DO-178C expects teams to focus on three major parts of software development:
● Requirements Development
● Software Design
● Coding and Integration
Each step has strict objectives, such as:
● Consistent and traceable refinement of requirements
● Documented design that supports verifiable implementation
● Coding standards and conformance
● Traceability from requirements through design, source code, and tests
● Reviews that show correctness, consistency, and compliance
● Controlled changes and baselines
This is where teams typically struggle. Requirements change. Design evolves. Code grows quickly. Without a structured system to manage it, keeping everything properly documented and connected becomes incredibly hard.

IBM ELM consolidates all components into one structured system, allowing teams to stay compliant while still working efficiently.

1. Working With Requirements Using IBM Engineering Requirements Management (DOORS Next) Requirements are the foundation of
DO-178C. In ELM, DOORS Next allows teams to:
● Maintain high-level, derived, and low-level software requirements
● Use version-controlled modules for stable baselines
● Capture requirement attributes such as DAL level, safety tags, verification method, and priority
● Ensure every requirement is reviewed and approved before use
● Link requirements to design, model elements, change requests, and verification artifacts
This ensures complete traceability, which becomes essential for certification audits.

2. System and Software Design with Engineering Systems Design Rhapsody
DO-178C expects the design to be clear, consistent, and verifiable.
IBM Rhapsody supports model-based design (MBD), which DO-178C endorses when combined with the DO-331 supplement. It provides:
● Block diagrams, activity/state charts, and architecture views
● Automatic linking between requirements and design elements
● Model simulation to catch errors early
● Design consistency checks
● Generated documentation to support certification evidence
Design becomes fully traceable and systematically controlled, eliminating “whiteboard design” risks. 

3. Controlled Coding with Engineering Workflow Management (EWM)
Coding under DO-178C requires structure, enforcement, and traceability. EWM supports this by providing:
● Integrated source control with change sets
● Coding rule enforcement through custom process templates
● Linked work items for development tasks
● Code reviews before approval to maintain standards and control changes
● Linking development tasks to work items, so every step is tracked and connected.
This satisfies DO-178C objectives related to implementation reviews, consistency, compliance with standards, and controlled change.  

4. Maintaining Traceability Across Development Artifacts
Traceability is the backbone of DO-178C evidence.
Using global configurations, teams can link:
● Requirements to design
● Design to code Code to test cases
● Test cases to results
● Change requests to impacted artifacts
IBM ELM automatically visualizes these traceability chains and highlights gaps. This ensures nothing is implemented or modified without being properly linked and reviewed — a critical certification requirement. 

5. Supporting Iterative or Agile Development
While DO-178C is often associated with waterfall models, the standard does not restrict the development method.
IBM ELM enables:
●Agile work item tracking
● Iterative baselines
● Incremental growth of requirements, design, and code
● Sprint-based verification
All while retaining the strict traceability and evidence-capture requirements of DO-178C.

1. Requirement Drift and Inconsistent Design
As requirements evolve, teams struggle to keep design aligned.

ELM Solution: Impact analysis shows what changes affect which design elements or code components, keeping everything synchronized.  

2. Missing or Broken Traceability
Disconnected tools create gaps that auditors immediately flag.

ELM Solution: Automated traceability links ensure that every requirement is connected to its design and code, with dashboards showing missing links. 

3. Code Not Linked to Certification Evidence
Code reviews, coding standards, and justification are often scattered.

ELM Solution: EWM ties work items, reviews, and change sets directly to DO-178C artifacts, creating a clean audit trail. 

4. Manual Documentation Overload
Certification relies on documentation, and generating it manually is painful.

ELM Solution: The suite automatically generates requirements reports, traceability matrices, design documentation, and change histories.

● Plan your development workflow in advance, specifying requirements refinement, design approvals, and review criteria.
● Use strict versioning and baselines — especially when approaching major milestones.
● Automate as much traceability as possible — avoid creating links manually when tools can assist.
● Integrate modeling and design reviews — Rhapsody simulations catch errors long before testing.
● Require peer reviews for all code changes — EWM makes this mandatory in the workflow.
● Leverage dashboards to track coverage and ensure nothing is missed.
Not only do these practices make compliance easier, but they also help teams produce software that’s safer and more trustworthy. 

Softacus helps aerospace organizations make the most of IBM ELM to meet DO-178C software planning requirements. The focus is on turning planning artifacts into connected, traceable parts of the lifecycle, rather than static documents. Teams are supported by:
● Setting up IBM ELM to manage all planning documents in a controlled, versioned environment.
● Linking plans to requirements, verification workflows, and development tasks for full traceability.
● Configuring workflows that enforce approvals, roles, and certification milestones.
● Supporting integration of tool usage and tool qualification evidence into the planning process.
● Providing training and ongoing guidance to keep teams aligned and audit-ready
With this support, organizations can ensure planning is actively managed, aligned with execution, and fully prepared for certification. 

Building DO-178C-compliant software requires organized processes and clear connections across the development lifecycle. IBM ELM helps simplify this by bringing everything together in one controlled space, so teams don’t have to rely on spreadsheets, emails, or disconnected tools to keep track of progress.

Through integrated requirements management, system modeling, source control, workflow governance, and automated artifact relationships, IBM ELM enables aerospace teams to develop software that is safe, dependable, and fully prepared for certification audits.

The next article in this series will explore requirements verification and explain how IBM ELM supports the early and continuous validation required by DO-178C.