1. Purpose of the gate
This is a funding and ownership decision, not a technical review. Its question is whether the organisation has a real reason to pursue Automotive SPICE capability, whether someone with enough authority will own the program, and whether the customer's process requirements are known well enough to scope the work. A program that starts without these tends to stall when the first conflict with project schedules arises.
The gate deliberately asks for little: a business case, a sponsor and a first collection of customer process requirements. Its value is in forcing those three things to be explicit before anyone spends effort on processes or assessments.
The gate also sets expectations about what the program is not. It does not promise a capability level; that depends on the gap assessment and on the teams. It does not replace the quality management system or functional safety and cybersecurity management; it builds on them. Saying this at the start prevents the program from being judged later against promises nobody made.
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