Automated builds and deployments for Volkswagen Group: a new approach to application management

Key points:

• Volkswagen Group faced slow and inefficient application deployment processes.
• Aspecta implemented an automated solution built on Concourse CI.
• Automated scanning improved security and standardized the processes.
• The solution enabled better integration of applications with AWS services.
• The project delivered faster deployments, cost savings, and greater stability.

In a fast-moving technology landscape, managing and deploying applications efficiently is key to staying competitive. The automotive industry, known for its complexity and its stringent quality requirements, is no exception. Traditional approaches to software development and deployment often cannot keep pace with the demand for speed and flexibility. Current practice is moving toward automation, continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD), and the use of cloud technology.

The client

Volkswagen Group, one of the world’s largest carmakers, is known for its innovation not only in vehicle manufacturing but in the IT processes that support it. With an extensive portfolio of brands and a global presence, Volkswagen Group needs robust and scalable IT solutions to support its operations.

The problem

Volkswagen Group faced several key challenges in managing and deploying applications:

• Inefficient and time-consuming application build and deployment processes.
• Insufficient standardization across different teams and projects.
• Limited ability to respond quickly to changes and market requirements.
• Difficulty in maintaining consistent application quality and security.
• The need for better integration with modern cloud services.

These challenges extended the time it took to bring new features to market, increased development and maintenance costs, and created potential security risks.

Volkswagen Group set the following project goals:

• Create a highly automated system for building and deploying applications.
• Implement standardized processes across all development teams.
• Improve application security through automated security scans.
• Shorten the time needed to deploy new application versions.
• Ensure smooth integration with AWS services.
• Increase the efficiency and productivity of the development teams.

The solution

Aspecta designed a complete solution based on Concourse CI that addressed all of Volkswagen Group’s key requirements. It included:

1. An automated build and deployment system: we created a system that runs the entire process automatically, from building the application to deploying it, based on a YAML configuration file. The process covers the build from source code, packaging with a selected base image, security scanning, documentation generation, deployment to the development environment, and post-deployment tests.
2. Scalable infrastructure: the whole solution is built on Concourse CI, deployed through autoscaling groups defined in CloudFormation. This provides high availability and the ability to scale to current demand.
3. Standardization and flexibility: the Plumber team maintains the pipeline templates and Helm charts used to create the build and deploy pipeline for each application. This keeps things consistent across projects while leaving room for the specific needs of individual applications.
4. Integration with AWS services: the solution allows applications running in Kubernetes clusters to integrate smoothly with other AWS services such as SNS/SQS, S3, Elasticsearch, and EFS.
5. Security and quality: automated security scans are built into the pipeline, so every version of an application goes through a thorough security check before deployment.

The new system brought Volkswagen Group significant benefits:

• Substantially faster development and deployment: the time needed to build and deploy applications was reduced.
• Improved security: automated security scans identified potential vulnerabilities and allowed them to be fixed before deployment.
• Better standardization: all teams now use consistent processes, which makes collaboration and maintenance simpler.
• Higher developer productivity: automating routine tasks freed developers to focus on innovation and on building new features.
• Better AWS integration: applications now make more effective use of cloud services, which improves scalability and performance.

Conclusion

The build and deployment automation project for Volkswagen Group is a significant step forward in application management in the automotive industry. The solution made development and deployment more efficient and laid the groundwork for further innovation.

The key effects of the project include:

• Substantially faster time to market for new features
• Improved application security and quality
• Better scalability and flexibility of the IT infrastructure
• Higher productivity in the development teams

Based on the experience from this project, we recommend:

1. Considering a supported version of Concourse CI for faster resolution of any issues.
2. Moving from EC2-instance-based Concourse to an ECS- or Kubernetes-based setup for faster worker scaling.
3. Enforcing standards more strongly and repackaging applications regularly to keep the system current and secure.