Software Assurance
practitioners in the NASA community
Introduction
Software Assurance is an umbrella risk mitigation strategy for safety and mission assurance of all NASA's software. Software Assurance practices and programs are to be applied and maintained throughout the life of the software (i.e., from project conception, through operations and maintenance, until retired). When applied effectively, software assurance assures the quality of the current software processes and products and enables improvement of future software products and services.
Over the past few years, NASA Software Assurance has experienced increased visibility, including tremendous scrutiny, and a rejuvenation of applicable standards, procedures, and guidelines. The NASA Software Assurance policy, standards, and guidelines have been recently updated to reflect new and updated software assurance requirements for use by NASA projects, programs, facilities, and activities.
At GSFC, we're working to strengthen the disciplines of Software Assurance and to raise awareness levels among software and safety assurance personnel, software engineering practitioners, as well as program and project managers. To accomplish this goal, we're providing procedures, tools and training materials to assist those who develop, implement, and manage Software Assurance programs.
View the "NASA Software Assurance" overview brochure.
View the "NASA Software Assurance Training" module for a high-level overview of the 5 disciplines of software assurance.
Summary of Disciplines
Software Assurance is the planned and systematic set of activities that ensure that software life cycle processes and products conform to requirements, standards, and procedures [IEEE 610.12]. For NASA, this includes the disciplines of Software Quality, Software Safety, Software Reliability, Software Verification and Validation (V&V), and Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V). See NASA-STD-8739.8 for the latest Software Assurance Standard and specific requirements.
Software Assurance includes 5 disciplines:
