1. Requirements

4.5.2 Each Center shall review the contents of the process asset library to identify those practices that may have direct applicability and value to its software activities. [SWE-099]

1.1 Notes

NPR 7150.2, NASA Software Engineering Requirements, does not include any notes for this requirement.

1.2 Applicability Across Classes

2. Rationale

The NASA Agency software engineering Process Asset Library (Agency PAL) ²⁶⁶ is a resource for the software engineering community (see SWE-098) that is funded by the NASA Headquarters Office of the Chief Engineer (OCE). To assist in disseminating information as well as reducing potentially duplicative efforts, Center software process owners review, utilize, and tailor assets that are shared and made available through the Agency PAL. To facilitate broad communication of software engineering assets, anyone with a NASA IP address has access.

3. Guidance

The NASA Headquarters Office of the Chief Engineer (OCE) is implementing the NASA Software Engineering Initiative to advance software engineering practices (see SWE-002). In response, Centers are implementing their plans to continually advance in-house software engineering capabilities (see SWE-003) by improving software process development and application, by enhancing training and education of their software engineering workforce, and by adapting lessons learned from prior projects and activities to their current and future software development activities. Together these activities support the objectives of the 2011 NASA Strategic Plan ¹¹⁷.

Just as software developers are making greater use of off-the-shelf (OTS) software (see SWE-027) and exercising the practice of reusing previously developed software, it makes sense to reuse processes, practices, and lessons learned from prior projects and software development activities. 

The OCE leads the efforts to leverage these activities and best practices from around the Agency through its establishment of the NASA Engineering Network (NEN) and, more specifically, through the use of Communities of Practice (CoP) that support the various technical disciplines practiced around the Agency. The software CoP is included in the NEN. Through its efforts, the Agency PAL has gathered and made available to members of the NASA software development community these improved practices in an easy-to-find manner. The requirement for Centers to examine the Agency PAL focuses the software communities' efforts to be more efficient in future development by leveraging proven practices, templates, processes, advanced methods, and tools.

4. Small Projects

The NASA Agency PAL ²⁶⁶ contains a number of templates, examples, and checklists that could be helpful to a small project when developing documentation.  The Process Asset Library (PAL) also contains processes, best practices, and tools that may be helpful to a small project.

5. Resources

5.1 Tools

Tools to aid in compliance with this SWE, if any, may be found in the Tools Library in the NASA Engineering Network (NEN).

NASA users find this in the Tools Library in the Software Processes Across NASA (SPAN) site of the Software Engineering Community in NEN.

The list is informational only and does not represent an “approved tool list”, nor does it represent an endorsement of any particular tool. The purpose is to provide examples of tools being used across the Agency and to help projects and centers decide what tools to consider.

6. Lessons Learned

No Lessons Learned have currently been identified for this requirement.