1. NASA-STD-8739.8B Title Material
| Approved: TBD | Measurement System Identification: Not Measurement Sensitive |
NASA TECHNICAL STANDARD National Aeronautics and Space Administration | NASA-STD-8739.8B Approved: TBD |
| SOFTWARE ASSURANCE AND SOFTWARE SAFETY STANDARD APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE – DISTRIBUTION IS UNLIMITED |
DOCUMENT HISTORY LOG
| Status | Document Revision | Approval Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | Initial | 2004-07-28 | Initial Release |
| 1 | 2005-05-05 | Administrative changes to the Preface; Paragraphs 1.1, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1.1, 2.2.2, 3, 5.1.2.3, 5.4.1.1; 5.6.2, 5.8.1.2, 6.7.1.a, 7.3.2, 7.3.3, 7.5, 7.5.1; Table 1; Appendix A; Appendix C to reflect NASA Transformation changes, reflect the release of NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) 7150.2, NASA Software Engineering Requirements and to make minor editorial changes. Note: Some paragraphs have changed pages as a result of these changes. Only pages where content has changed are identified by change indications. | |
| A | 2020-06-10 | The revised document addresses the following significant issues: combined the NASA Software Assurance Standard (NASA-STD-8739.8) with the NASA Software Safety Standard (NASA-STD-8719.13), reduction of requirements, bring into alignment with updates to NPR 7150.2, added a section on IV&V requirements to perform IV&V, and moved guidance text to an Electronic Handbook. This change combines the updates to NASA-STD-8739.8 and the content of NASA-STD-8719.13. The update includes the NASA software safety requirements and cancels NASA-STD-8719.13 standard. | |
| B | TBD | Brings into alignment with the update to NPR 7150.2D. Update the Appendix A table containing the additional areas to consider when identifying software causes in Hazard Analysis. |
Forward
This NASA Technical Standard is published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to provide uniform engineering and technical requirements for processes, procedures, practices, and methods that have been endorsed as standard for NASA facilities, programs, and projects, including requirements for selection, application, and design criteria of an item.
This standard was developed by the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA). Requests for information, corrections, or additions to this standard should be submitted to the OSMA by email to Agency-SMA-Policy-Feedback@mail.nasa.gov or via the “Email Feedback” link at https://standards.nasa.gov.
Russ Deloach NASA Chief, Safety and Mission Assurance | TBD Approval Date |
Software Assurance and Software Safety Requirements Mapping Matrix
| NPR 7150.2 Section | SWE # | NPR 7150.2 Requirement | Software Assurance and Software Safety Tasks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Software Management Requirements | ||
| 3.1 | Software Life-Cycle Planning | ||
| 3.1.2 | 033 | 3.1.2 The project manager shall assess options for software acquisition versus development. Notes: a. Acquire an off-the-shelf software product that satisfies the requirement. b. Develop a software product or obtain the software service internally. c. Develop the software product or obtain the software service through contract. d. Enhance an existing software product or service. e. Reuse an existing software product or service. f. Source code available external to NASA. | 1. Confirm that the options for software acquisition versus development have been evaluated. |
| 3.1.3 | 013 | 3.1.3 The project manager shall develop, maintain, and execute software plans, including security plans, that cover the entire software life cycle and, as a minimum, address the requirements of this directive with approved tailoring. | 1. Confirm that all plans, including security plans, are in place and have expected content for the life cycle events, with proper tailoring for the classification of the software.2. Develop and maintain a Software Assurance Plan following the content defined in NASA-HDBK-2203 for a software assurance plan, including software safety. |
| 3.1.4 | 024 | 3.1.4 The project manager shall track the actual results and performance of software activities against the software plans.
| 1. Assess plans for compliance with NPR 7150.2 requirements, NASA-STD-8739.8, including changes to commitments. |
| 3.1.5 | 034 | 3.1.5 The project manager shall define and document the acceptance criteria for the software. | 1. Confirm software acceptance criteria are defined and assess the criteria based on guidance in the NASA Software Engineering Handbook, NASA-HDBK-2203. |
| 3.1.6 | 036 | 3.1.6 The project manager shall establish and maintain the software processes, software documentation plans, list of developed electronic products, deliverables, and list of tasks for the software development that are required for the project’s software developers, as well as the action required (e.g., approval, review) of the Government upon receipt of each of the deliverables. | 1. Confirm the following are approved, implemented, and updated per requirements: a. Software processes, including software assurance, software safety, and IV&V processes, b. Software documentation plans, c. List of developed electronic products, deliverables, and d. List of tasks required or needed for the project’s software development. 2. Confirm that any required government actions are established and performed upon receipt of deliverables (e.g., approvals, reviews). |
3. Example of Table from Software Assurance Plan
The table below was taken from excerpts from Software Assurance Plan in SWEHBVD. The table is built from SWE excerpts plus SA Tasks using the individual SA tasks from the "SA Tasks from NASA-STD-8739.8B" area of SITE.
The advantage of using this technique is that changes to the requirements (from SWEHBVD SWEs) and SA Tasks (from NASA-STD-8739.8B) will be made in one place. Once the updates are made, all of the places where they are repeated (quoted) are automatically updated.
It is a little one time work to setup. It saves time as updates are made in documents.
SWE # | NPR 7150.2 Requirement | NASA-STD-8739.8 Software Assurance and Software Safety Tasks per SA Standard |
013 | 3.1.3 The project manager shall develop, maintain, and execute software plans, including security plans, that cover the entire software life cycle and, as a minimum, address the requirements of this directive with approved tailoring. | 2. Develop and maintain a Software Assurance Plan following the content defined in NASA-HDBK-2203 for a software assurance plan, including software safety. |
This example is taken from SWEHBVD: SWE-013 - Software Plans. It uses the excerpt from tab 1 of the SWE and some include pages for appropriate tasks in the NASA-STD-8739.8B page set in SITE.
7. Software Assurance
7.1 Tasking for Software Assurance
1. Confirm that all plans, including security plans, are in place and have expected content for the life cycle events, with proper tailoring for the classification of the software.2. Develop and maintain a Software Assurance Plan following the content defined in NASA-HDBK-2203 for a software assurance plan, including software safety.


