1. Introduction

It is the document that establishes what project SA activities will be performed and how they will be managed. The plan includes topics such as project roles and staffing, schedules of activities to be performed, processes and methodologies to be used, relationships with other groups/organizations, and how safety-critical software will be assured. See also SWE-022 - Software Assurance, 

The SA Plan is comprised of many pieces that provide specific information to the projects. (See Tab 2. SA Plan Content.) While all of these pieces may be included in one document, they may be broken into separate documents and referenced in the SA Plan. The sub-products listed below are considered part of the SA Plan:

• Software Safety Plan – This is only required if the project has safety-critical components. The minimum contents for the software safety plan are contained in Tab 3 Software Safety Plan Content.
• Software Classification Determination – The agreed-upon classification of each of the software modules must be recorded and kept in some location accessible by the whole project. This location can be in the SA Plan, the Software Safety Plan, or some other location specified in the project’s data management plan. The classifications should be reviewed periodically if there are requirements changes or other changes (e.g. intended use of the software) that might cause a change in classification. See Topic 7.02 - Classification and Safety-Criticality for more details. See also SWE-020 - Software Classification, 
• Software Assurance Requirements Mapping Matrix – This matrix is required to show which software assurance and software safety requirements in NASA-STD-8739.8 are being tailored. This is typically a part of the software assurance plan or is contained in a record referenced by the software assurance plan. This requirement may be fulfilled by using the SA Tasking Checklist Tool (see 8.15 - SA Tasking Checklist Tool).
  • Note: SA should build their mapping matrix using the approved tailored SWE requirements mapping matrix for the project. If SWE tailors out a requirement, SA is not expected to perform the associated SA task(s).
• Software Assurance Schedule – Provide a schedule with SA activities aligned with the project schedule and life cycle products or indicate the location of a project schedule that contains the SA activities. If the project has safety-critical components, the schedule for safety activities may be: a.) included in the overall project schedule, b.) combined with the software assurance schedule, or c.) included in the Software Safety Plan.
• Safety Schedule- See Software Assurance Schedule.
• Software Safety-Critical Assessment (if needed) – Include the initial safety criticality assessment results. Update at milestones, as necessary, including any concerns or push-back on the safety criticality determination. 

The information on this topic is divided into several tabs as follows:

• Tab 1 – Introduction
• Tab 2 – SA Plan Content – provides the current minimum content for the Software Assurance Plan 
• Tab 3 – Software Safety Plan Content – provides the current minimum content for the Software Safety Plan
• Tab 4 – Resources for this topic

The following is a list of the applicable SWE requirements that relate to the generation of the SA Plan:

1.1 Additional Guidance

Links to Additional Guidance materials for this subject have been compiled in the Relevant Links table. Click here to see the  in the Resources tab.

See also

• Topic 7.08 - Maturity of Life Cycle Products at Milestone Reviews for information on reviews of plans.  
• SWE-036 - Software Process Determination for information on Processes to be used. 

2. SA Plan Content

SA Plan is included and also referenced in SWE-013 - Software Plans. See also SWE-054 - Corrective Action for Inconsistencies. 

2.2 Additional Guidance

Links to Additional Guidance materials for this subject have been compiled in the Relevant Links table. Click here to see the  in the Resources tab.

3. Safety Plan Content

3.2 Additional Guidance

Links to Additional Guidance materials for this subject have been compiled in the Relevant Links table. Click here to see the  in the Resources tab.

4. Resources

4.1 References

4.2 Tools

4.3 Additional Guidance

Additional guidance related to this requirement may be found in the following materials in this Handbook:

4.4 Center Process Asset Libraries

See the following link(s) in SPAN for process assets from contributing Centers (NASA Only).