Software measurement is a primary tool for managing software processes and evaluating the quality of software products. Analysis of measures provides insight into the capability of the software organization and identifies opportunities for software process and product improvements. Software measurement programs at multiple levels are established to meet measurement objectives. The requirements below are designed to reinforce the use of measurement at the project, Center software organization, and NASA Chief Engineer levels to assist in managing projects, assuring quality, and improving software engineering practices.

The NASA OCE shall maintain an Agency-wide process asset library of applicable best practices and process templates for all size projects

Software life cycle planning covers the software aspects of a project from inception through retirement. The software life cycle planning is an organizing process that considers the software as a whole and provides the planning activities required to ensure a coordinated, well-engineered process for defining and implementing project activities. These processes, plans, and activities are coordinated within the project. At project conception, software needs for the project are analyzed, including acquisition, supply, development, operation, maintenance, retirement, decommissioning, and supporting activities and processes. The software effort is scoped, the development processes defined, measurements defined, and activities are documented in software planning documents.

Software peer reviews and inspections are the in-process technical examination of work products by peers to find and eliminate defects early in the life cycle. Software peer reviews and inspections are performed following defined procedures covering the preparation for the review, the review itself is conducted, results are recorded, results are reported, and completion criteria is certified. When planning the composition of a software peer review or inspection team, consider including software testing, system testing, software assurance, software safety, software cybersecurity, and software IV&V personnel.

Experience confirms that the quality and longevity of a software-reliant system is primarily determined by its architecture. The software architecture underpins a system’s software design and code; it represents the earliest design decisions, ones that are difficult and costly to change later. The transformation of the derived and allocated requirements into the software architecture results in the basis for all software development work.

Software design is the process of defining the software architecture, components, modules, interfaces, and data for a software system to satisfy specified requirements. The software architecture is the fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to each other and the environment, and the principles guiding its design and evolution. The software architectural design is concerned with creating a strong overall structure for software entities that fulfill the allocated system and software-level requirements. Typical views captured in an architectural design include the decomposition of the software subsystem into design entities, computer software configuration items, definitions of external and internal interfaces, dependency relationships among entities and system resources, and finite state machines. The design should be further refined into lower-level entities that permit the implementation by coding in a programming language. Typical attributes that are documented for lower-level entities include the identifier, type, purpose, function, constraints, subordinates, dependencies, interface, resources, processing, and data. Rigorous specification languages, graphical representations, and related tools have been developed to support the evaluation of critical properties at the design level. Projects are encouraged to take advantage of these improved design techniques to prevent and eliminate errors as early in the life cycle as possible. Software, developed or purchased, has additional requirements to comply with from Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as defined in NPR 2800.2.

Software implementation consists of implementing the requirements and design into code, data, and records. Software implementation also consists of following coding methods and standards. Unit testing is also usually a part of software implementation (unit testing can also be conducted during the testing phase).

The purpose of testing is to verify the software functionality and remove defects. Testing verifies the code against the requirements and the design to ensure that the requirements are implemented. Testing also identifies problems and defects that are corrected and tracked to closure before product delivery. Testing also validates that the software operates appropriately in the intended environment. Please note for Class A software there are additional software test requirements and software integration requirements as defined in NPR 8705.2.

Planning for operations, maintenance, and retirement are typically considered throughout the software life cycle. Operational concepts and scenarios are derived from customer requirements and validated in the operational or simulated environment. Software maintenance activities sustain the software product after the product is delivered to the customer until retirement.

Planning for operations, maintenance, and retirement are typically considered throughout the software life cycle. Operational concepts and scenarios are derived from customer requirements and validated in the operational or simulated environment. Software maintenance activities sustain the software product after the product is delivered to the customer until retirement.

Planning for operations, maintenance, and retirement are typically considered throughout the software life cycle. Operational concepts and scenarios are derived from customer requirements and validated in the operational or simulated environment. Software maintenance activities sustain the software product after the product is delivered to the customer until retirement.

Software Configuration Management (SCM) is the process of applying configuration management throughout the software life cycle to ensure the completeness and correctness of software configuration items. SCM applies technical and administrative direction and surveillance to identify and record the functional and physical characteristics of software configuration items, control changes to those characteristics, record and report change processing and implementation status, and verify compliance with specified requirements. SCM establishes and maintains the integrity of the products of a software project throughout the software life cycle. Use of standard Center or organizational SCM processes and procedures is encouraged where applicable.

Record, analyze, plan, track, control, and communicate all of the software risks and mitigation plans.

Planning for operations, maintenance, and retirement are typically considered throughout the software life cycle. Operational concepts and scenarios are derived from customer requirements and validated in the operational or simulated environment. Software maintenance activities sustain the software product after the product is delivered to the customer until retirement.