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+===================================================+
+======= Testing Techniques Newsletter (TTN) =======+
+======= ON-LINE EDITION =======+
+======= February 1998 =======+
+===================================================+
TESTING TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER (TTN), Online Edition, is E-mailed monthly
to support the Software Research, Inc. (SR)/TestWorks user community and
to provide information of general use to the worldwide software quality
and community.
Permission to copy and/or re-distribute is granted, and secondary
circulation is encouraged by recipients of TTN-Online provided that the
entire document/file is kept intact and this complete copyright notice
appears with it in all copies. (c) Copyright 1998 by Software Research,
Inc.
========================================================================
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
o Quality Week '98 (QW'98): Preview
o Importance of Software Prototyping, by Larry Bernstein
o New Book By John Musa Available
o Conference Announcement: AQUIS'98
o TestWorks Corner: The Latest System Additions, Object Oriented
WebSite Testing, Remote Testing Technology, more...
o Course on Software Safety by Nancy Leveson Offered
o OXYMORONS: THE TOP 47
o International Workshops on Critical-Functions Considerations: Off
the Shelf Items
o TTN Submittal Policy
o TTN SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
========================================================================
QUALITY WEEK '98 (26-29 May 1998, San Francisco): A PREVIEW!
The final technical program for QW'98 will be up on the Conference
WebSite <http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QW98> in a few days. Here are
some highlights...
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Dr. Boris Beizer (Independent Consultant) "Prioritizing Your Y2K Testing
Effort: Debunking the Special Date Myths"
Mr. Robert V. Binder (RBSC Corporation) "Testing Object-Oriented
Systems: Best Practices"
Mr. Dave Duchesneau (Boeing Commercial Airplane Group) "Design for Test
(Or, How to Make it Hard for the Pernicious Bugs to Hide)"
Mr. Robert L. Glass (Computing Trends) "The Software Crisis - Is it for
Real?"
Dr. Cem Kaner (Attorney at Law) "Year 2000, How Can I Sue Thee? Oh, Let
Me Count the Ways"
Prof. Dave Parnas "Software Engineering: An Unconsummated Marriage
(5P2)" Regular papers on all of these topics:
TUTORIAL SPEAKERS
Dr. Boris Beizer (Independent Consultant) "An Overview of Testing --
Unit, Integration, System -- Outline and Index"
Mr. Robert V. Binder (RBSC Corporation) "Testing Strategies for Object-
Oriented Systems"
Mr. Michael Deck (Cleanroom Software Engineering, Inc.) "How Testers
Can Use Formal Methods to Analyze and Improve Software Requirements
Specifications"
Mr. Tom Gilb (Independent Consultant) "Evolutionary Delivery Project
Management"
Mr. Hans-Ludwig Hausen (GMD German National Research Center for
Information Technology) "Software Metrics for Procedures, Objects and
Agents"
Mr. Ed Kit (Software Development Technologies) "Automating Software
Testing and Reviews"
Dr. Michael R. Lyu (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) "Current
Techniques and Tools for Software Reliability Engineering"
Mr. John D. Musa (Independent Consultant) "More Reliable, Faster,
Cheaper Testing through Software Reliability Engineering"
Mr. Martin Pol (IQUIP Informatica B.V.) "Test Process Improvement"
Dr. Linda Rosenberg & Mr. Larry Hyatt (Unisys/SATC GSFC NASA) "Metrics
for Quality Assurance and Risk Assessment"
REGULAR PAPERS
QW'98 features over 60 regular papers on such important topics as:
Business Aspects Reliability
Coverage Requirements Testing
Criteria-Based Methods Specifications
Customer Satisfaction Statistical Methods
Defect Analysis Test Automation
Defect Tracking Test Environments
GUI Testing Test Processes
Java TestWare
Metrics Feedback Web Testing
Process Improvement WebSite Testing
Real-World Experiences Y2K Readiness
Real-World Futures Y2K Testing
Y2K/Euro Impacts
QW'98 ADVISORY BOARD
-----------------------------------------------------------------
James Bach (STL) Edward Miller (SR/Institute)
Boris Beizer (Analysis) John Musa (Consultant)
Bill Bently (Bayer) Lee Osterweil (UMASS)
Robert Binder (RBSC, Inc.) Tony Wasserman (Methods+Tools)
Robert Birss (Intuit) Fevzi Belli (U. Paderborn)
Rita Bral (SR/Institue) Antonia Bertolino (IEI/CNR, Pisa)
Greg Daich (STC) Dirk Craeynest (OFFIS nv/sa)
Tom Drake (NSA/BAH) Sylvia Daiqui (DLR)
Dick Hamlet (Portland State) Istvan Forgacs (Hungarian Acad)
Bill Howden (UC/San Diego) Axel VanLamsweerde (UCL/Belgium)
Prof. Luqi (NPGS) Otto Vinter (Brel & Kjaer)
Brian Marick (Consultant)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Plus a special Panel Session on "The Role of The Test Manager," chaired
by Joanna Rothmann and Brian Lawrence
For information about QW'98 check the Conference Website
<http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QW98>.
Questions about QW'98 can be Emailed to qw@soft.com.
========================================================================
Importance of Software Prototyping
by
Larry Bernstein
Founder, HaveLaptop-Will Travel
Email: lbernstein@worldnet.att.net
Modern software development demands the use of Rapid Application
Prototyping. Professor Luqi at the Naval PostGraduate School coined the
term Computer Aided Prototyping to describe this work. Her leadership
showed its effectiveness in gaining understanding of the requirements,
reducing the complexity of the problem and providing an early validation
of the system design. For every dollar invested in prototyping one can
expect a $1.40 return within the life cycle of the system development.
Barry Boehm's experiments showed that prototyping reduces program size
and programmer effort by 40%. It is the technology that is the
foundation for his Spiral development method. Prototyping is being
used successfully to gain an early understanding of system requirements,
to simplify software designs, to evaluate user interfaces and to test
complex algorithms. It is a best-in-class software approach.
Fully 30-40% of system requirements will change without prototyping.
Rapid Application Prototyping the hope of looking at the dynamic states
of the system before we build it, whereas most other software
engineering focuses on the source code. The special problems of
reliability, throughput and response time as well as system features are
addressed in the best prototypes. A new field of study, Software
Dynamics, will emerge once Rapid Application Prototyping is widely
practiced. It will focus on quantitative analysis on how software
performs under various loads and include a set of design constraints
that will make it possible for us to build components that can be hooked
together without exhaustive coverage testing.
Software is hard because it has a weak theoretical foundation. Most of
the theory that does exist focuses on the static behavior of the
software - analysis of the source listing. There is little theory on
its dynamic behavior - how it performs under load. To avoid serious
network problems software systems are over-engineered with plenty of
bandwidth for two or three times the expected load. Without analysis of
the dynamic, application designer have no idea of the resources they
will need once their software is operational. Software has the awful
propensity to fail with no warning. Even after we find and fix a bug,
how do we restore the software to a known state, one where we have
tested its operation? For most systems, this is impossible except with
lots of custom design that is itself error-prone. Software prototyping
has proven its metal in helping designers avoid these problems in their
production systems.
Much has been written about the best way to develop software
applications. But there is no "best way." Both prototyping and
requirements are necessary. The tried-and-true process of synthesis and
analysis is used to solve software-engineering problems. Bottom-up is
the synthesis. Top down is the analysis. Bottom up is prototyping.
Top down is developing requirements. Prototyping is the best way to
encourage synthesis. Prototyping also eases communication with the
customer and with the designer. Formal written requirements are needed
to establish a clear definition of the job, to control changes and to
communicate the system capabilities between the customer and the
developer.
So where does this leave us? Start with an English language written
statement of a problem and broadly outline its solution. Now build a
prototype for the elements where you need insight. Analyze the
prototype using computer aided prototyping technology and synthesize a
new solution either by refining the prototype or building a new one.
Once you and the customer agree on the workings of the prototype, write
requirements that include features, performance goals, product costs,
product quality, development costs and schedule estimates.
What do I mean by prototype? Prototyping is the use of approximately
30% of the ultimate staff to build one or two working versions of
various aspects of a system. It is not production code but it may
eventually become pre-production code or it may be completely discarded.
In the prototyping effort, we aren't concerned with the maintainability
of the code nor are we concerned with formally documenting it. Code
resulting from prototyping is often used to train the programmers. Only
after we have written specifications resulting from the experience with
the prototype should we start the formal development process. If we are
fortunate enough that some of the code that was developed for the
prototypes can be carried forward, that's great, if not, there is no
loss.
A prototype produces "running" software and the production development
produces "working" software.
Recent project experience has led to the widespread acceptance of the
concept that early prototyping is fundamental to the success of
operations support software products. The reasons why prototyping is
fundamental include:
(1) The prototype provides a vehicle for systems engineers to better
understand the environment and the requirements problem being
addressed.
(2) A prototype is a demonstration of what's actually feasible with
existing technology, and where the technical weak spots still
exist.
(3) A prototype is an efficient mechanism for the transfer of design
intent from system engineer to the developer.
(4) A prototype lets the developer meet earlier schedules for the
production version.
(5) A prototype allows for early customer interaction.
(6) A prototype demonstrates to the customers what is functionally
feasible and stretches their imagination, leading to more creative
inputs and a more forward-looking system.
(7) The prototype provides an analysis test bed and a vehicle to
validate and evolve system requirements.
Editors Note: Larry is a recognized expert in Software Technology,
project management, network management and technology conversion. He is
president of the Center fo National Software Studies with the goal of
improving American software competitiveness, making software trustworthy
and getting the software industry, the government and academia to work
better together. He is now doing consulting through his firm Have Laptop
- Will Travel and is the Executive Technologist with Network Programs,
Inc. building software systems for managing telephone services. Larry
was an Executive Director of AT&T Bell Laboratories where he worked for
35 years.
========================================================================
NEW BOOK BY JOHN MUSA AVAILABLE
Editors Note: This Note arrived by Email recently and considering Dr.
Musa's reputation in the software reliability community we felt it was
of importance to pass this on to TTN-online readers.
A number of you asked me to let you know when the book that I've been
working on ("More Reliable, Faster, Cheaper Testing Through Software
Reliability Engineering") was done! It is, finally! (I think I'll take
a vacation from writing for a while.) I just turned it over to McGraw-
Hill and they have put it on a fast track for publication. It is
expected out in July.
My motivation for writing the book was that I think quantitative
engineering of software testing is essential with today's highly and
increasingly competitive software marketplace; and that possessing this
skill is vital to a software developer or manager's competitiveness.
Many feel that software reliability engineering (SRE) is much more
efficient than nonengineered testing. But I guess I'm preaching to the
choir here!
The principal purpose of the book is to teach software-based system
practitioners and managers, especially testers, system engineers, system
architects, reliability engineers, and quality assurance engineers, how
to apply software reliability engineering to testing. And of course I
also had in mind that university students in software engineering,
reliability, and quality assurance could learn the skills of SRE so
that they would be competitive in the job market.
The book describes the software reliability engineering process in
detail, including setting reliability objectives, developing operational
profiles, preparing for and executing testing, and applying failure data
to guide decisions. One chapter covers how to best introduce SRE into an
organization and another presents background on software reliability
models.
You can use the book either as the text for a course or for self-study.
Features of the book include:
1. I explain how to perform SRE by using a simple example that is
carried throughout the book.
2. The description of the core practice of SRE is separated from
special situations and background so you can learn it rapidly
(typically one to two days).
3. The book has some 350 frequently asked questions (with answers,
I'm not that nasty!) posed to me by the several thousand
practitioners who have attended my courses or talks. They provide
many different alternative perspectives on the material presented
and hence may help your understanding.
4. There's a glossary to help you understand the new terms of SRE.
5. The book describes in detail how to use the software reliability
estimation tool CASRE. This useful tool is provided on CD ROM in
the McGraw-Hill "Handbook of Software Reliability Engineering" but
its use is not described there to any extent.
6. The material in the book was developed and refined in many courses
I have taught. Thus many problems in learning have been found and
overcome.
7. A template is provided for guiding project teams that are
deploying SRE . It is particularly useful for readers who are
using the book to learn through self-study.
8. Finally, everything is thoroughly indexed so you can use the book
as an "at your side" reference as you implement SRE.
I hope some of you will find it useful; that will make the years of
effort all worthwhile!
-------------------------------------------------------
JOHN D. MUSA
Software Reliability Engineering and Testing Courses
39 Hamilton Road Phone: 1-973-267-5284
Morristown, NJ 07960-5341 Fax: 1-973-267-6788
U.S.A. E-mail: j.musa@ieee.org
WebSite: http://members.aol.com/JohnDMusa/
-------------------------------------------------------
========================================================================
CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
AQuIS '98
The Fourth International Conference on
Achieving Quality in Software
March 30-April 2, 1998
Palazzo Giovannelli
VENICE, ITALY
Conference website: http://www.iei.pi.cnr.it/AQUIS98
TECHNICAL PROGRAM
1/2-DAY TUTORIALS: Monday, 30 March 1998
Tutorial A: A.Dorling, "SPICE and ISO/IEC 15504: Overview and
Perspectives"
Tutorial B: P.Paolini/M.Matera (Politecnico of Milan), "Structured
Design and Evaluation of Multimedia CD-ROMs and Websites."
Tutorial C: M.Maiocchi (Etnoteam), "Process Improvement and Management
by Metrics as a way for Business Excellence: The case of Information
Technology Companies"
Tutorial D: L.Jazayeri (University of Vienna), "C++ for Software
Engineering: Standard Solutions for Standard Problems"
TECHNICAL CONFERENCE: Tuesday - Thursday, 31 March - 2 April 1998
Invited Presentation: "Verifying Properties of Distributed Systems:
Prospects for Practicality," by L. Clarke
"Investigation into the PIE testability technique," by Z. Al-Khanjari,
M. R. Woodward
"On the Automatic Generation of Domain Test Data," by Bingchiang Jeng,
I.Forgacs
"Mitigating the potential for damage caused by COTS and third-party
software failures," by J. M. Voas
"A proportional hazards model for software reliability," by W. M. Evanco
"A Graphical Formalism for Software Process Modeling," by P. Coppola, P.
Panaroni
"Quality in use: meeting user needs for quality," by N. Bevan
"SPICE and the CMM: is the CMM compatible with ISO/IEC 15504?," by T.
Rout
PANEL: Quality in User Interfaces" - moderator: by A. Giannetti
Invited paper: "On Going Shanghai InfoPort Project," by S. Zhang
"Open Issues and Research Directions in Object-Oriented Testing," by
A.Orso, S. Silva
"Towards a software size product metrics for Object-Oriented systems,"
by G. Costagliola, F. Ferrucci, G. Tortora, G. Vitiello
"Software Process Assessment and Contract monitoring," by V. Ambriola,
G. Cignoni
"Statistical decision support method for in-process inspections," by M.
P. Ardissone, M. Spolverini, M. Valentini
"Software Process Assessment and strategic information systems
planning," by J. Gasston, L. von Hellens, S. Nielsen
"Invited Presentation "ESSI: overview and prospectives," by A. Bogliolo
"An agent architecture for method and tool brokering," by H. L. Hausen
"Effects of Task Allocation on Safety in Complex Systems," by A.Pasquini
"Complexity measured using Halstead's software science in the software
maintenance phase and analysis of its impact on faulty density," by R.
Takahashi
Invited paper: "Secure Internet Computing," by R. A. Kemmerer
"Achieving Qualities During the Development of LOTOS Specifications," by
T. Lambolais, J. Souquieres
"Testing Quality of service of temporal Systems," by R.Castanet,
P.Laurencot
"Improvement of organizational management process - Example of strategic
management environment construction," by T. Ohtaka, S. Fujino
"Improvement for the Business," by I. Garro, G. Magnan
"Organizational commitment and software quality management: a framework
for analysis," by S. Nielsen, R. Timmins
CONFERENCE CONTACT INFORMATION:
Registration material for AQuIS can be obtained from:
Consorzio Universitario in Ingegneria della Qualita'
P.zza del Pozzetto, 9
56127 Pisa, Italy
Tel. +39.50.541751 Fax. +39.50.541753
Complete details on the WWW at URL: http://www.iei.pi.cnr.it/AQUIS98
========================================================================
TestWorks Corner: The Latest System Additions
As TTN-Online readers may know, TestWorks is an family of software
testing and validation tools aimed at UNIX and Windows workstations.
Complete information about testworks can be found at:
<http://www.soft.com/Products>.
Some recent advances and/or additions to the TestWorks product line
include:
o Early-February re-builds of all of our Windows 95/NT products have
been completed and are available for download. Your present access
keys will work fine. Changes to the product download files include
expanded pre-worked examples, additional utilities and support
functions, updated PDF-format documentation availability.
o Coming attraction: A new product line, aimed at the WebSite analysis
(both testing and performance measurement), will be made available
soon. The initial product in this new product line is a
capture/playback engine for WebSites that introduces true "object
oriented testing" to WebSite analysis. Mention CAPBAK/Web in your
Email to sales@soft.com if you are interested.
o Coming attraction: The Remote Testing Technology (RTT) alreay
available for TCAT for Java for UNIX (you can try it out on our
WebSite) is being expanded to include processing of C/C++ programs,
with local, Email, and WWW/http data transfer options. Mention RTT
in your Email to sales@soft.com if you are interested.
o Coming attraction: TCAT for COBOL will soon be available on Windows
and UNIX platforms. Mention TCAT/COBOL in your Email to
sales@soft.com if you are interested.
Get complete information on any TestWorks product or product bundle from
sales@soft.com
========================================================================
Nancy Leveson Offers Replacement Course on Software Safety
In response to this message posted on a news group recently:
> I received notification from USC informing me that the Software Safety
> Course I was to attend has been canceled. The course originally scheduled
> for March 1998 did not have sufficient enrollment. The next course is not
> until 16-19 November 1998.
>
> My problem is that the Nov. class is next fiscal year and my training
> budget is for this year. I am looking for peer recommendations for
> software safety courses that are worthwhile and will convene this fiscal
> year (preferably this spring).
Prof Nancy Leveson has kindly made the following information available:
Because of demand, I have been teaching a private class on software
system safety once a year for the past few years. This year it will be
in Seattle June 2-4. Last year I had attendees come from 7 countries.
Information can be found at http://www.safeware-eng.com/class98.html. A
list of companies and government agencies that have sent people to the
class can also be found on the Safeware Engineering webpage. If you
want names of those from your organization who have taken it in order to
get a peer recommendation, I'll be glad to provide that information.
Nancy
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nancy G. Leveson
Currently: Usually:
Jerome C. Hunsaker Visiting Prof. Boeing Professor
Aeronautics/Astronautics Dept. Computer Science & Eng. Dept.
MIT University of Washington
Room 33-105 Sieg 219
77 Massachusetts Ave. Box 352350
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 Seattle, WA 98195-2350
Tel: 617-258-0505 206-685-1934
Fax: 617-253-4196 206-543-2969
Email: leveson@mit.edu leveson@cs.washington.edu
URLs: http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/leveson
http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/projects/safety/www
http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/hci
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
========================================================================
OXYMORONS: THE TOP 47
Editors Note: Ahem, but indeed this one was floating around on one or
more of the various "joke feeds", and we though this had enough spunk to
pass it on!
47. Act naturally
46. Found missing
45. Resident alien
44. Advanced BASIC
43. Genuine imitation
42. Airline Food
41. Good grief
40. Same difference
39. Almost exactly
38. Government organization
37. Sanitary landfill
36. Alone together
35. Legally drunk
34. Silent scream
33. American history
32. Living dead
31. Small crowd
30. Business ethics
29. Soft rock
28. Butt Head
27. Military Intelligence
26. Software documentation
25. New York culture
24. New classic
23. Sweet sorrow
22. Childproof
21. "Now, then ..."
20. Synthetic natural gas
19. Passive aggression
18. Taped live
17. Clearly misunderstood
16. Peace force
15. Extinct Life
14. Temporary tax increase
13. Computer jock
12. Plastic glasses
11. Terribly pleased
10. Computer security
09. Political science
08. Tight slacks
07. Definite maybe
06. Pretty ugly
05. Twelve-ounce pound cake
04. Diet ice cream
03. Working vacation
02. Exact estimate
And the Number One Top Oxymoron:
01. Microsoft Works
========================================================================
International Workshops on Critical-Functions Considerations
for ISO/IEC 15288 - System Life Cycle Processes:
Off-the-Shelf Items
Sponsored By: IEEE Computer Society, In cooperation with: IEEE Software
Engineering Standards Committee (SESC), IEEE Technical committee on
Complexity in Computing (TCCX), IEEE Technical Committee on Engineering
of Computer Based Systems (ECBS), International Council of Systems
Engineers (INCOSE), Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE UK), IEEE
Complex Systems Coordinating Committee, Bundesamt fur Sicherheit in der
IT (BSI - German Security Agency) and British Standards Institute (BSI).
Date: August 10-14, 1998
Location: Doubletree Hotel, Monterey, California
Co-located with: the 4th International Conference on Complex Computer
Systems (ICECCS98)
The ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/WG7 Life Cycle Management Group is soliciting from
National and International societies inputs to ISO/IEC 15288 (System
life cycle processes) through a series of International workshops; that
is, inputs to the critical aspects of systems and their life cycles.
Background to ISO/IEC 15288 is provided below. The system is a modern
system defined as consisting of hardware, computers, software, non-
computer processes and humans.
Workshops have already been planned to be held to address security and
human factors. A workshop is in the planning for addressing post-
development phases/ processes of the system life cycle; that is,
production/ manufacturing, maintenance/support, and disposal/retirement.
This workshop, one of a set of workshops (possible 3 workshops) co-
located with ICECCS98, is planned to address aspects of systems and
their life cycles relating to Off-the-shelf items (OTS). The other
workshops are planned to address system quality management and
engineering principles and safety aspects.
The use of commercially available "off-the-shelf" items including
software is accelerating as the variety of available products grows and
the rapid evolution of software engineering technology reduces reliance
on custom- coded software. "Off-the-shelf" items can be used as stand-
alone products (i.e., payroll, accounting software, consumer software or
'shrink-wrapped software' (i.e., word-processing software, spreadsheets,
games)); integrated as components into a larger system which consists of
other software and hardware components (i.e., operating system,
relational data base management system, graphical users interface
(GUI)); embedded in hardware (i.e., communication data link,
programmable array logic (PAL)); embedded as part of a configurable
software/hardware system that can be used for the development of a
specific application (i.e., distributed control system); and as CASE
tools used to support the software development and maintenance process
(i.e., compilers, configuration management tools). Today, we see a new
trend toward OTS software libraries and toward component-based software
engineering. This trend is geared toward building larger applications in
fractions of the time it would take to build them from scratch. This
new approach to development is moving us rapidly towards the idea of
mega- reuse, where virtually every component of a system has been used
somewhere else earlier.
Although this paradigm does achieve reduced time-to-market and decreased
development costs, it is no panacea. Problems with these OTS "black
box" components include Trojan horses, inadequate testing, dead code,
inferior reliability, and unknown design and specification assumptions.
And proposed solutions such as wrappers (that attempt to address some of
these problems) are non-trivial to build and test. This has led to
intense focus on concomitant software product quality or self-contained
software unit quality.
This two-day workshop will focus on the security, reliability,
composition, safety, and testing issues that surround OTS items. The
workshop will look at the structure of the life cycle of a system,
understand who the players (stakeholders) and their roles and
responsibilities in the life cycle are: acquirer, supplier, integrator,
operator, maintainer, V&V, assurance et. al., and formulate
recommendations for requirements in 15288 related to OTS aspects. We
seek to bring together practitioners, researchers, and suppliers of all
varieties of OTS software.
We are soliciting 5-8 page papers to be presented and published
electronically on the WEB. The workshop will begin with presentations
on concepts of 15288 and of selected, accepted papers (that address the
key themes of the workshop). Then the participants will form into
working groups to discuss particularly important problems that need to
be addressed.
If you wish to submit a paper for consideration in the Workshop
Proceedings, please submit your paper in hardcopy format by June 1, 1998
to:
Dr. Peter T. Poon
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
T-1171
California Institute of Technology
4800 Oak Grove Dr
Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Email: peter.t.poon@jpl.nasa.gov
Dr. Jeffrey M. Voas
Reliable Software Technologies
Suite 250
21515 Ridgetop Circle
Sterling, VA 20166 USA
Phone: 703.404.9293
Fax: 703.404.9295
jmvoas@RSTcorp.COM
Accepted papers will be made available to the public and to all
participants via the WEB (in Postscript format only).
If you do not wish to submit a paper but still wish to attend this
workshop, please contact Voas to receive details on how to register.
Your feedback of interest is requested by June 1, 1998 as attendance
will necessarily be limited, and so that we can prepare a detailed
agenda.
Background
ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7/WG7 (Life Cycle Management Group) of which Raghu Singh
is the organizer, has been developing an International Standard, ISO/IEC
15288 (System Life Cycle Processes) since June 1996. ISO/IEC 15288 is
expected to be published in late 2000 or early 2001. Richard Schmidt of
the USA and Stuart Arnold of the UK are the editors of ISO/IEC 15288.
Previously, the Group developed ISO/IEC 12207: 1995 (Software Life Cycle
Processes). This standard 12207 is planned to be revised for consistency
with 15288.
The purpose of the standard is to define and describe a generic, top-
level architecture of the life cycle of a system which includes systems
engineering. The life cycle spans from the conceptualization of a need
or an idea through the retirement of the resulting system. The
architecture of the life cycle is constructed with a set of processes,
which are defined in terms of specific tasks or functions (clauses),
rather than specific methods, approaches, or techniques to achieve a
task. 15288 should be applicable to any type of system or system of
systems -- be they distributed, stand-alone, products, or services, etc.
The standard plans to cover the stakeholders in the life cycle:
acquirers, suppliers, developers, operators, and maintainers of system
products and services, including other supporting entities as
configuration management, quality assurance, verification, validation.
The standard intends to cover the relationships between the project and
the enterprise processes, as well as, the role of the technical and
management processes.
========================================================================
CORRECTION
Because of typographical mistake the previous issue credited one of the
responses to our survey about Quality on WebSites to Danny Faught when
in fact the response erroneously attributed to him was actually from an
anonymous writer.
========================================================================
TTN-Online -- Mailing List Policy Statement
Some subscribers have asked us to prepare a short statement outlining
our policy on use of E-mail addresses of TTN-Online subscribers. This
issue, and several other related issues about TTN-Online, are available
in our "Mailing List Policy" statement. For a copy, send E-mail to
ttn@soft.com and include the word "policy" in the body of the E-mail.
========================================================================
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----------------->>> TTN SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION <<<-----------------
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