QW2001 Plenary Talk 5P1 Dr. Linda Rosenberg (GSFC NASA) Independent Verification And Validation Implementation At NASA

Key Points

• IV&V is a valuable tool for increasing sofware quality and reliability
• IV&V needs selection criteria for which projects should apply it
• NASA is now requiring IV&V evaluation for all projects and application on some

Presentation Abstract

This paper will discuss the management approach taken to consistently apply IV&V on NASA projects. We will discuss the development of the NASA policy stating that all projects and programs with few exceptions shall employ software V&V techniques for risk mitigation; criteria shall be applied to determined if IV&V is warranted. The IV&V selection criteria are based on determining the extent of risk. Developed by an Agency wide group, the criteria provide an algorithm for estimating probability of software failure based on quantitative software complexity, development team, management, and other factors. Factors for characterizing the consequences of software failure are determined, then thresholds for performing IV&V based on probability of failure and severity of impact (consequences) are applied. In this paper, we will discuss how these guidelines were developed and currently being applied. We will conclude with a discussion on the approach to projects, how do you convince the project manager to implement IV&V, and what is the cost to the project.

About the Author

Dr. Rosenberg is the division chief of the Software Assurance Technology Office (SATO) in the Office of Systems Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), NASA. She also serves as the Software Assurance technologist for GSFC and NASA. Dr. Rosenberg is a recognized International expert in the areas of software assurance, software metrics, requirements and reliability. She serves on IEEE program committees for software reliability, software metrics, and software requirements. She has chaired sessions at many international conferences, included those sponsored by NASA and AIAA. Dr. Rosenberg also reviews papers for the Department of Defense sponsored conferences, and other industrial organizations for software quality. She has presented papers and tutorials in many areas of software assurance, including reliability, at IEEE and ACM international conferences and the International Astronautical Congress. Dr. Rosenberg is currentl! y on the steering committee to evaluate the metrics in the IEEE 982 Reliability Standard. Dr. Rosenberg is also an adjunct professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore for the Masters/Doctoral Program.

Dr. Rosenberg holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, an M.E.S. in Computer Science from Loyola College, and a B.S. in Mathematics from Towson University. She is a member of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the IEEE Computer Society, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and Upsilon Pi Epsilon.