Software Management

USAF Software Management Guide
Air Force Software Management Guidebook

The USAF Weapons System Software Management Guide is intended to help acquisition and sustainment organizations more rapidly and more predictably deliver capability by learning from the past, establishing realistic and executable plans, applying systems engineering processes in a disciplined manner, and engineering systems right the first time. The purpose of this guidebook is to provide concise guidance for organizations that acquire or sustain systems that involve significant development, integration, or modifications to their embedded software. It should not be used as a policy or referenced in contracts. Rather, it provides an overview of the activities necessary to have a successful system/software acquisition.

This guidebook addresses these known software issues and sets top-level expectations for the development, acquisition, management, and sustainment of weapon systems software and software embedded in DoD systems so that software-related problems that are now too typical can be understood and avoided in the future. The principles and techniques in this guidebook will generally apply to all software domains, but the targeted domains include aeronautical, electronics, weapons, and space systems. The intended audience includes Project Managers (PM), systems/software engineers, and other engineers that have a software acquisition element in their project. Software engineering is an integral part of system acquisition and Systems Engineering (SE), and the guidance offered herein is intended to fit within and support current management and systems engineering approaches in DoD systems and acquisition programs.

Table of Content
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Background
3.0 Software Process Guidelines for Air Force Acquisition Organizations
3.1 Software Aspects of Acquisition Program Planning
3.2 Estimating Software Size, Effort and Schedule
3.3 Management of Software Related Risks
3.4 Source Selection Considerations
3.5 Applying Earned Value Management to Software
3.6 Establishing and Managing Software Requirements
3.7 Acquisition Insight and Involvement
3.8 Safety Critical Systems
3.9 Non-Developmental Software
3.10 Software Assurance and Anti-Tamper Protection
3.11 Configuration Management
3.12 Life-Cycle Support
3.13 Lessons Learned
Appendix A Software in the Integrated Master Plan
Appendix B Software Content for the Statement of Objectives (SOO) and Statement of Work (SOW)
Appendix C Example Software Content for RFP Section L
Appendix D Example Software Content for RFP Section M
Appendix E Software Contracting Considerations
Appendix F Computer Systems and Software Criteria for Technical Reviews
Appendix G Process Considerations for Safety-Critical Systems
Appendix H Air Force Core Software Metrics
Appendix I Software Development Plan
Appendix J Glossary of Supporting Information

AcqLinks and References:

Updated: 6/7/2018

Leave a Reply