Software Management

Risk is a potential (uncertain) future event that has negative consequences (See Risk Management Overview). In acquisition, the risk event or consequence is often related to not achieving program objectives. Risk Management is the art or practice of controlling risk, by identifying and tracking risk areas, performing periodic risk assessments to determine risks and their […]

The Statement of Work (SOW) is a document that enables offerors to clearly understand the government’s needs for the work to be done in developing or producing the goods or services to be delivered by a contractor.  The following are some examples of software-related SOW that can be used. Example: SOW Examples The contractor shall establish

Government Furnished Software (GFS) (part of Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)) is Non-Developmental Software (NDS) that is provided to a contractor by the government for a specific intent or purpose.  Special considerations apply when GFS is incorporated into an embedded system. Special consideration when using GFS should include: An Associate Contractor Agreement (ACA) between the embedded

New systems often involve significant reuse of various software artifacts (i.e., requirements, design, code, and test data). The percentage of software being proposed for reuse has grown from 20%, to 60%, to 80% or more. Some current embedded systems involve nearly 100% reuse of existing systems and software components. This is not in line with

The Statement of Objectives (SOO) identifies the broad, basic, top-level objectives of the acquisition and is used as a focusing tool for both the Government and offeror’s.  The following are some examples of software related SOO that can be used. [1] An efficient development program that balances risk, cost, schedule and performance. Phased development via

The purpose of establishing and managing software requirements is to ensure that the requirements are analyzed, defined, complete, consistent, stable, and verifiable, consistent with the software development life cycle to be used. Requirements identification, allocation, and verification are often a shared responsibility between the acquisition program office and the development contractor. Establishment and management of

The Enterprise Integration Toolkit provides Program Managers (PMs) with a repeatable Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) implementation process, a knowledge repository that incorporates both government and commercial industry best practices and lessons learned, and a Reports, Interfaces, Conversions, and Extensions (RICE) Repository. The objectives of the Enterprise Integration Toolkit are to assure cost savings within the program, to

Earned Value Management (EVM) is a Project Management technique for measuring project performance and progress in an objective manner. It’s a key integrating process in the management and oversight of acquisition programs, including Software Management. EVM must be applied to manage and control software development and the strategy should be included in the Software Development

Data Rights Requirements Analysis (DRRA) is a determination of the contemplated present uses of the software or other deliverables, as well as an assessment of any future, uses of the software products or tools used in a contractor’s production. It’s part of determining the use of Intellectual Property (IP) and Data Rights. It should be

  The Cost and Software Data Reporting (CSDR) system is the primary means that DoD uses to collect actual cost and related business data on Acquisition Category (ACAT) I and ACAT IA defense contracts. Program Managers (PM) use the CSDR system to report data on contractor development and production costs and resource usage incurred in

Discrepancy Reporting is a process that is established for tracking software, hardware, system, integration, test case, and facility problems in order to document, control, and test the changes required for problems found. Problems should be documented in a discrepancy reporting system at the time of discovery, rather than waiting until the problem is fully analyzed

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes, which will improve their performance. CMMI-based process improvement includes identifying an organization’s process strengths and weaknesses and making process changes to turn weaknesses into strengths. The CMMI model provides organizations a rating on a numerical

Most software projects fail completely or partially because they don’t meet all their requirements. These requirements can be the cost, schedule, quality, or requirements objectives. According to many studies, the failure rate of software projects ranges between 50% – 80%. Common Software Failure Causes There are a variety of causes for software failures, but the

  Ada is a structured, statically typed imperative computer programming language designed by a team led by Jean Ichbiah of CII Honeywell Bull during 1977-1983 under contract to the DoD. It addresses many of the same tasks as C or C++, but with one of the best type-safety systems available in a statically typed programming

  Air Force Software Policy centers on Air Force Instruction (AFI) 63-101 and AFI 63-1201. These policies focus around ten (10) key areas and their associated tasks which mandate that software engineering practitioners and Program Managers (PM) must: [1] Estimate software development and integration at a high level (80-90%) of confidence. Ensure program baselines support

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

The table below represents activities and tasks that software engineers must be aware of, participate in or be responsible for the development of. The table is a good point of reference for planning purposes and should be addressed in the Software Development Plan (SDP).      Software Activity Software Engineer’s Responsibility Awareness Participant Write Review Acquisition Strategy

The Software Development Process is the structured approach to developing software for a system or project, sometimes called the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Several approaches can be used, including waterfall, spiral, Agile, and incremental development. These different approaches will focus the testing effort at different points in the development process. However, each approach is

The Software Development Process is the structured approach to developing software for a system or project, sometimes called the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). There are several approaches (see Software Development Approaches) that can be used, including waterfall, spiral, and incremental development. These different approaches will focus the testing effort at different points in the

The Software Development Plan (SDP) describes a developer’s plans for conducting a software development effort. The SDP provides the acquirer insight and a tool for monitoring the processes to be followed for software development. It also details methods and approaches for each activity, organization, and resource. It helps ensure that software development is done systematically

Software Management is the art and science of planning and leading software projects. It’s the Program Manager (PM) and Software Engineers’ job to manage the development of software and should use standard project management techniques to managing a software project. In the DoD, software management is called Software Acquisition Management. It includes the management and