Assurance Process: Complex Electronics Life Cycle Activities

This section provides the description of the assurance process for each life cycle phase. The individual sections are laid out in the following manner:

• The overview (main) page for the sub-section (phase) provides an overview of complex electronics activities during the phase. The overview of activities usually includes a graphic showing the various tasks for both the engineer (developer) and the assurance personnel. This page also defines entrance and exit criteria for the phase and lists typical activities for various project personnel. Finally, the page provides a mini-sitemap of the sub-section. The label (name) for the page will be: {Phase} Overview.
• Developer activities for the particular phase are described in detail on another page. This information is important to the assurance engineers, who monitor the development process and ensure that the project plans include these activities. The information on this page will also help the assurance engineer in reviewing the products produced by the development team. Because the information varies with the life cycle phase, the label may vary. However, it will include the word develop in some form.
• The third page describes the assurance activities for the phase. A tailoring guide is provided, showing which activities are necessary for each of the three classifications (high, moderate, and low). Each task and analysis will have an overview paragraph. More detail on the analyses can be found in the Techniques section. The page label will be Assurance Process.
• Additional pages will be provided that cover issues related to the particular phase. The topic for these pages will vary with the phase. The pages will be linked to from the phase overview (main) page.

At the top of the pages for each life cycle phase is a horizontal navigation bar. This bar provides a means to select of any of the three pages (overview, developer, assurance) for the life cycle phase. In addition, the Print selection will present the entire sub-section in a format appropriate for printing.

The V&V (Verification and Validation) sub-section is different from the others. V&V is not a phase, but a collection of activities performed throughout the life cycle. The V&V section provides an overview of the various V&V activities, which are then described in more detail in the appropriate life cycle section.