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2.4.2 Incorporating Software Cost and Risk Assessment into Early System Development Trade Studies
Author(s) -
Weiss Kathryn Anne,
Leveson Nancy G.,
Francis James
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2007.tb02882.x
Subject(s) - software development , computer science , systems engineering , risk analysis (engineering) , software , software engineering , engineering , business , programming language
This paper introduces a new method called SOCRATES (Software Cost and Risk Assessment for Trade and Engineering Studies) for incorporating software cost and risk assessment into the early concept development activities and trade studies typically conducted for complex systems. Early conceptual architecture trade studies often omit software cost and risk in architectural comparisons. However, the increasing importance of software in complex system design and its impact on project risk necessitates consideration of the cost and risk associated with developing and fielding software in early engineering architectural trade studies. SOCRATES takes into consideration the allocation of functionality to both software and human controllers and evaluates the utility of assigning control based on development cost, development risk, and mission risk. It also provides input to system engineers about the relative comparison of the cost and risk for a variety of system architecture concepts as well as recommendations based on the results. The technique is demonstrated on the Lunar and Mars Transportation and Surface Operations Architectures developed for the NASA Exploration Initiative Concept Exploration and Refinement Study.