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Validating effectiveness of safety requirements' compliance evaluation in process assessments
Author(s) -
Varkoi Timo,
Mäkinen Timo,
Cameron Frank,
Nevalainen Risto
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of software: evolution and process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 2047-7481
pISSN - 2047-7473
DOI - 10.1002/smr.2177
Subject(s) - process (computing) , domain (mathematical analysis) , risk analysis (engineering) , computer science , conformity assessment , quality (philosophy) , domain engineering , conformance testing , nuclear power , reliability engineering , process management , systems engineering , engineering , software , standardization , software system , business , mathematical analysis , philosophy , component based software engineering , mathematics , epistemology , programming language , operating system , ecology , biology
Safety is the primary concern when developing systems containing software in the nuclear power domain. Process assessments are used to ensure quality of the development processes for safety‐critical systems. Regulators of the nuclear power industry have increased requirements concerning the systems development processes. Now, process assessments are integrated in the qualification of the systems and are expected to provide information not only based on the assessment model but also about the domain‐specific requirements. Therefore, a specific activity, compliance evaluation, was inserted into the assessment process to provide detailed information that supports analysis of the compliance to the domain standards. Compliance evaluation utilizes assessment findings to create evidence of the relevant domain‐specific requirements. The main purpose of this study is to validate effectiveness of compliance evaluation by analyzing assessment findings and their relation to the requirements of a safety‐critical domain. The analysis is based on representing the data in compliance evaluation reports as binary relations. The results of this analysis indicate that process assessment findings are also relevant when evaluating compliance to other sets of requirements. The results can significantly support the trustworthiness of the process assessment method and ensure effective use of process assessments.