White Papers for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)

Evidence-based Development: How to reduce risk, improve quality and ensure compliance

Integrate Systems Engineering Ltd

This paper presents Evidence-based Development (EbD), a confidence-based approach to progressive system assurance that is closely integrated with the development process. EbD draws inspiration from requirements management, from risk management, and from the claim-evidence-argument paradigm - well known in the safety engineering domain - whose ideas we extend from safety to the broader concept of system fitness-for-purpose.EbD provides an evidential backbone for assurance. It establishes assurance as a progressive activity starting from the very outset of the system lifecycle. Evidence is accumulated where confidence is most lacking, beginning with design verification in the earliest stages of development, through to design fulfillment from test results in the later stages. It caters for assurance and compliance evidence arising in many different forms from diverse sources and approaches throughout the lifecycle. As an example of its application, the paper summarizes how EbD can be applied to the certification of systems to RTCA/DO-178B. It argues that EbD has features that address particular parts of this standard in new ways.By making assurance an integral part of system development, EbD promises a range of benefits, including reduction in life-cycle costs and risks for systems in which a major concern is high integrity or compliance to regulation.

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