From: vouk@adm.csc.ncsu.edu (Mladen Vouk)
Subject: Software Engineering Seminar
Organization: Adm.csc.ncsu.edu (Administration machine NCSU Dept. Computer Science)
Distribution: triangle
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 11:24:21 GMT

               
                        NCSU Software Engineering Seminar

                   ENGINEERING OF SOFTWARE FOR ACCEPTABILITY

                                     by       
                                Taz Daughtrey 
                 B&W Space and Defense Systems, Lynchburg, VA 

This presentation is being offered in conjunction with the NCQADG Software 
Quality Interest Group. The lecture is a Guest Lecture within the NCSU/VBEE 
CSC510 "Software Engineering" and as such will be carried by CONCERT/MCNC and
VBEE video-networks.

LOCATION: North Carolina State University, Park Shops, TV Studio 2,
in room 107B 

WHEN:     Thursday, 8th October 1992 at 2.35 pm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
M. Vouk, NCSU, Department of Computer Science, Box 8206, Raleigh, NC 27695, 
         Tel: (919)-515-7886, e-mail: vouk@adm.csc.ncsu.edu

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 
Taz Daughtrey is Supervisor of Government Software Services at B&W Space and
Defense Systems in Lynchburg, Virginia. His responsibilities include design
efforts for the Department of Energy, as well as independent V&V for software
used at commercial nuclear power plants under Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
scrutiny. He has, in over ten years with B&W, provided training and consulting
to electrical utilities, national laboratories, and industrial research
institutes. Taz participated throughout the development of the IEEE Standard
for Software Verification and Validation Plans (ANSI/IEEE Std 1012/1986) and
is co-author and instructor of the V&V course within the IEEE Software
Engineering Standards seminars. Taz is currently co-chair of an IEEE Computer
Society working group on standardizing V&V and testing of expert systems. He
is the immediate past Chair of the 4000+ member Software Division of the 
American Society for Quality Control and on the editorial board of the 
SOFTWARE QUALITY JOURNAL, and one of the primary moving forces behind the
extremely successful 2nd Intl. Software Quality Conference just held in RTP.

ABSTRACT:

Any software, if it is to be considered a quality product, must be
acceptable to several specific audiences.  Those who must accept a
software product include the sponsors who pay for the work, the
users who exercise the finished software, and, in certain critical
applications, the regulators who approve the use or results of the
product.

Each of these customers characterize acceptability in a different
way.  The sponsor seeks confidence that the software does indeed
satisfy specified requirements.  The user values the ability of the
software to perform consistently and correctly within the
established work environment.  The regulator is charged to see that
software enhances the safety of the system where it is applied.

The engineering of software relies on several complementary
approaches to providing acceptable products:
      full and formal communication of everyone's expectations,
      trained and well-equipped project personnel,
      a disciplined, phased development process, and
      diverse product evaluation methods.

Each of these considerations must be incorporated into a software
development and evaluation procedure.  The engineering approach for
software can be shown to enhance shared perceptions, analysis of
hazards, effective translation into operational form, and
visibility of both process and product.