1. Introduction and Chart

This chart summarizes current guidance approved by the NASA Office of the Chief Engineer (OCE) for software engineering life cycle products and their maturity level at the various software project life cycle reviews.   This chart serves as guidance only and NASA Center procedures should take precedence for projects at those Centers.

The chart was constructed using the software engineering products from NPR 7150.2 ⁰⁸³, the project life cycle reviews from NPR 7123.1 ⁰⁴¹, previous work from the NASA Software Working Group to map products to life cycle reviews, and additional information gathered from these NPRs, NPR 7120.5 ⁰⁸², and individual NASA Center procedures.  Draft versions of the chart were reviewed by the NASA Software Working Group resulting in this chart which represents the current consensus guidance from this collection, collation, and review process.

The following maturity definitions from NPR 7120.5 are used in this table:

a. "Preliminary" is the documentation of information as it stabilizes but before it goes under configuration control. It is the initial development leading to a baseline.
Some products will remain in a preliminary state for multiple life cycle reviews. The initial preliminary version is likely to be updated at subsequent life cycle reviews but remains preliminary until baseline.
b. "Baseline" indicates putting the product under configuration control to track, approve, and communicate changes to the team and any relevant stakeholders. The expectation on products labeled "baseline" is that they will be at least final drafts going into the designated life cycle review and baselined coming out of the life cycle review. Updates to baselined documents require the same formal approval process as the original baseline.
c. "Update" is applied to products that are expected to evolve as the formulation and implementation processes evolve. Only expected updates are indicated.
However, any document may be updated, as needed. Updates to baselined documents require the same formal approval process as the original baseline.

NPR 7150.2 includes life cycle products that are not included in the chart and life cycle reviews that are also not represented in the chart.  

Links are provided where "Minimum Content" document topics are available. 

See also SWE-024 - Plan Tracking, 7.09 - Entrance and Exit Criteria, 8.09 - Software Safety Analysis, 

1.1 Additional Guidance

Links to Additional Guidance materials for this subject have been compiled in the Relevant Links table. Click here to see the Additional Guidance tab in the Resources tab.

2. References

2.1 References

• (SWEREF-041)
  NASA Systems Engineering Processes and Requirements Updated w/Change 2
  NPR 7123.1D, Office of the Chief Engineer, Effective Date: July 05, 2023, Expiration Date: July 05, 2028
• (SWEREF-082)
  NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Requirements
  NPR 7120.5F, Office of the Chief Engineer, Effective Date: August 03, 2021, Expiration Date: August 03, 2026,
• (SWEREF-083)
  NPR 7150.2 NASA Software Engineering Requirements,
  NPR 7150.2D, Effective Date: March 08, 2022, Expiration Date: March 08, 2027 https://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?t=NPR&c=7150&s=2D Contains link to full text copy in PDF format. Search for "SWEREF-083" for links to old NPR7150.2 copies.

2.2 Tools

2.3 Additional Guidance

Additional guidance related to this requirement may be found in the following materials in this Handbook:

2.4 Center Process Asset Libraries

See the following link(s) in SPAN for process assets from contributing Centers (NASA Only). 

3. Lessons Learned

3.1 NASA Lessons Learned

No Lessons Learned have currently been identified for this requirement.

3.2 Other Lessons Learned

No other Lessons Learned have currently been identified for this requirement.