AEROSPACE REPORT NUMBER: TOR-2007(8546)-6018 (REV. A), MISSION ASSURANCE GUIDE (01 JUL 2007)

AEROSPACE REPORT NUMBER: TOR-2007(8546)-6018 (REV. A), MISSION ASSURANCE GUIDE (01 JUL 2007)., The primary purpose of the Mission Assurance Guide (MAG) is to provide practical guidance to personnel of The Aerospace Corporation1 (Aerospace) and, in general, National Security Space (NSS) program office personnel, who are responsible for executing mission assurance (MA) functions that are key to achieving program and mission success. The Aerospace program office, engineering and laboratory personnel routinely carry out MA functions within the scope of the General Systems Engineering and Integration (GSE&I) role that Aerospace fulfills in support and on behalf of its customers. Although the initial motivation for the guide was to directly address such Aerospace MA functions, its content has been produced and assembled with the intent that it be generally suitable for use by personnel belonging to any organization that has GSE&I and MA responsibilities. The main limitation of scope of the guide is determined by the underlying assumption of separation between acquisition authority functions, i.e., “government-side” acquisition management functions, and prime contractor system design and production functions, as normally defined in standard NSS space program contractual stipulations. Thus, the guide addresses MA functions and tasks that are to be carried out by an NSS acquisition-authority government organization, or by a GSE&I-support entity that carries out these functions and tasks on behalf of the acquisition entity. It does not concern itself with MA functions that are typically carried out by the production entity, i.e. the prime contractor that is responsible for developing and executing the NSS system design and production activities. Certain prime contractor tasks and products, however, are addressed and identified as “enabling tasks and products” in those frequent cases in which their execution and completion constitutes a necessary prerequisite and point of departure for the execution of acquisition-entity MA tasks. The above distinction is key to understanding the assumptions underlying the MAG concept and content. The first assumption is that all NSS system acquisitions are based on the same basic duality between a government acquisition entity with its supporting organizations, and a prime contractor entity with its subcontractor and supplier organizations. A parallel and related assumption is that the acquisition authority is usually responsible for defining system concept and user requirements, whereas the prime contractor is responsible for interpreting and decomposing requirements into system design specifications, and for executing the design onto the production of a functioning system that is delivered to the acquisition entity and one or more end-users. The final basic assumption follows from recognition of the above principle of contractually stipulated acquisition duality and is the most directly relevant to understanding the way the guide is conceived and organized: in the realm of acquisition entity responsibility, it holds that it is always possible to identify and define sets of tasks that have the primary purpose of validating and verifying program and system development activities carried out by the prime contractor entity. In essential simplified terms, the guide assumes that the prime contractor’s fundamental responsibility is to design and produce a system that performs functions defined according to user needs and acquisition entity requirements. In addition, it assumes that, besides tending to other basic management acquisition responsibilities, the acquisition entity MA responsibilities must also focus on validating its own system requirements, on making sure that the prime contractor applies bona fide processes and practices in developing the system, and, ultimately, on verifying that the system can perform at the level specified by the validated requirements. In accordance with the assumptions and concepts introduced above, this guide describes principles and practices used by informed and authorized MA participants in the acquisition process. As previously mentioned, this may include Aerospace and its government customers, as well as GSE&I contractors and support organizations that have properly executed and implemented the appropriate and necessary non-disclosure agreements with Aerospace and any other affected parties. Regardless of the specific case of application, the main objective of the guide remains that of providing practical guidance for executing tasks that are directly pertinent to the NSS independent technical assessment (ITA) function, such as those performed by Aerospace in its Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) charter. Aerospace supports NSS MA with overall systems engineering assistance as well as detailed technical engineering and laboratory expertise. Aerospace corporate expertise spans all of the disciplines involved in space system acquisition and MA support functions. When applied to MA functions executed by other organizations, the guide may be tailored, in scope and/or depth of application, as deemed appropriate by the acquisition organization designated by the NSS acquisition authority as the organization primarily responsible for MA execution. The MAG defines an overarching MA framework that describes processes, disciplines, and associated executable tasks which are recommended for and applicable to all NSS programs supported by Aerospace. This MA framework includes “best practices” guidance that Aerospace program office, engineering, and laboratory personnel can apply, in the context of the real-life constraints associated with a specific program. Where necessary, the guide refers to and complements other reference instruments and documents that provide guidance for the definition, tailoring, execution, and assessment of MA functions and tasks performed according to Aerospace-recommended practices. Figure I-1 provides a conceptual framework of the role of the guide—represented by blocks shaded in red—in relation to these other instruments, such as The Aerospace Corporation’s Systems Engineering Handbook and Test and Evaluation Handbook. Tailoring guidance (identified in the figure by the block shaded in striped pattern) may be available at the individual program level, but is currently not explicitly organized in generally applicable practices that can be effectively documented in the guide. When seeking more detailed guidance and insight for the execution of specific technical tasks, please consult the references provided as the elements that directly support and complement the purpose and contents of the guide. In structural terms, the MAG is organized around the definition and discussion of core MA processes (CMPs) and supporting MA disciplines (SMDs), which are assigned to specific program contractual acquisition phases and may also be associated with specific system segments, elements and components that are defined in the system work breakdown structure (WBS). Chapter 1 introduces the core MA principles, processes, and disciplines. Chapter 2 is a MA verification roadmap that provides the structured hierarchy and organization of tasks, which relates them to the appropriate CMPs, SMDs, program phase, and WBS. Chapter 3 discusses MA metrics and methods for assessment and standardized evaluation of MA task plans and executions, which can be carried out utilizing the assessment tools provided with the prototype Mission Assurance Verification Matrix (MAVM) task database software that is referenced in the guide. Chapters 4 through 16 individually cover each of the six CMPs and seven SMDs. The guide also includes separate appendices for definitions, acronyms, and a sample of one of the MAVM task database outputs.