TASK 1: CALS Test and Validation Tools
Final Software User's Manual (December 2, 1994)
After surveying information discovery resources, we have decided on the World Wide Web (WWW) concept as the foundation for the repository infrastructure, because information is distributed at different geographical locations such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support (CALS) Test Network (CTN), CALS Shared Resource Centers (CSRC), etc. Also, such an implementation would provide the user virtual access to data. The hypertext and hypermedia interface would link all the information sources, and the entire system would be a virtual web of CALS test and validation tools information. A major factor leading to the selection of the WWW is the extent of hardware and software support available for the WWW and the relative simplicity of linking to such a vast web of information.
It is essential to note those existing programs that are intended to serve the needs of the CALS user community. To this end, our plan espouses an open and virtual repository that will provide seamless access (wherever possible) to existing/emerging services within the CALS domain. Thus, the users from multiple platforms can be provided with a set of comprehensive services without incurring unnecessary costs from duplication.
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Appendix C
Final Software Test Tools Report (November 15, 1994)
This document outlines a study of test and validation tools used for the MIL-STD-1840 and MIL-STD-28000 series of standards. The tools are a means of establishing the conformance of digital data to the respective military standard. The establishment of a set of comprehensive tools to ensure compliance of contractor digital data deliverables to the Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support (CALS) formats will be the ultimate goal. The testing tools are a critical component of the CALS data acquisition process, because they ensure that only those components that meet the CALS guidelines are able to enter the system, for example the Integrated Weapon Systems Database (IWSDB) or a CALS reuse repository. The tools will serve as a "front door" in serving as a quality check upon which future functionality of those items allowed into a database or repository is based. A brief description of the standards follows.
The primary objective of this task is to provide the weapon system's Program Manager and acquisition personnel with the ability to effectively determine whether digital deliverables conform to their relevant CALS standards. This report discusses the current CALS Core Standards for technical information exchange and the test and validation tools being used to test compliance/conformance to the standard.
To ascertain the acceptance level that might be attainable given the test and validation tools in use today, we will outline procedures that investigate several areas designed to assist the acquisition/program manager in better determining which tools are available in a specific operating environment and to provide a pilot CALS Test and Validation Tool Reuse Repository. The repository would provide up-to-date information on CALS Test and Validation Tools from a reuse perspective, without duplicating capabilities and services presently being provided by other entities.
This report involves the results of surveying existing Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS), Government-Off-The-Shelf (GOTS), and public domain CALS test and validation tools and establishing how they are being used today. Also, we will discuss the CALS Core Requirements standards and describe the levels of testing observed at the various Government agencies visited.
At the heart of the CALS initiative has been the exchange of technical product information in digital format. A key objective was and is the ability to enter data once and have it accessed and used over and over as a weapon system progresses through its life-cycle. The only reasonable way to discuss meeting the objectives of CALS is through the utilization of certain Core Technical Data Exchange Standards.
The creation of an IWSDB requires the capability to exchange technical information among diverse systems. Standards allow this to occur by defining neutral data formats that can be used to define data in a comprehensive, unambiguous manner enabling interoperability among Government and industry systems of many types. Because CALS is conceptually built around the ability to exchange digital data files between linked systems or to access data in a physically distributed but logically integrated database, CALS Standards for product data interchange provide the common rules that allow the whole process to move forward.
Final Criteria and Test Procedures Report (October 31, 1994)
This document addresses reuse issues pertinent to the domain of Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support (CALS) test and validation tools within the context of the CALS Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Integrated Weapon System Database (IWSDB) Program. A procedural approach to qualifying tools for inclusion into the CALS test and validation tools repository is presented. This approach suggests reusability assessment of test tools at two levels: adherence to domain-specific criteria and adherence to a set of common criteria. The set of common criteria can be used for assessing reusability of tools for the domain of CALS test and validation as well the domain of CALS data administration. The section on domain specific criteria for the respective CALS standards has been greatly expanded upon and reflects the criteria against which the tools will be qualified. This qualification process is described within a larger framework for acquiring test tools for the CALS test and validation tools repository.
Final Repository Plan Report (August 10, 1994)
This plan presents a broad vision and strategy to implement a Continuous Acquisition and Life-cycle Support (CALS) Test and Validation Tools Reuse Repository. The primary purpose of this repository is to enable acquisition personnel to determine whether a deliverable conforms to the relevant CALS standard. However, it is imperative that the repository offers services that all stakeholders of the CALS domain can utilize to ensure and support the long-term viability of the CALS initiative. For this report, a stakeholder is a person, group, or organization that has a vested interest in creating, maintaining, and using the reuse repository. Based on our survey of existing information discovery services, the World Wide Web (WWW) project supports the desire of establishing an open and virtual repository, because it provides cost-effective access to relevant services to a wide spectrum of users.
Each domain or area of concern has several stakeholders that have interests in generating, maintaining, and using the assets within the context of that domain. There are three main stakeholders for any given domain: users, creators, and maintainers/managers. An organization can play the roles of more than one stakeholder. For example, an organization may create, manage, and use the assets in a domain. These three functions encompass the life-cycle of domain assets. In the domain of CALS test and validation tools, vendors (or other developers) of test and validation tools fulfill the create function, libraries such as CALS Test Network (CTN) fulfill the manage function, and the organizations that utilize repositories to achieve mission requirements denote the use function.
The infrastructure for the CALS Test and Validation Tools Repository is based on the services that the repository offers to its users. In order to establish these types of specific services, the methods by which a repository can be practically implemented have been surveyed. The repository will be accessed by members of all the three groups mentioned above, namely the use group, the create group, and the manage group. The key aspect of the repository services will be the transfer of information to and from the repository to the user, whichever group the user may belong to. The repository will also have the added features of interfacing to news groups, transferring of files, accessing test and validation tools, accessing information on reuse qualification information, and other related services.