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Independent
Verification & Validation (IV&V)
IV&V is composed of specific activities performed
in parallel with and complement the development
process: requirements, design, build, document
verification, and product validation. Our vision
is to provide a full service level that includes
identifying the risks and problems and how they
can be prevented or corrected, and becoming involved
in the process rather than just acting as an external
reviewer, with no interest in the outcome. GAITS’ proactive
approach works to reduce risk and cost, and to
ensure a project’s schedule and quality are
achieved. For GAITS, IV&V is not just testing
and editing, it includes a full range of services
and support for our government customers.
Verification determines whether or not a system
or product meets all specified step/phase requirements
and the project is ready to advance in the project’s
lifecycle. IV&V exposes, for instance, requirement
inconsistencies and design errors early in the
development process when errors are less expensive
to correct. Verification also examines test preparedness,
e.g., all requirements are included in the test
cases. Validation determines whether or not the
system achieves the specified functional and performance
levels in a reliable and efficient manner.
Enterprises modernizing their information systems
must ensure the systems:
- Satisfy business needs
- Are well engineered
- Are error free
- Is manageable
IV&V helps ensure all products and documentation
comply with the system and programmatic requirements.
GAITS uses its well-established management and
engineering methodologies to review, analyze, and
test a system or project management operation throughout
the system lifecycle, usually tied to internal
standards published by the Agency, and external
standards, such as SEI CMMI. This methodology detects
problems and deficiencies early in the lifecycle
to decrease the cost of corrections and products,
and to ensure the project’s management and
final products meet contractual, performance, integrity,
reliability, supportability, and quality requirements.
Our approach combines a proven, structured methodology
with innovative automated tools. We provide a comprehensive,
integrated framework of services that relies on:
- An expert staff with a broad spectrum of technical
and management disciplines and extensive government
and industry evaluation and authentication expertise.
- An in-depth knowledge of industry standards and
best practices such as SEI CMMI, ISO, NIST, and
IEEE.
- Rigorous processes and procedures based on standard
industry evaluation and authentication approaches.
- Specialized analysis tools to facilitate and enhance
IV&V analysis.
GAITS knows IV&V is not only a set of evaluation
(e.g., assessment, review and analysis) activities,
but a set of functions that occur within the context
of a whole project and customer organization. The
three parties (Government Agency, Modernization
Contractor, and GAITS (QA, IV&V or testing)
are parts of the entire process, and if they function
well together, the prospect for a completely successful
system delivery and operation are enhanced.
While the “function well together” is
not intended to reduce the review and validation
functions, results are enhanced when IV&V recognizes
that adversarial relationships don’t help
to bring a system to successful fruition. By developing
an attitude of partnership, and working to ensure
the culture of the project team enhances the feeling
that the IV&V Team is a partner and not an “auditor” brought
in to point out errors and omissions, the opportunity
to correct things in advance and to deliver a first
class product to the Government is enhanced.
GAITS works closely with each IV&V functional
customer and related groups to deliver this philosophy.
When the results of an IV&V evaluation are
a surprise, then the process has failed, and needs
to be reviewed to see how all parties can avoid
the surprises in the future. An IV&V Team,
as managed by GAITS, is an adjunct to the Government’s
requirement to obtain a system that does not require
constant correction and maintenance, and meets
the stated objectives. As our past performance
references and our technical and management expertise
has demonstrated, GAITS delivers on this philosophy
with superior results.
Why GAITS delivers
Superior IV&V productivity,
quality and service
GAITS offers extensive experience in project oversight
for development and maintenance efforts. Our approach
addresses IV&V from a functional and management
perspective. Our goal is to help ensure the project
efforts provide the information needed to verify
system compliance and understand the effectiveness
of your quality program.
The following chart illustrates key areas of the
GAITS assessment approach.
GAITS specializes in establishing and deploying
effective methodologies and disciplines. Our employees
have significant project experience, having honed
their assessment and analysis skills from performing
these tasks, not just monitoring the actions of
others. We take a pragmatic view of the essential
attributes that make projects successful.
Our IV&V focus is to provide our clients with
early warning (risk identification) regarding issues
or processes that will inhibit the success of the
project. Our experienced staff can provide alternative
solutions and actions to circumvent encumbrances
that might prove costly, quality deterioration
or schedule impact. We work closely with the customer
to help manage and engineer successful completion
of the effort, not to act as an additional impediment
to the project's resources or success.
GAITS’ general approach to meeting IV&V
requirements is to provide disciplined constructs
based upon, for instance, IEEE Standards and proven
methodologies. The IV&V Plan is integral to
the oversight role, e.g., by supplementing a project
management plan or a software development plan.
The IV&V Plan provides a clear delineation
of the expectations for the project.
The result of the IV&V Plan provides the customer
and GAITS’ team a clear set of objectives,
a specific set of guidelines and expectations,
and a timeline based upon those objectives. The
IV&V Plan provides a framework for completing
the assessments. The IV&V process enables open
communication between the developer, maintainer,
the customer, and other stakeholders. Expectations
are clearly delineated fostering more productive
relationships and more readily attainable goals.
Click here for
more information on how GAITS performs IV&V.
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