User:IveGoneAway/sandbox/FAA Job Aid

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FAA Job Aid

Conducting Software Reviews Prior to Certification


Conducting Airborne Electronic Hardware Reviews
FAA Publication
First published1998 (1998)/2008 (2008)
Latest version2004 (2004)/2008 (2008)
OrganizationFederal Aviation Administration
DomainAviation safety

An FAA Job Aid is a publication developed to assist Designated Engineering Representatives (DER) of the FAA when auditing the development of safety-critical products for compliance with recognized standards for fight-safety assurance.

Two FAA Job Aids that have been released and updated over the years are

  • Conducting Airborne Electronic Hardware Reviews for products that should comply with DO-254, updated in 2008
  • Conducting Software Reviews Prior to Certification for products that should comply with DO-178, updated in 2004

Although the term "review" is used in the titles, the DER's activities are in fact compliance audits.


With the release of DO-178B, DERs in Europe and the United States began

engage at points in the development

Then know as the Mega Order

Conversely, these Job Aids provide Applicants with standardized guidelines for what could be expected of them at the agreed-upon stages.

Standardized four points of engage defined Each stage generally correspond with staged, phase, or milestone project reviews.

SOI #1 Planning[edit]

The plans for accomplishment of the development and verification objectives are established and approved. The Applicant has typically completed the equivalent of a Planning Review.

SOI #2 Development[edit]

The requirements are established and verified.

SOI #3 : Verification Testing[edit]

The test cases and procedures for verifying the implementation of functional requirements are established and verified. Often, by the time the test cases and procedures are approved, the test environments and test articles are completed and the test can run with a high degree of passing results.

SOI #4 : Final[edit]

After a short time, it was apparent that there was considerable variation in how the many DERs conducted their assessments of compliance of projects with FAA regulations.