4.3.3: Testing and Certification

Establish an Adaptive and Collaborative Testing and Certification Environment

Other Information:

SOA allows an adaptive and collaborative approach to information processing. Hence, the SOA assessment method, i.e., validation and verification (V&V), test and evaluation (T&E), and/or certification and accreditation (C&A), should itself be an adaptive and collaborative process. This adaptive approach is as fundamentally different from traditional T&E methods as SOA is fundamentally different from previous computing paradigms. Making the transformation will require similar attention. An “SOA assessment” is a useful engineering service embedded throughout the software development and deployment process, based on measurable and testable parameters that can accomplish the following: • Reduce policy documents, and operational requirements to measurable and testable attributes coded in machine readable formats. • Bundle candidate information processing capabilities into reference implementations. • Assess both the adequacy of the service-oriented infrastructure and the value-add to business objectives. • Weigh risk and reward to scale the rigor of assessment as appropriate. • Assist developers of large complex systems to deploy their capability continuously and incrementally. • Rapidly assess information processing capability prior to its operational deployment. Follow up with operational V&V. • Reduce the barrier to entry for IT vendors and developers who don’t generally deal with the U.S. Government. SOA certification should be addressed in three broad categories: • Software performance and vulnerability, • Network performance and vulnerability, and • Demonstrated value added to enterprise objectives. Effective testing and certification to guarantee SLA terms and conditions is required to establish and sustain trust in shared services. Publishing services to a controlled test environment goes one step further by empowering government partners, business partners, IT vendors, and system integrators to enable compatibility and add value. An investment is required to develop the assessment tools and processes necessary to achieve these outcomes or outsource “testing as a service.”

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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