Microcomputer Software System Development: Suggested Revisions to MIL-STD-1521A for Cost-Effective Acquisition of Custom Software through Software Engineering.

Abstract

DOD annual investment in computer systems, much of it in micro-computers, will be $38 billion by 1990, up 900 percent from 1980. Software maintenance costs will be 64 percent of the 1990 total, or more than $24 billion. Software maintenance can be greatly reduced through systemic software development as prescribed by MIL-STD-1521A, but DOD managers complain that the process, originally designed for the acquisition of multi-million dollar mainframe systems, not for microcomputers, is much too slow, and therefore not cost effective. Data automation experts point out, however, that development haste in conflict with 1521A increases future maintenance costs. This thesis displays the problem using a recent case study from the Alaskan Air Command, and presents a new acquisition procedure incorporating microcomputer software engineering techniques which reduce system development time while preserving high software quality as intended by the regulations. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1983
Accession Number
ADA134363

Entities

People

  • Victor M. Helbling

Organizations

  • Air Force Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Business Administration
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Engineers
  • Information Processing
  • Information Systems
  • Operating Systems
  • Procurement
  • Reliability
  • Software Design
  • Software Development
  • Structured Programming
  • Systems Engineering
  • Systems Management
  • Test And Evaluation

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Engineering

Readers

  • Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Data Science/Digital Signal Processing.
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Software Engineering.