EN IEC 62960:2020

Dependability reviews during the life cycle

IEC 62960:2020 provides guidance on a review methodology for dependability from a technical perspective that is applicable at all stages of a system life cycle. Its application can improve the dependability of a system throughout its life cycle by triggering appropriate actions at appropriate times to address potential dependability problems. It provides guidance for developers, manufacturers, users and third-party independent reviewers such as consulting organizations. This document describes a dependability review methodology focusing on: - coherence of review activities across life cycle stages and their impact on dependability; - stakeholder identification and how this affects dependability review activities; - the relationships between different types of reviews; - procedures for effective dependability reviews; - examples of dependability review activities.

Zuverlässigkeitsbewertungen während des Lebenszyklus

Revues de la sûreté de fonctionnement au cours du cycle de vie

IEC 62960:2020 fournit, sous un angle technique, des recommandations relatives à une méthodologie de revue de la sûreté de fonctionnement applicable à toutes les phases du cycle de vie d'un système. Son application permet d'améliorer la sûreté de fonctionnement d'un système tout au long de son cycle de vie, en déclenchant au moment opportun des mesures adéquates pour traiter les éventuels problèmes de sûreté de fonctionnement. Il fournit des recommandations à l'attention des développeurs, des fabricants, des utilisateurs et des vérificateurs tiers indépendants, tels que des organismes de conseil. Le présent document décrit une méthodologie de revue de la sûreté de fonctionnement portant sur: - la cohérence des activités de revue au cours des différentes étapes du cycle de vie et leur impact sur la sûreté de fonctionnement; - l'identification des parties prenantes et leurs effets sur les activités de revue de la sûreté de fonctionnement; - les relations entre les différents types de revues; - les procédures garantissant l'efficacité des revues de la sûreté de fonctionnement; - des exemples d'activités réalisées dans le cadre de revues de la sûreté de fonctionnement.

Pregledi zanesljivosti v življenjskem ciklu (IEC 62960:2020)

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 07-May-2020
• ICS: 03.120.01 - Quality in general
• Technical Committee: CLC/SR 56 - Dependability
• Drafting Committee: IEC/TC 56 - IEC_TC_56
• Current Stage: 6060 - Document made available - Publishing
• Start Date: 08-May-2020
• Completion Date: 08-May-2020
• Ref Project: SIST EN IEC 62960:2020 - Dependability reviews during the life cycle (IEC 62960:2020)

Overview

EN IEC 62960:2020 (IEC 62960:2020) defines a technical review methodology for dependability during the life cycle of systems and products. The standard provides structured guidance to plan, conduct and follow up dependability reviews at all life‑cycle stages - from concept and development through realization, utilisation, enhancement and retirement. Its aim is to improve system dependability by triggering appropriate actions at appropriate times to address potential problems.

Key Topics

• Dependability review methodology: stepwise approach including identification of stakeholders, defining requirements, collecting performance data, gap assessment, risk identification and recommending actions.
• Life‑cycle coverage: specific guidance for reviews at concept, development (conceptual, detailed, final design), realization, utilisation, enhancement and retirement stages.
• Review types and levels: technical reviews, status reviews, team reviews, project reviews and status checkpoints to ensure coherence across stages.
• Review process and procedures: planning, selection of review team, preparation of input packages, meeting agenda and protocol, minutes, action points, recommendations and follow‑up.
• Dependability topics: reliability, maintainability, availability, maintenance support, quality assurance, environmental effects, product safety, human factors, security, durability and legal/accountability aspects.
• Stakeholder considerations: how stakeholder identification affects review scope, objectives and outcomes.
• Practical examples: sample input packages, objectives and checklist considerations for different life‑cycle stages.

Applications

EN IEC 62960 is a practical tool for embedding dependable design and operation into engineering and management practices. Typical applications include:

• Running structured dependability reviews during system development to detect design weaknesses early.
• Verifying maintenance strategies, supportability and operational readiness during realization and utilisation.
• Guiding third‑party audits and independent reviews by consultants to validate dependability claims.
• Informing corrective and preventive actions during enhancement or prior to retirement to reduce lifecycle risk.

Using the standard helps organisations reduce failures, increase availability, improve maintainability and demonstrate systematic dependability governance across the product life cycle.

Who should use this standard

• Developers and design teams seeking to integrate dependability checks into design reviews.
• Manufacturers wanting to ensure product supportability and reliability in the field.
• Operators and maintenance organisations validating operational dependability and maintenance plans.
• Third‑party reviewers and consulting organisations performing independent technical reviews or audits.

Related standards

EN IEC 62960 references and aligns with other dependability and quality standards, for example: IEC 60300‑1, IEC 60300‑3‑3, IEC 62402, IEC 61508‑1, ISO/IEC 27000, ISO 9000 and relevant IEC/ISO reliability, risk and testing publications. These standards can be used together to build a comprehensive dependability program.

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-julij-2020
Pregledi zanesljivosti v življenjskem ciklu (IEC 62960:2020)
Dependability reviews during the life cycle (IEC 62960:2020)
Zuverlässigkeitsbewertungen während des Lebenszyklus (IEC 62960:2020)
Revues de la sûreté de fonctionnement au cours du cycle de vie (IEC 62960:2020)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN IEC 62960:2020
ICS:
13.020.60 Življenjski ciklusi izdelkov Product life-cycles
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EUROPEAN STANDARD EN IEC 62960

NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
May 2020
ICS 03.120.01
English Version
Dependability reviews during the life cycle
(IEC 62960:2020)
Revues de la sûreté de fonctionnement au cours du cycle Zuverlässigkeitsbewertungen während des Lebenszyklus
de vie (IEC 62960:2020)
(IEC 62960:2020)
This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2020-04-22. CENELEC members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC
Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre or to any CENELEC member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation
under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the
same status as the official versions.
CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Turkey and the United Kingdom.

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2020 CENELEC All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC Members.
Ref. No. EN IEC 62960:2020 E
European foreword
The text of document 56/1874/FDIS, future edition 1 of IEC 62960, prepared by IEC/TC 56
"Dependability" was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel vote and approved by CENELEC as
The following dates are fixed:
• latest date by which the document has to be implemented at national (dop) 2021-01-22
level by publication of an identical national standard or by endorsement
• latest date by which the national standards conflicting with the (dow) 2023-04-22
document have to be withdrawn
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 62960:2020 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standards
indicated:
IEC 60300-1:2014 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60300-1:2014 (not modified)
IEC 60300-3-3:2017 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60300-3-3:2017 (not modified)
IEC 62741:2015 NOTE Harmonized as EN 62741:2015 (not modified)
IEC 60812 NOTE Harmonized as EN IEC 60812
IEC 61025:2006 NOTE Harmonized as EN 61025:2007 (not modified)
IEC 62402:2019 NOTE Harmonized as EN IEC 62402:2019 (not modified)
IEC 62740:2015 NOTE Harmonized as EN 62740:2015 (not modified)
IEC 61014:2003 NOTE Harmonized as EN 61014:2003 (not modified)
IEC 61508-1:2010 NOTE Harmonized as EN 61508-1:2010 (not modified)
IEC 60706-2:2006 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60706-2:2006 (not modified)
IEC 61078:2016 NOTE Harmonized as EN 61078:2016 (not modified)
IEC 62853:2018 NOTE Harmonized as EN IEC 62853:2018 (not modified)
IEC 31010:2019 NOTE Harmonized as EN IEC 31010:2019 (not modified)
IEC 60300-3-2 NOTE Harmonized as EN 60300-3-2
IEC 60721-2 (series) NOTE Harmonized as EN 60721-2 (series)
IEC 60721-3 (series) NOTE Harmonized as EN 60721-3 (series)
ISO/IEC 27000:2018 NOTE Harmonized as EN ISO/IEC 27000:2020 (not modified)
ISO 9000:2015 NOTE Harmonized as EN ISO 9000:2015 (not modified)
Annex ZA
(normative)
Normative references to international publications
with their corresponding European publications
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments)
applies.
NOTE 1  Where an International Publication has been modified by common modifications, indicated by (mod), the relevant
EN/HD applies.
NOTE 2  Up-to-date information on the latest versions of the European Standards listed in this annex is available here:
www.cenelec.eu.
Publication Year Title EN/HD Year
IEC 60050-192 - International electrotechnical vocabulary - - -
Part 192: Dependability
IEC 62960 ®
Edition 1.0 2020-03
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
NORME
INTERNATIONALE
Dependability reviews during the life cycle

Revues de la sûreté de fonctionnement au cours du cycle de vie

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
COMMISSION
ELECTROTECHNIQUE
INTERNATIONALE
ICS 03.120.01 ISBN 978-2-8322-7977-9

– 2 – IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 5
INTRODUCTION . 7
1 Scope . 8
2 Normative references . 8
3 Terms and definitions . 8
3.1 Terms and definitions . 8
3.2 Abbreviated terms . 11
4 Introducing dependability reviews . 11
4.1 General . 11
4.2 Technical reviews . 13
4.3 Status reviews . 13
4.4 Overview of the dependability review method . 14
4.4.1 Overview . 14
4.4.2 Identifying stakeholders . 14
4.4.3 Identifying what the requirements are . 15
4.4.4 Capturing information on actual performance . 15
4.4.5 Assessing the gap between requirements and actual performance . 15
4.4.6 Identifying risks and areas of concern . 15
4.4.7 Recommending actions . 16
4.5 Planning for and timing of dependability reviews . 16
4.6 Levels of dependability reviews . 17
4.6.1 Overview . 17
4.6.2 Team reviews . 18
4.6.3 Project reviews . 18
4.6.4 Status reviews . 19
5 Dependability review activities during the life cycle . 19
5.1 General . 19
5.2 Concept stage . 20
5.3 Development stage . 20
5.3.1 Overview . 20
5.3.2 Design reviews . 21
5.4 Realization stage . 22
5.5 Utilization stage . 23
5.6 Enhancement stage . 23
5.7 Retirement stage . 24
6 Implementing the dependability review process . 24
6.1 General . 24
6.2 Planning of the review . 24
6.3 Selection of the review team . 25
6.4 Preparation of the input package . 25
6.5 Meeting notification and agenda . 25
6.6 Conducting a review meeting . 26
6.6.1 General . 26
6.6.2 Meeting protocol . 26
6.6.3 Action points . 27
6.6.4 Recommendations . 27

IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020 – 3 –
6.6.5 Rejected action points and recommendations . 27
6.6.6 Meeting conclusion . 27
6.7 Preparing and distributing review minutes . 27
6.7.1 General . 27
6.7.2 Minutes. 28
6.8 Actions and recommendations from a review . 28
6.9 Follow-up and completion of action points and recommendations . 29
Annex A (informative) Examples of an input package for a review . 30
A.1 Concept stage . 30
A.2 Development stage . 30
A.3 Realization stage . 30
A.4 Utilization stage . 31
A.5 Enhancement stage . 31
A.6 Retirement stage . 32
Annex B (informative) Examples of objectives for dependability reviews during the life

cycle . 33
B.1 General . 33
B.2 Concept stage . 33
B.3 Development stage . 33
B.3.1 Conceptual design review . 33
B.3.2 Detail design review . 33
B.3.3 Final design review . 34
B.4 Realization stage . 34
B.5 Utilization stage . 35
B.5.1 Operation . 35
B.5.2 Maintenance . 35
B.6 Enhancement stage . 35
B.7 Retirement stage . 36
Annex C (informative) Considerations during dependability reviews through the life
cycle . 37
C.1 General . 37
C.2 Examples of dependability review considerations in the concept stage . 37
C.3 Examples of dependability review considerations in the development stage . 38
C.4 Examples of dependability review considerations in the realization stage . 39
C.5 Examples of dependability review considerations in the utilization stage . 40
C.6 Examples of dependability review considerations in the enhancement stage . 41
C.7 Examples of dependability review considerations in the retirement stage . 42
Annex D (informative) Functions and responsibilities of some key persons for a
technical review . 43
D.1 General . 43
D.2 Chair . 43
D.3 Secretary . 44
D.4 Relevant specialists . 44
D.5 Project or team manager and members . 45
D.6 Customers and users . 45
Annex E (informative) Dependability topics for a review . 46
E.1 General . 46
E.2 Reliability . 46
E.3 Maintainability . 46

– 4 – IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020
E.4 Maintenance . 47
E.5 Maintenance support. 47
E.6 Availability . 47
E.7 Quality assurance . 48
E.8 Environmental effects . 49
E.9 Product safety . 50
E.10 Human factors . 50
E.11 Legal matters . 51
E.12 Durability . 52
E.13 Security . 52
E.14 Property damage . 52
E.15 Accountability . 53
Bibliography . 54

Figure 1 – Flow of reviews during a life cycle stage . 18
Figure 2 – Implementing the review process . 24

IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020 – 5 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
DEPENDABILITY REVIEWS DURING THE LIFE CYCLE

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC Publication(s)”). Their
preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with
may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence between
any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
5) IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity
assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any
services carried out by independent certification bodies.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of patent
rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 62960 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 56:
Dependability.
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
56/1874/FDIS 56/1878/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this International Standard can be found in the
report on voting indicated in the above table.
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

– 6 – IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to
the specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
IMPORTANT – The 'colour inside' logo on the cover page of this publication indicates
that it contains colours which are considered to be useful for the correct understanding
of its contents. Users should therefore print this document using a colour printer.

IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020 – 7 –
INTRODUCTION
Dependability is the ability to perform as and when required. Dependability has many attributes
but is usually characterized in terms of reliability, maintainability, supportability (including
maintenance and support) and availability. These attributes are subject to change over the life
cycle and can benefit from regular review.
Benefits of dependability review throughout the life cycle include:
– discovering and mitigating or eliminating weaknesses in the early life cycle stages before
they manifest as dependability problems in later stages;
– identifying and treating problems which might occur later in the life cycle, and providing
feedback to prevent their recurrence and to adapt systems to changes in environment and
other factors;
– providing assurance of dependability and of the systems and processes that aim to achieve
dependability;
– continually improving the dependability of the system in order to maintain or improve a
commercial advantage.
Systems are becoming increasingly complex and constantly changing. This raises specific
problems that need attention. Systems are changing in the following ways. A system is often
developed, and/or utilized, in organizations across national borders and industry sectors.
Changes such as legislation affecting one country or industry sector may necessitate a change
to the system. System requirements can also change over time as technology, environmental
conditions and societal demands change.
Dependability reviews are mainly used for large systems, but even small products such as
mobile phones are complicated systems that may require dependability reviews.
Organizations involved in different parts of the life cycle might not be able to share a common
purpose. For example, an engineering design company during the development and realization
stages may not be able to fully anticipate the needs of stakeholders at the utilization stage.
More generally, it is becoming increasingly difficult to predict at some earlier stage potential
dependability problems that can occur at a later life cycle stage. Dependability reviews carried
out at appropriate points during the life cycle can assist in addressing all of the above issues.
This document provides guidance on dependability reviews as part of an organization’s
technical review processes. It provides a coherent set of principles for dependability reviews
which could be useful in addition to, and in support of, general monitoring and dependability
assurance carried out by various organizations at different life cycle stages.
In many cases dependability aspects of a system are covered in other reviews such as design
reviews or manufacturability reviews. In these cases, the procedures given in this document
can be applied. The informative annexes can be used as checklists to cover all technical
relevant aspects.
Dependability reviews described in this document are a key part of a dependability management
system as described in IEC 60300-1.

– 8 – IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020
DEPENDABILITY REVIEWS DURING THE LIFE CYCLE

1 Scope
This document provides guidance on a review methodology for dependability from a technical
perspective that is applicable at all stages of a system life cycle. Its application can improve
the dependability of a system throughout its life cycle by triggering appropriate actions at
appropriate times to address potential dependability problems.
It provides guidance for developers, manufacturers, users and third-party independent
reviewers such as consulting organizations.
This document describes a dependability review methodology focusing on:
– coherence of review activities across life cycle stages and their impact on dependability;
– stakeholder identification and how this affects dependability review activities;
– the relationships between different types of reviews;
– procedures for effective dependability reviews;
– examples of dependability review activities.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies.
For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any
amendments) applies.
IEC 60050-192, International electrotechnical vocabulary – Part 192: Dependability
(available at http://www.electropedia.org)
3 Terms and definitions
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in IEC 60050-192 and the
following apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1.1
dependability management
coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to dependability
Note 1 to entry: Dependability management is part of an organization’s overall management.
[SOURCE: IEC 60300-1:2014, 3.1.4]

IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020 – 9 –
3.1.2
dependability plan
set of scheduled activities that when carried out are aimed to achieve dependability objectives
and targets for an item
[SOURCE: IEC 60300-1:2014, 3.1.6, modified – "that when carried out are aimed" added.]
3.1.3
dependability review
review which focuses on the dependability aspects of an item, system or process being
reviewed
Note 1 to entry: A dependability review can be a standalone review or a part of a review covering wider aspects.
3.1.4
design review
planned and documented review of an existing or proposed design
Note 1 to entry: Objectives include evaluation of the design’s capability to fulfil the specified requirements,
identification for any actual or potential deficiencies, proposing enhancements.
Note 2 to entry: A design review by itself is not sufficient to ensure proper design.
Note 3 to entry: The design can be for a product or process.
Note 4 to entry: The design review can be achieved by means of a meeting or other documented process.
3.1.5
gap analysis
method to compare what is achieved with what is required in order to identify differences and
make improvements
3.1.6
item
subject being considered
Note 1 to entry: The item may be an individual part, component, device, functional unit, equipment, subsystem, or
system.
Note 2 to entry: The item may consist of hardware, software, people or any combination thereof.
Note 3 to entry: The item often comprises elements that may each be individually considered.
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-192:2015, 192-01-01, modified – Note 3 modified by omission of internal
references and Notes 4 and 5 deleted.]
3.1.7
life cycle
series of identifiable stages through which an item goes, from its conception to disposal
EXAMPLE A typical system life cycle consists of: concept and definition; design and development; construction,
installation and commissioning; operation and maintenance; mid-life upgrading, or life extension and
decommissioning and disposal.
Note 1 to entry: The stages identified will vary with the application.
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-192:2015, 192-01-09]
3.1.8
management
coordinated activities to direct and control an organization

– 10 – IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020
Note 1 to entry: Management can include establishing policies and objectives and processes to achieve these
objectives.
Note 2 to entry: The word "management" sometimes refers to people, i.e. a person or group of people with authority
and responsibility for the conduct and control of an organization. When "management" is used in this sense, it should
always be used with some form of qualifier to avoid confusion with the concept of "management" as a set of activities
defined above. For example, "management shall…" is deprecated whereas "top management shall…" is acceptable.
Otherwise different words should be adopted to convey the concept when related to people, e.g. managerial or
managers.
[SOURCE: ISO 9000:2015, 3.3.3]
3.1.9
project
unique process, consisting of a set of coordinated and controlled activities with start and finish
dates, undertaken to achieve an objective conforming to specific requirements, including the
constraints of time, cost and resources
Note 1 to entry: The project's organization is normally temporary and established for the lifetime of the project.
Note 2 to entry: The complexity of the interactions among project activities is not necessarily related to the project
size.
[SOURCE: ISO 9000:2015, 3.4.2, modified – Notes 1 to 3 deleted.]
3.1.10
project milestone
specific and predetermined point in a project at which certain deliverables are expected to have
been attained, or at which a measurable amount of progress is to be expected
3.1.11
project review
review of the project output
3.1.12
review
activity undertaken to determine the suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the subject
matter to achieve established objectives
[SOURCE: ISO Guide 73:2009, 3.8.2.2, modified – Note deleted.]
3.1.13
stakeholder
person or organization that can affect, be affected by, or perceive themselves to be affected by
a decision or activity
Note 1 to entry: This definition is more general than that given in IEC/ISO/IEEE 15288:2015.
[SOURCE: IEC 60300-1:2014, 3.1.5, modified – Note 1 added.]
3.1.14
status review
review of the overall project status with respect to established objectives
Note 1 to entry: The status review consists of a technical part where status information is gathered and structured
and a management part where the status is determined and appropriate decisions are taken.
3.1.15
system
set of interrelated items that collectively fulfil a requirement
Note 1 to entry: A system is considered to have a defined real or abstract boundary.

IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020 – 11 –
Note 2 to entry: External resources (from outside the system boundary) may be required for the system to operate.
Note 3 to entry: A system structure may be hierarchical, e.g. system, subsystem, component, etc.
Note 4 to entry: Conditions of use and maintenance should be expressed or implied within the requirement.
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-192:2015, 192-01-03]
3.1.16
team
two or more persons working together with a set of complementary skills required to complete
a task
Note 1 to entry: A member of the team is appointed as the team leader.
Note 2 to entry: The team can include persons-in-training.
3.1.17
team review
review of the team output
EXAMPLE Mechanical team, electronic team or software team as input to the technical part of the status review.
3.1.18
technical review
review of technical aspects of a process or a work product by a team of technically-qualified
personnel that examines the suitability of the work product for its intended use and identifies
risks and discrepancies from specifications and standards
Note 1 to entry: Subjects whose technical aspects may be reviewed include application of new technology, product
line diversification, make-buy decisions, timeline for new product introduction and review of the suitability/adequacy
of the technical specification.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 20246:2017, 3.18, modified – "formal peer review" replaced with "review of
technical aspects of a process", "risks" added and Note 1 replaced.]
3.2 Abbreviated terms
COTS commercial-off-the-shelf
FMEA modes and effects analysis
FTA fault tree analysis
MMH maintenance man-hours
MTBF mean operating time between failures
MTTF mean time to first failure
MTTR mean time to restoration
PoF physics of failure
RTM requirements traceability matrix
4 Introducing dependability reviews
4.1 General
Dependability reviews are key activities in the dependability plan. The persons in charge of
dependability reviews have the responsibility for ensuring that dependability reviews are carried
out during the life cycle.
Reviews involve investigating the current situation in order to compare it with what is expected
or required. Reviews identify discrepancies, risks and potential problems, analyse them and
recommend improvements.
– 12 – IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020
Dependability reviews comprise a coherent set of reviews for different aspects of dependability.
These reviews are performed repeatedly throughout the life cycle, continually providing follow-
up actions and assessment of their effectiveness.
Dependability reviews can be performed from various perspectives, such as:
– the dependability attributes of an item including reliability, maintainability, supportability and
availability;
– other time related characteristics of an item such as durability and recoverability;
– dependability related functions such as safety and security;
– cost efficiency, including both life cycle cost and the short term cost;
– activities carried out to achieve or assess dependability outcomes;
– effectiveness of dependability processes;
– accountability of, and to, various stakeholders for potential failures;
– adaptation to changes in requirements, environments, objectives and/or purpose of the
system.
A dependability review provides assurance that dependability is achieved throughout the life
cycle either by demonstrating that requirements are met or by identifying problems and making
improvements. A dependability review can be used to provide evidence that a dependability
claim is satisfied as part of a dependability case (IEC 62741 [3] gives guidance on the content
of a dependability case and establishes general principles for its preparation).
Systematic dependability reviews across the system life cycle enable agile corrective
redirection of effort with less waste. This is particularly beneficial given the current trends for
increasing system complexity, tightening development time and prolonged operational life.
Some environments or conditions for the trends include:
– ubiquitous network connection to any range of systems controlled by others;
– frequent changes in the system's context such as user expectation and competitions in the
market;
– inability to discard the old and start anew due to, for example cost consideration and
preferences for "circular economy".
Dependability reviews help identify, predict and correct problems as they arise in the system
life cycle while they are small enough to be addressed.
There are various types of dependability reviews. The type of dependability review performed
at a life cycle stage should be appropriate to that life cycle stage. This is best managed and
documented through the dependability plan. Dependability review activities during the life cycle
are described in Clause 5.
A review can be internal where the review team involves people closely involved with the subject
under review or it can be external where the review team involves only independent people. In
this case the team which is the subject of the review provides evidence to the external review
team.
Management problems such as accountability and changes in business objectives have
consequences for dependability. Such problems can therefore form part of a dependability
review. In this case both technical experts and managers can be involved.
____________
Numbers in square brackets refer to the Bibliography.

IEC 62960:2020  IEC 2020 – 13 –
Dependability reviews can be categorized as technical reviews or management reviews. The
principles of this document can be applied equally to all types of review. However, this
document focuses on technical reviews. The management part of reviews in the status review
is not covered. Both technical reviews and management reviews take place at each stage of
the life cycle, often as an integral part of other reviews rather than as a standalone activity.
Subclauses 4.2 and 4.3 describe technical reviews and status reviews.
4.2 Technical reviews
Technical reviews identify and analyse potential problems and opportunities, and recommend
actions for improvement. They also provide assurance that processes are operating effectively
and requirements are met.
Technical reviews can include design reviews, operation reviews, maintenance reviews, risk
reviews or reviews of other technical aspects of an item or process. They may focus on
dependability or dependability may be considered as part of a wider performance review.
Technical reviews of dependability can involve:
– reviews of the achieved or predicted dependability of an item where the objective is to
improve dependability of the item itself by evaluating dependability measures and by
exploring opportunities for improvement;
– reviews of the processes and activities planned to achieve dependability in order to learn
lessons and improve future processes and activities.
Participants should have a technical understanding of the system under review and of the
reliability, maintenance and supportability disciplines.
The participants should include experts who are independent from the design of the system and
have necessary skills to analyse how items, systems and processes could fail. Participation of
such experts is most important for securing independence and quality of the review. Participants
might include, for example, quality professionals, reliability professionals, ergonomics
professionals, safety analysts and test personnel.
Management should normally not participate in a technical review. The customer or user of the
system or process may participate in a technical review.
Each technical review should designate a chair of the meeting (the facilitator), who can assign
a secretary to assist the review.
4.3 Status reviews
The purpose of a status review is to provide the management group, and sometimes the
customer, with information about how a project is progressing, and in some cases, to authorize
the continuation of a project to the next phase in the project plan. Some status reviews are held
at project milestones and are referred to as "milestone reviews". Some milestone reviews also
include a decision on whether, or not the project can proceed and may be referred to as "gate
reviews". In some cases a stage payment is dependent on the result of the status review.
A status review of dependability starts with a phase where information and evidence related to
dependability are collected and structured. The structured information is then presented to
management for review and decisions.
The team for a status review should include people that have the authority to devote resources
to the project and remove obstacles. The participants in the technical part of the status review
are typically the chair, the secretary, the project leaders and the team leaders for the different
project teams. Once consensus on the status of the technical problems has been reached, the
status review can proceed to the management phase, where usually the programme manager,
the management and, possibly, the customer participate. Care should be taken so that serious
problems reported by the team leaders in the project review are not presented as tasks for the
next project phase without reporting their potential impact if left unsolved.

– 14 – IEC 62960:2020  IE
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