Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V)

WHO TO CONTACT

A Department’s IT Coordinator or project lead will be notified by the State CIO or a designated ETS representative (ITG Manager or ITG Analyst) if a project is identified as one requiring IV&V.

PROCESS

WHAT IS IV&V?

Independent verification and validation (IV&V) involves V&V done by a third-party organization not involved in the development of the product. Thus, the product, such as a software, gets examined by third party. The main check performed is whether user requirements are met alongside ensuring that the product is structurally sound and built to the required specifications.

The State of Hawaii’s approach to IV&V also encompasses evaluating additional implementation activities of the project, such as planning, project management,configuration management, communications, testing, roll-out, etc.

WHAT IS ETS’ ROLE?

SB850 HD2 [2017] Requires the Chief Information Officer to identify the information technology projects of the executive branch, including DOE and UH, that shall be subject to independent verification and validation. Act 37 [2017] (SB850 HD2 CD1)

additional duties of the chief information officer relating to independent verification and validation of information technology projects of the executive branch.

    1. The chief information officer shall identify the information technology projects of the executive branch, including those of the department of education and the University of Hawaii, that shall be subject to independent verification and validation.
  1. If the chief information officer identifies an information technology project for independent verification and validation, the sponsoring department or agency shall cooperate with the chief information officer and the independent verification and validation contractor during the independent verification and validation process.
  2. The chief information officer shall require all independent verification and validation reports to be submitted to the chief information officer.
  3. The chief information officer shall submit each independent verification and validation report to the legislature within ten days of receiving the report.
  4. As used in this section, “independent verification and validation of an information technology project” means a rigorous independent process that evaluates the correctness and quality of the business product of the project to ensure that the product is being developed in accordance with customer requirements and well-engineered.”

IV&V planning should be part of the Budget Request (Form A) process to ensure the availability of funds for both the IV&V as well as the budgeted project itself. at the start of each budget preparation cycle, the CIO, in consult with the CIO’s from UH and DOE, will identify potential projects that may require IV&V activities to accompany them throughout implementation, based on the following factors:

  1. Projects that have statutory or regulatory mandates
  2. Projects to accomplish critical state and/or department priorities
  3. Projects that are new implementations, replacements, or complete system redesigns
  4. Projects that are highly complex, broad in functionality, require significant organizational change management, or support a large stakeholder base
  5. Projects that have histories of difficult and challenging system implementations.

Procurement of the IV&V vendor shall be separate from the project’s procurement.Departments shall submit draft RFPs for IV&V activities to the CIO for review before publishing. Additionally, all IV&V reports shall be submitted to the CIO at the same time they are provided to Department management.

RESOURCES

ETS will publish IV&V assessment reports when they are submitted to the Legislature