Arc Skills / Verification and validation

Check whether a test procedure verifies a requirement

Arc Skills compares each requirement clause with the setup, steps, data sheet, and acceptance rule in a draft procedure. It returns coverage gaps and minimal proposed edits before execution.

Use this skill

Use Arc Skills to check the supplied test procedure against its requirement.

Inputs:
- Requirement revision and approved acceptance criteria
- Existing procedure revision with setup, steps, appendices, and data sheets
- Target article, configuration, and required operating boundaries

Return a clause-to-step table with covered, partial, absent, or indeterminate verdicts.
Name a failure mode each gap could hide. Do not treat a verifies link as proof of adequate procedure coverage

Set up the toolkit · Read the skill instructions

What you provide and what you get

Inputs and outputs
What you have	How it is used	What you get
Requirement	Defines range, rate, and delivery outcome	Obligation list
Procedure and data sheet	Shows stimulus, measurement, and pass rule	Clause-to-step map
Article and range definition	Tests representativeness of setup	Coverage verdict and edit

A short-cable throughput procedure

Illustrative engineering example.

P-8 transmits data at a nominal cable setup. It does not place the receiver at maximum specified range or capture received payload.

R-8: The radio shall deliver packets at ≥10 Mb/s at maximum specified range.
P-8 step 4: Send packets at 10 Mb/s over a short cable.
P-8 data sheet: Record transmitter rate only.
Maximum specified range: [controlled value not supplied].

A short-cable throughput procedure — illustrative output
R-8 clause	Existing procedure coverage	Minimal edit / missed failure
Deliver packets	Partial: step 4 drives transmitter	Record receiver payload and losses; transmitter-only output could hide delivery failure.
≥10 Mb/s	Partial: input rate set to 10 Mb/s	Measure received useful throughput; commanded rate is not delivered rate.
At maximum specified range	Absent: short cable only	Use approved range or equivalent link condition; value must come from source.

All three clauses are at best partial or absent, so executing P-8 as written could not verify R-8 even if every step passes. The most important distinction is transmitted rate versus successfully delivered payload.

The missing maximum-range definition is a requirement or source-definition gap as well as a procedure gap. The reviewer should not invent a distance or claim the short cable represents it.

Test the procedure against a plausible failure

Decompose the requirement into conditions, stimulus, response, limit, and exception.
Locate the exact procedure step, raw data record, and decision rule for each clause.
Ask whether a noncompliant article could still pass the written steps.
Propose the smallest setup, measurement, or criterion edit for each real gap.

Questions about this task

Does a Test title called throughput prove coverage?

No. The procedure must capture received throughput under the required range condition.

Is this a test result assessment?

No. It judges whether the planned procedure could decide R-8 before a Run is executed.

Sources and further reading

NASA Systems Engineering Handbook: Lifecycle and requirements guidance; the example decisions are illustrative.