SACM 2.0, the new version of the standard for structured assurance cases

An assurance case is a collection of auditable claims, arguments, and evidence created to justify that a system or service satisfies its dependability requirements. Assurance cases play a major in the certification of critical systems in most application domains, including those covered in AMASS. Different techniques have been proposed for their adequate specification and exchange, including the SACM (Structured Assurance Case Metamodel) standard whose 2.0 version has been recently published.

The new version of the standard represents a major revision towards a better specification of assurance cases, and AMASS partners have contributed to it. More concretely, Alejandra Ruiz (TEC) is among the main contributors to the revision of the argumentation part of SACM, and Jose Luis de la Vara (UC3M) to the revision of the evidence artefacts part. Their work builds on the results and insights from both AMASS and prior projects, mainly OPENCOSS.

Among the changes made with regard to prior versions, SACM 2.0 has targeted to improve the support for ISO/IEC 15026-2 and for GSN, harmonise its different parts (argument, evidence, and vocabulary of an assurance case), extend the support for assurance case patterns, and improve the modularity and simplicity of the standard. The ultimate goal is to obtain wide-spread adoption and implementation within the tooling market, e.g. in ASCE (Assurance and Safety Case Environment).

The standard is expected to continue evolving, as assurance case specification needs to evolve too. Among the areas to cover in future version, the definition of a concrete syntax for the standard and further alignment with other initiatives and modelling languages are planned.