ABSTRACT
Compliance to project plans and standards is ensured by process assurance. Process assurance performs inspections of the hardware and its artifacts to make sure it conforms to its drawings and specifications. The activities for process assurance can be performed by personnel that have engineering skills, or personnel experienced with quality assurance responsibilities. The audits and reviews do not require technical design skills, though technical competency can enhance the depth and value of process assurance. The process assurance engineer does not need to perform peer reviews of technical documents. Process assurance activities should be performed in a timely manner and not left until the end of a project. Using process assurance as a rubber stamp to approve data and hardware at the last minute can compromise product quality, compliance with the project certification basis, and the ultimate certification of the product. Process assurance activities are intended to be performed by sampling the work product.
