Software Readiness Level

Software Readiness Levels (SRLs) are used to articulate the current status of a project in its development cycle.

Defining a robust and repeatable process will ensure the progression of solution development can be thoroughly validated before going into production.

SRLs are key to articulating expected requirements or phases of development requested in a 'call to tender'. For example; a tender request may articulate progression of a project from SRL 4 to an SRL 6. This outlines typical expectations for the tender and demonstrates to the community the expected artefacts/value to be delivered.

These SRLs and breakdowns below are typical of core node development, they may only be partly suitable for other types of development but they provide a useful guide nevertheless.

Stage	SRL	Description	Typical Artefact
Research	1	Idea Formulated	Outline Problem Statement
		Basic Research	Research Paper
Innovation	2	CPS Produced	CPS or Technical Report
		Initial Delta-Q Analysis	Analysis Report
		First CIP or Technical Report Produced	CIP
Feasibility	3	Outline Feasibility Demonstrated	Report
		Initial Software Demonstrators	Software Demonstrators
		CIP Updated	Revised CIP
Design	4	Outline Design Study	Outline Design Report
		Feasibility Study Completed (Functionality)	Feasability Study
		Quantitative Timing Analysis Completed	Detailed Timing Analysis
		Detailed Software Prototypes Produced	Software Prototypes
Initial Implementation	5	Detailed Design Completed	Detailed Design Produced
		Code Investigation Completed	Report on Code Investigation
		Design Reviewed	Technical Workshop(s)
		Implementation Plan Produced	Implementation Plan
		Initial Implementation	Software Deliverables
Main Implementation	6	Code Completed	Software Deliverable
		Functionality Tests Completed	Test Results
		Security Review Completed	Security Audit Report
		Performance Tests Completed as Necessary	Performance Reports
Integration	7	Integration Into Node	Integrated Node (Preview Release)
		Integration Functionality Tests Completed	Test Results
		Node Deployed to Preview Test Environment	Explorers shows deployment
		Performance Tests Completed	Preformance Reports
Deployment	8	Mainnet-ready node Released	Intergrated Node (Mainnet Release)
		Node Deployed to Preproduction Test Environment	Explorers show deployment
		Node Deployed to Mainnet	(Possible hard fork)
Completion	9	Post-deployment snags fixed	Snagging Report
		Live Performance Evaluation Completed	Performance Reporting
		Residual Issues Identified	Final Report