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Table 3. Example of FRB Constituency at Various Levels of Failure Investigation and Suggested Escalation Criteria
Failure
Review Org Criteria for convening Authority Suggested Key Members
Failure Disposition/
Review Escalation Decisions
Preliminary
Review
(prior to
convening
MRB or
FRB)
Investigate and disposition test
anomalies, but cannot disposition any
remedial action of hardware or
deliverable software. Dispositions are
limited to troubleshoot, retest/re-
inspect, no defect, and promote to
MRB and/or FRB.
Test Engineer with
concurrence from
Systems
Engineer/Quality
Engineer
Candidates: Test Engineer (authority), Systems
Engineer (interim concurrence), Quality Engineer
(final concurrence), Responsible Engineer (hardware
owner), SMEs (technical expertise), Reliability
Engineer (failure assessment), Safety Engineer (as
applicable)
1) MRB if needed (decision to convene
FRB if FRB thresholds met or exceeded)
MRB Convened to address all
nonconformances including test
failures per program nonconformance/
MRB plan requirements
Per Program Plan;
Quality usually has final
sign-off of disposition
subject to engineering
disposition
MRB Authority; Other Candidates include Quality
Engineer, Responsible Engineer (hardware owner),
Customer (if required by contract), SMEs (technical
expertise), Reliability Engineer (failure assessment),
Safety Engineer (as applicable), Test Engineer
1) Use as is and repair dispositions are
assessed for residual risk & captured by
program or determination if FRB thresholds
are met or exceeded and FRB is required
2) Evaluation and initiation of corrective
action process including enterprise/
industry notification assessment
FRB
(Project/
Program
Level)
Convened when preliminary review
has determined that a failure of
requirements has occurred or the
system behavior is not understood
without further investigation.
FRB Chair, with
Program MA Manager
concurrence preferred
FRB Chair candidates are often Senior Systems
Engineer, program Mission Assurance manager,
Chief Engineer or Senior Quality Engineer; other
members may include but are not limited to
Responsible Engineer (hardware owner), SMEs
(technical expertise), Reliability Engineer (failure
assessment), Safety Engineer (as applicable), Test
Engineer, Quality Engineer (liaison to MRB),
Customer representative as required by contract
1) Test failure dispositions are assessed
and remedial actions implemented, residual
risk; risk is captured on program risk list,
determination if senior management review
and further risk acceptance is required
2) Failure Review Escalation Decision
3) Evaluation and initiation of corrective
action process including enterprise /
industry notification assessment
Product
FRB (Single
Product
line)
Convened when failures with
significant residual risk with the failure
resolution remains or when a product
line is affected (> 1 program). When a
product line is affected by a failure
identified on a program, additional
investigation is required to determine
root cause and corrective action at the
product line level.
Product FRB Chair with
Mission Assurance/
Success concurrence
(MA/MS may be
replaced by an
alternative enterprise
level independent
review function)
Product Area Management, FRB Chair product area
MA/MS manager (concurrence), Responsible
Engineer (hardware owner), SMEs (technical
expertise), Reliability Engineer (failure assessment),
Safety Engineer (as applicable), Test Engineer (if
event occurred during test), Program MA Managers
from affected programs (liaisons to programs)
1) Residual risk acceptance or
2) Failure review escalation decision
3) Evaluation and initiation of corrective
action process including enterprise/industry
notification assessment
Enterprise
FRB
Convened when failures with
significant residual risk with the failure
resolution remains and high mission
consequences or when > 1 program is
affected and the issue is not limited to
a product line.
Enterprise FRB Chair
with Mission Success
concurrence (MS is an
enterprise level
independent review
function)
Enterprise Level Executive Management, FRB Chair,
Mission Assurance / Success (concurrence), SMEs
(technical expertise), Process owner(s) as applicable
1) Residual risk acceptance
2) Evaluation and initiation of corrective
action process including enterprise/
industry notification assessment