SOI Audit Interview Questions

If you are looking for the SOI audit interview questions for an upcoming job interview, you have landed at the right place.

In this article, I have tried to create a collection of SOI audit interview questions. These questions are constantly being asked in most of the aerospace companies for entry level and experienced level positions. I have spent many hours compiling these sample interview questions.

So, I hope you will enjoy these SOI audit interview questions. Also, I hope this would be helpful for both fresher and experienced professionals.

After reading the complete article if you think that I have missed any other aspects, please write in the comment box. It will be definitely helpful for others.

Good luck for your interview!

Q1) What is SOI Audit? 

“SOI” in SOI Audit stands for “Stages  Of  Involvements”. This is the process of getting the certification authority (FAA, EASA, etc.) involved with the applicant organization to assess the DO-178C compliance. 

Most of the organizations try to get the SOI audit started as soon as possible. Sometimes, the SOI audit drives the changes to the process itself or extra rework. 

Q2) What are the different stages of Software SOI?

There are four steps for an SOI audit:

SOI #	SOI Stage
SOI – 1	Software Planning Process Review
SOI – 2	Software Development Process Review
SOI – 3	Software Verification Process Review
SOI – 4	Final Certification Process Review

Q3) Can you explain Software SOI-1?

The software SOI-1 is mainly focused on Software Planning Process Review. SOI-1 occurs when the software planning process is complete. 

The primary objectives of Software SOI-1 are to prove that the Software Planning Process itself and its outputs are compliant to Table A-1, A-8, A-9, A-10. 

The applicant should ensure to make the following documents ready/available to the certification authority before the SOI #1 meeting:

Software Life Cycle Data	DO 178C section
Plan for Software Aspects of Certification (PSAC)	11.1
Software Development Plan (SDP)	11.2
Software Verification Plan (SVP)	11.3
Software Configuration Management Plan (SCMP)	11.4
Software Quality Assurance Plan (SQAP)	11.5
Software Requirements Standards	11.6
Software Design Standards	11.7
Software Code Standards	11.8

Note: 

Table ID	Process
Table A-1	Software Planning Process
Table A-8	Software Configuration Management Process
Table A-9	Software Quality Assurance Process
Table A-10	Certification Liaison Process

Q4) What is Software SOI-2?

In the software SOI-2, the activities are mainly focused on Software Development Process Review. SOI-2 occurs when the 50% to 80% of the software development activities are completed.

When 50 percent of the Software Development Process Output Data is ready, the FAA appears to perform the SOI-2 audit, while EASA prefers to perform when 70-80 percent of the information is ready.

The prime objectives of Software SOI-2 are to prove that the Software Development Process itself and its outputs are compliant to Table A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5, A-6, A-8, A-9, A-10. SOI-2 also focuses on the SOI-1 action items. 

The applicant should ensure to make the following documents ready/available to the certification authority before the SOI #2 meeting:

Software Life Cycle Data	DO 178C Section
Software Requirements Standards	11.6
Software Design Standards	11.7
Software Code Standards	11.8
Software Requirements Data	11.9
Design Description	11.10
Source Code	11.11
Software Life Cycle Environment Configuration Index	11.15
Problem Reports	11.17
Software Configuration Management Records	11.18
Software Quality Assurance Records	11.19

Note: 

Table ID	Process
Table A-2	Software Development Process
Table A-3	Verification of Outputs of Software Requirements Process
Table A-4	Verification of Outputs of Software Design Process
Table A-5	Verification of Outputs of Software Coding and  Integration Process
Table A-6	Testing of Outputs of Integration Process
Table A-8	Software Configuration Management Process
Table A-9	Software Quality Assurance Process
Table A-10	Certification Liaison Process

Q5) Can you explain Software SOI-3?

The software SOI-3 is mainly focused on Software Verification Process Review. SOI-3 occurs when the 50% to 80% of the software verification activities are completed.

FAA tends to conduct the SOI-3 audit when the 50% of the Software Verification Process itself and its Output Data are ready, whereas EASA prefers to conduct when 70-80% output data are ready. 

One of the main objectives of Software SOI-3 is to prove that the Software Verification Process itself and its outputs are compliant to Table A-7, A-8, A-9, A-10. SOI-3 also focuses on the SOI-2 action items.

The applicant should ensure to make the following documents ready/available to the certification authority before the SOI #3 meeting:

Software Life Cycle Data	DO 178C Section
Software Requirements Data	11.9
Design Description	11.10
Source Code	11.11
Object Code	11.12
Software Verification Cases and Procedures	11.13, 6.3.1
Software Verification Results	11.14
Software Life Cycle Environment Configuration Index	11.15
Software Configuration Index	11.16
Problem Reports	11.17
Software Configuration Management Records	11.18
Software Quality Assurance Records	11.19
Software Tool Qualification Data	12.2.3

Note: 

Table ID	Process
Table A-7	Verification of Verification Process Results
Table A-8	Software Configuration Management Process
Table A-9	Software Quality Assurance Process
Table A-10	Certification Liaison Process

Q6) What is Software SOI-4?

This is the final stage for the SOI audit. 

SOI-4 occurs when:

1. Software Planning process outputs are completed.
2. Final Software executable is ready and completed. 
3. Software Verification Process is completed.
4. Software Conformity Review has been conducted and completed.

The Software SOI-4’s primary goals are to show that the final Software product and all the process’s outputs are compliant to all the tables mentioned in the DO-178C document i.e. Table A-1 to Table A-10.

The applicant should ensure to make the following documents ready/available to the certification authority before the SOI #4 meeting or Final Certification software review:

Software Life Cycle Data	DO 178C Section
Software Verification Results	11.14
Software Life Cycle Environment Configuration Index	11.15
Software Configuration Index	11.16
Problem Reports	11.17
Software Configuration Management Records	11.18
Software Quality Assurance Records	11.19
Software Accomplishment Summary (SAS)	11.20

Conclusion:

The SOI audit is a very important activity for any airborne software. I have tried to cover most of the SOI audit interview questions that you can face during the interview.

However, there could be areas that I have missed to cover. So, if you think anything else could be added here in the context of SOI Audit interview questions, please feel free to comment below.

I have also compiled all the DO178C tables in once document along with the explanation and created a pdf copy of it.

If you want to get the FREE pdf copy, please comment your email ID in the below comment box, I will send you the copy. This document would definitely give you a far better understanding of the DO178C objectives.

Hopefully, this article could help you!

Good luck with your interview.

Cheers!