Research software engineers can use Assurance Cases (ACs) to guide Verification and Validation (VnV) efforts. An AC is a structured argument that a property like correctness holds. We illustrate how ACs can guide VnV activities via a case study of software for automatically extracting the 3D segmentation of the aorta from medical images of the chest. The AC argument suggests that the following evidence is required: comparison to a pseudo-oracle; traceability between requirements, design, code and tests; review of all artifacts by a domain expert with proper credentials; documentation of input assumptions; and a warning that only qualified people should use the software. The case study highlights that code is not the only artifact of interest for building confidence and that making an explicit distinction between software and user responsibilities is useful.

翻译：研究软件工程师可运用保障案例指导验证与确认工作。保障案例是一种结构化论证，用以证明正确性等属性的成立。我们通过一项医学影像分析软件的案例研究，具体说明保障案例如何指导验证与确认活动——该软件用于从胸部医学影像中自动提取主动脉的三维分割结果。保障案例论证表明需要以下证据支撑：与伪基准的对比验证；需求、设计、代码与测试之间的可追溯性；由具备相应资质的领域专家对所有产出物进行评审；输入假设的文档化记录；以及明确标注仅限合格人员使用该软件的警示说明。本案例研究强调，代码并非建立信心的唯一关注对象，同时明确区分软件责任与用户责任具有重要实践价值。