The ESA Software Engineering Standards are in use at ING and RGO. The use of these standards is particularly relevant for developers. Their use in the context of software projects intended for delivery to ING is summarised in the document SOF-STD-2, The ESA Software-Engineering Standards at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. The document SOF-STD-4, Testing and Delivery of Software for ING, outlines those products of the ESA software lifecycle expected to be delivered to ING during the transfer stage.
The use of the ESA standards during development does not guarantee a high quality and maintainable product. What these standards provide is a framework within which a software project can be managed and identifies a minimum set of milestones with which to monitor the progress of the project. If left unmonitored, or poorly monitored, poor quality software systems can result from projects using the ESA Software Engineering Standards as can result from using any other project framework, or none at all. It is the quality of the monitoring of the project which can most affect the quality of its outcome. This monitoring, be its nature, is collaborative and cooperative.