Various assessment approaches are used depending on the type of software system, standards used on the system, and the lifecycle status of the system. The approaches include very formal detailed documentation assessments to higher level brief assessments.

The Software Technology Support Center (STSC) provides an independent third party to help reach an accurate determination of the completeness, accuracy, readability, trace ability, and consistency of the documentation.

The assessment considers the maintenance concept for the system and spells out an approach to reduce costs over the system lifecycle.