Software Quality, Standards, and Certification

• These study notes cover software project management, focusing on software quality, standards, certifications, and challenges.

Importance of Software Quality

• Software quality is essential for operational effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and corporate success in software development.
• High-quality software reduces malfunctions and costly fixes by ensuring dependability, security, and maintainability.
• Key reasons for software quality: enhances user satisfaction, reduces maintenance costs, improves reliability and performance, ensures security, increases business revenue and reputation, ensures compliance, facilitates scalability and future growth.

Defining Software Quality

• Software quality is the extent to which a product meets requirements, satisfies user needs, and performs reliably.
• Quality encompasses functionality, performance, security, maintainability, and usability.
• Key factors of software quality include correctness (functionally correct), portability (easily moved to different environments), usability (easy to use), reusability (components are reusable), and maintainability (easy error detection and correction).

Product Quality vs Process Quality

• Both product quality and process quality are essential in software development, focusing on different aspects of managing quality.
• Product quality ensures the final product meets expectations, focusing on functionality, performance, security, usability, and reliability, aiming for a defect-free and user-friendly product.
• Product quality is evaluated via testing, feedback, and metrics from performance
• Process quality focuses on the processes used to develop, test, and maintain software, emphasizing methodologies, testing procedures, coding standards, and best practices.
• Process quality ensures a structured, efficient, and repeatable development to minimize errors.
• Assessed via models like CMMI, ISO 9001, and Six Sigma, using practices like Agile development, integration, version control, and automated testing.
• A high-quality process usually leads to a high-quality product.
• Even a good process, when poorly followed, may produce low-quality product.

Quality Standards and Certifications

• International standards include :ISO/IEC 25010 (Software Product Quality Model), ISO 9001 (Quality Management System – QMS), ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management System – ISMS), ISO/IEC 12207 (Software Life Cycle Processes)
• Capability Maturity Models include: CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration), Six Sigma, TMMi (Test Maturity Model Integration).
• Individual certifications: Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA), Certified Software Tester (CSTE), ISTQB Certifications, Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Organizational certifications: Include ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 27001, and CMMI.

Obtaining Quality Certifications

• Obtaining a certification includes structured process and addressing arising challenges during implementation.
• Step 1: Identify the Relevant Certification, such as ISO 9001, CMMI, or ISO/IEC 27001.
• Step 2: Conduct a Gap Analysis, which compares current processes against certification requirements.
• Step 3: Develop an Implementation Plan, that defines roles, responsibilities, milestones, and resource allocation.
• Step 4: Implement Process Improvements, applying best practices and required tools.
• Step 5: Employee Training and Awareness, educating employees on certification requirements and standards.
• Step 6: Internal Audits and Reviews, where you perform assessments to check certification standards and identify non-conformities.
• Step 7: Engage with a Certification Body, which includes accrediting and submitting required compliance evidence.
• Step 8: External Audit and Assessment, by auditors evaluating adherence to standards.
• Step 9: Certification Approval after meeting all the requirements.
• Step 10: Continuous Improvement and Recertification, to maintain certification and conduct periodic auditing.

Issues in Obtaining Quality Certifications

• High costs related to assessments, training, documentation, and improvements.
• Resistance to change because of new processes and increased workload.
• Compliance complexity can involve standards like ISO 27001 or CMMI Level 5.
• Time-consuming process may take months or years.
• There may be a lack of skilled personnel who have the internal expertise.
• Meeting Industry-Specific Requirements requires multiple certifications (e.g., healthcare).
• Certification is not a one-time event and requires maintaining through regular audits.

Benefits of Software Quality

• Software quality impacts organizations and customers by enhancing business performance, satisfaction, and sustainability.
• Benefits for Organizations may include an enhanced reputation, reduced cost, high efficiency, and market growth.
• Benefits for Customers include improved user experience, reliability, security, and reduced costs.
• Implications for Organizations when neglecting software quality, include increased costs, negative customer reviews, vulnerability to cyberattacks and data breaches, legal fines and restrictions.
• Implications for Customers include wasted money, loss of confidence, and compliance issues.

Quality Assurance vs Quality Control

• Quality Assurance is a proactive process, ensuring software quality through improved development practices, defect prevention, and standards.
• Quality Control is a reactive process that identifies and repairs defaults prior to release.
• There is a difference in focus, QA is on processes whereas QC is on product.
• QA is broader and applies during software development lifecycle, but QC is specific to testing phases.
• QA leads to output, but QC verifies product meets standards.

ISO 9126 (Software Quality Model)

• An international standard that provides software quality evaluation/framework.
• Developed structured assessment via key characteristics by ISO and IEC.
• Replaced by ISO/IEC 25010, but remains the basis for assessing softwares.
• Key components of ISO/IEC 9126:
• Software Quality Model defines software quality characteristics and sub-characteristics.
• External Metrics evaluates quality perceived by users.
• Internal Metrics measures code analysis.
• Quality in Use Metrics assesses software effectiveness in real-world scenarios.
• Overview of ISO 9126 Quality Characteristics
• Functionality is defined as the software's ability to perform intended tasks.
• Functional sub-characteristics may include suitability, accuracy, interoperability, security and compliance
• Reliability - The software's ability to perform consistently in conditions.
• Reliability sub-characteristics include maturity, fault tolerance and recoverability
• Usability is defined as the ease of interacting with the software
• Usability sub-characteristics include understandability, learnability and operability
• Efficiency measures software's performance regarding resource usage.
• Efficiency subcharacteristics are time behavior and resource utilization.
• Maintainability is the ability to modify or improve the software when needed
• Maintainability subcharacteristics include analyzability, changeability, stability and testability
• Portability concerns the software's ability to function across different environment
• Portability subcharacteristics include adability, installability, coexistance, replaceability
• ISO is a framework for software quality assessment and helps identifies areas to improve in the products.
• ISO Supports decision-making for developers, testers and managers
• ISO Ensures software reliability, efficiency and user satisfaction
• ISO 9126 has been replaced by ISO/IEC 25010 and expands these concepts.

Capability Models

• Process capability models evaluate software development and maintenance processes for maturity, efficiency, and predictability.
• These help organizations approve quality, reduce defects and enhance productivity.
• Capability Maturity Model (CMM), ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE), Six Sigma, and Test Maturity Model Integration (TMMi) are all widely-used models.
• SEI CMM (Capability Maturity Model) classify software in Maturity Levels.
• In level 1(Initial) has very little or no defined processes
• In level 2 (Repeatable) establishes Basic project management
• In Level 3 (Defined) both management and development are defined
• In Level 4 (Managed) Focus is on software metrics like product and process
• In Level 5 (optimizing) has continuous process management
• KPA (Key Process Areas) provides improvement in quality over several stages.
• CMMI is used for software quality in many real-world applications
• The IT & Software Development has improved SDLC efficiency.
• The Banking & Finance: Ensures secure software and risk management.
• The Healthcare & Pharma: Reduces errors in medical software solutions.
• The Government & Defense: Ensures compliance and reliability in critical systems

ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE)

• ISO/IEC 15504, known as SPICE(Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination), is an international standard that improves the development processes
• SPICE provides a structured approach to evaluating process maturity and capability in software engineering.
• SPICE defines two key dimensions: Dimension and Process
• SPICE categories software development into process areas, covering primary lifecycle process, organizational process, supporting process and quality insurance.
• Each process is evaluated on a six-level capability scale
• 0 incomplete
• 1 performed
• 2 managed
• 3 Established
• 4 Predictable
• 5 Optimizing

Key Benefits of SPICE

• Process Standardization: Ensures consistency in software development.
• Performance Improvement: Helps identify and fix process weaknesses.
• Risk Reduction: Minimizes software defects and project failures.
• Compliance & Certification: Aligns with regulatory standards.
• Competitive Advantage: Enhances quality and efficiency in software delivery.
• SPICE is compared with other models: SPICE,CMMI and ISO 9001
• SPICE is used to achieve certain application of SPICE
• Some application may be Automotive, Aerospace, banking, and healthcare industries

Six Sigma

• Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology reduces variance in quality.
• Created for manufacturing can be used for other applications such as IT software
• Improve customer happiness, quality, efficiency
• Customer Focus: on how to improve processes based on customer needs.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: to measure performance statistically.
• Process Improvement: how to identify and eliminate defects.
• Eliminate Variability: Reduces inconsistencies in development
• Continuous Improvement: To aim for long-term process enhancement

Six Sigma Levels (Belts) classify different roles

• White Belt: Knows basic Understanding
• Yellow Belt: Supports project collection
• Green Belt: Leads improvement project
• Black Belt: An expert
• Master Black Belt: coach for the belts
• Six Sigma Methodologies used to improve by DMAIC
• DMAIC is a methodology used to Improve existing and New Processes:
• DMADV
• Define
• Measure
• Analyze
• Improve
• Control
• DMADV ( New New Processes:
• Define
• Measure
• Analyze
• Design
• Verify
• Metrics for Six Sigma:
• To measure effectiveness
• Important metrics defects per Million Opportunity, Sigma, test
• Important to have a higher defect detection rate ensures early issues
• Applications of Six Sigma are some software firms:
• Amazon
• IBM
• Microsoft
• Banking firms
• Comparing is other Quality Models: Six Sigma is reducing Defects, other are Large project

TMMi (Test Maturity Model Integration)

• Structured that Provides tests, tests practices and practices.
• Organizations test their capability
• Tests and improvement, more closely is CMMI(Capability Maturity Model Integration).
• Focuses on test processes rather defect detections
• Defines five levels.
• level 1 Initial No structured testing
• level 2 Managed, basic testing
• level 3 Defined: Standardized processing
• level 4. Measured: Tests can be measured
• level 5 Continuous Tests using AI, Automation
• The Areas of Implementations: test planning, the testing process, the defect protection, and the test automation.
• Vs(compare.) To CMMI
• Feature: TMMI (Testing) to CMMI (Development)
• Implementation of organizations?
• Real world applications include, banking , healthcare, Automotive, and telecom.

Testing Quality Plans in Software Development

• A structured document by a (TQP) also known as a testing quality plan
• Meets project and quality standards
• Plan is to ensure product meets certain requirements
• Defined requirements such as tests
• Designs should be structured
• The plans, and responsibilities
• Testing activities that are involved.
• Component of Quality Control
• Introduction, strategies, Execution
• Tools &Technologies (Test planning & execution)
• Roles &Responsibilities (The Managers, The testers the QA).
• There should also be Approval Process criteria
• This is a team work
• Test Quality should be track using metrics such as defect density test
• To measured software effectiveness using the test quality Metrics
• Early reduced issue and reduce production failures.

Change Management

• Change Management ensures that modifications to software, processes, or systems are implemented smoothly.
• Change management is beneficial for the organization to adapt by new technology through new requirements, securities, and businesses.
• Key objectives for this plan is have controlled changes and maintained software.

Types of Changes

• Corrective Change (Fix), Adaptive, Perfective, and Preventive Change
• Following these changes is a well-defined management
• A process ensures testing and implementation
• Has Changes Requests, Approvals,
• Testing Phase: Should be modified and tested
• Then documented
• Common Challenges include incomplete, poor testing, a lack of skills, securities

Common Challenges in Software Quality

• The goal is to reduce incomplete errors and security errors.