SQA System Components: An Overview

SQA System Components

• An overview of the wide range of SQA components available to planners of an intra-organizational SQA system
• An SQA system combines a wide range of SQA components
• All components employed to challenge the multitude of sources of software errors
• The goal is to achieve an acceptable level of software quality

SQA Components Classes

• Pre-project components
• Software Project Life Cycle
• Quality Infrastructure
• SQ Management
• Standardization
• Human

Pre-Project Components

• Objective is to improve the steps taken prior to work initiation
• Includes contract review and development & quality plans

Contract Review

• Activities include clarification of customer's requirements
• Activities include review of project schedule and resource requirement estimates
• Activities include evaluation of professional staff's capacity to carry out project
• Activities include evaluation of customer's capacity to fulfill obligations
• Activities include evaluation of development risks

Development and Quality Plans

• Development Plan refers to the plan for the project, also called the Project Management Plan
• Quality Plan refers to the integration of quality assurance activities

Development Plan Main Issues

• Schedules must be assessed
• Required manpower and hardware resources have to be estimated
• Organizational issues need consideration
• Risk evaluations have to b performed
• Project methodology and development tools have to be selected
• Software reuse plans have to be enacted

Quality Plan Main Issues

• Quality goals expessed in measurable terms
• Criteria for starting and ending each project stage
• Lists of reviews, tests, and other scheduled verification and validation activities

Software projects life cycle activities

• The SQA components enter the life cycle at different points
• Use of SQA components should be planned prior to project initiation and is stated in the quality plan
• Main components: Reviews, Experts Opinions, Software testing, SW maintenance & quality assurance

Reviews

• Requirement and design phases produce documents
• Printed products include SRS, design reports, software test documents, SW installation plans and manuals
• Reviews can be categorized as formal design reviews (DRs) and peer reviews

Expert Opinions

• Expert opinions support quality assessment efforts with additional external capabilities
• Opinion allows introducing external capabilities into the organization's in-house development process

Software Testing

• Formal SQA aspect targeted to review the actual running of software
• Software tests examie SW modules, SW integration or entire SW packages (systems)

Software Maintenance Components

• Maintenance services vary in range and are needed for extensive periods
• Corrective Maintenance: User support services and corrections of code and documentation failures
• Adaptive Maintenance: Adaptation of current software to new circumstances and customers without changing the basic product
• Functionality improvement maintenance- Functional improvement of existing software

Assurance of Quality

• Larger, more complex projects involve external participants
• Special software assurance efforts improve effective controls over external participant's work

Quality Infrastructure Components

• Goal of SQA Infrastructure: Prevention of software faults, lowering fault rates, improve productivity
• Includes procedures and work instructions
• Includes templates and checklists (supporting quality devices)
• Includes staff training, retraining and certification
• Includes preventative and corrective actions
• Includes configuration management
• Includes documentation control

Procedures and Work Instruction

• Detailed definitions given for the performance of specific development activities
• Procedures are planned to be generally applicable throughout organization
• Work instructions offer directions for the use of methods in unique instances and specialized teams

Templates and checklists

• Saves the time required to define doc structure or prepare subjects to be reviewed
• Contributes to completeness of documents and reviews
• Improves communication between development team/reviewers by standardizing documents/agendas

Staff Training

• Trains new employees and retrains those who have changed assignments
• Continuously updates staff with professional developments
• Certifies employees after their knowledge and abilities have been demonstrated

Preventative and Corrective Actions

• Implementation of changes to prevent failures in future
• Correction of faults in other projects and among activities performed by other teams
• Implementation of proven methodologies to enhance repetition of successful outcomes

Configuration Management

• Regular development and maintenance operations modify software to create new versions/releases
• Introduces procedures to control change process, approval of changes, recording of performed changes, issuing of SW versions/releases, recording version/release specifications installed at sites

Management SQA Component

• Managerial SQA components support the managerial control of software
• Projects and maintenance services include project progress control, SW quality metrics, SW quality costs

Project Progress Control

• Objective to detect deviations from project plans and maintenance service performance
• Focus includes resource usage, schedules, risks and budget

Software Quality Metrics

• Measurement of various aspects of software quality is an effective tool for support of control activities
• It also effective as initiation of process improvements during the development and the maintenance phases
• Measurements applyy to software development and maintenance activities, development teams' productivity

Software Quality Cost

• Quality costs incurred by software development are the costs of control combined with the cost of failure
• Control costs involved with managerial preparation, prevention and appraisal costs
• Failure include internal, external and managerial

SQA Standards

• External tools to achieve goals of SQA with objectives to:
  • Utilize international professional knowledge
  • Improve coordination with other orgs' quality systems
  • Achieve objective measure of organization's SQA achievement

Quality management Standards

• Standards that focus on what is required and leave decision making on how
• Examples include SEI CMM and ISO 9001 & 9000-3 standards

Project Process Standards

• Professional standards that provide methodoligical guidelines
• Examples include IEEE 1012 and ISO/IEC 12207 standards

Organizing for SQA

• The human component for SQA needs an organizational base
• Main objectives:
  • Develop and support SQA component implementation
  • Detect deviations from SQA procedures and methodology
  • Suggest improvements to SQA components

Management Responsibilities

• Definition of quality policy
• Effective follow-up of quality implementation
• Software quality management system
• Allocation of resources to implement quality policy
• Assignment of adequate staff
• Compliance tracking of quality assurance procedures
• Soluytions for schedule, budget and customer relation difficulties

SQA Team Roles

• Prepartion of annual quality programs
• Consultation with in-house employees and outside experts on software quality issues
• Conduct internal quality assurance audits
• Leadership of quality assurance various committees
• Support of existing quality assurance infrastructure components and new components

Management Responsibilities

• Definition of quality policy
• Effective follow-up of quality implementation
• Quality software assurance system
• Allocation of resources to implement quality policy
• Assignment of adequate staff
• Follow-up of compliance of quality assurance procedures
• Solutions of schedule, budget and customer relations difficulties

SQA Trustees Responsibilities

• SQA trustees team memebers with special interest in SW quality
• They devote part of their time to these issues
• Solving team or unit local quality problems
• Detecting deviations from quality procedures and instructions
• Initiating improvements in SQA components
• Reporting to the SQA unit about quality issues in their team or unit

SQA Committee Responsibilities

• Members from various development and maintenance units, usually appointed
• Includes dealing with SW quality problems
• Includes analysis of problem and failure records
• Includes initiation/development of new procedures and instructions

SQA Forum Responsibilities

• SQA forum composed of professionals and practioners discussing quality issues
• Forum maintain an internet site for discussion
• Forum shares theire experiences and trie to initiate improvements in SW process

Use of SQA Components

• Considerations include organizational, project and maintenance service, and professional staff

Organizational Consideration

• Type of software clientele
• Type of software maintenance clientele
• Range of software products
• Size of organization
• Optimization objectives

Software Development clientele

• Possible clienteles include buyers of software packages, customers of "custom" software packages
• Possible clientelas include internal clientele organization's department and sub-units

Software maintenance clientele

• May be different from the development clientele
• Software house employees a subcontractor to maintain software packages
• This happens if software packages sold to clients during warranty period and aferwards

Size of Organization

• Larger number of professionals and specializations = greater variety of SQA
• Org is required to select SQA components while considering quality/productivity/efficiency/savings

Management Consideration

• Includes level of complexity, experience with project technology and softare reuse

Proffesional Staff Consideration

• Level of professional qualification
• Level of acquaintance with team members
• Highly qualified staffs allow reduction in SQA efforts
• Projects by unfamiliar teams require more intense SQA effort