SQA Plan PDF

IT2002 The SQA Plan…………………………………………………………………… Follow-up the changes performed by projects, and perform necessary adaptations to the SQAP. The SQA Plan (SQAP)...

IT2002 The SQA Plan…………………………………………………………………… Follow-up the changes performed by projects, and perform necessary adaptations to the SQAP. The SQA Plan (SQAP) Prepare periodic or on-demand status reports regarding the progress and findings of the SQAP, and present the information to Deals with the activities and tasks the SQA function is required to carry the organization’s quality management and project management. out over the next year and enables estimating resources required to perform the SQAP. The planners of the resource estimates refer to the The SQAP Elements……………………………………………………………. professional knowledge and experience requirements of the various activities and tasks, and classify the staff requirement accordingly. The activity elements are classified into three (3) groups: 1. SQA Process Implementation Activity Elements The Process of Preparing an SQA Plan 2. Product Assurance Activity Elements 3. Process Assurance Activity Elements The SQAP is a comprehensive plan that directs the work of the SQA function for a year. It is updated during the year according to the changing SQA Process Implementation Activity Elements………………………….. and new circumstances. The process of preparing an SQAP are: Activities for correcting management deficiencies related to 1. Determining the relevant SQAP outline elements, while considering quality issues: The following are examples of management the needs of each stakeholder in every project performed – this task deficiencies related to quality issues planned to be corrected by the is accomplished through direct discussions with the stakeholders. SQA function over the next year: 2. Preparing the software quality assurance plan (SQAP) according to o Inadequate management quality policy. the standard required elements, considering the stakeholder needs: o Inadequate activities for establishing a corrective and Special attention is given to project risks. preventive function in the organization 3. Finalizing the SQAP according to that agreed with the project o Inadequate resources, trained persons, and equipment managers: It is required to identify activities aimed at reducing or available to the SQA function eliminating these risks to determine the expected success of o Inappropriate levels of independence of the SQA function handling these product risks. in terms of management and financing. 4. Identifying and analyzing product risks in the various projects, risks Software product risks to users - presents a project list, where to users of the software products for each project, an evaluation of software product risks has to be 5. Estimating the SQA function resources required for performing the performed by the SQA function. These include the determination of SQAP: Size of function team, schedule of planned activities, skill the risk characteristics and the method in which to handle the and knowledge required, and equipment required. product risks. 6. Defining measurements (metrics) to evaluate software quality and Development equipment and tools of software projects - for the performance of the SQA function. These metrics should presents a list of projects, where for each project, a list of equipment enable assessing the level of achieving the organization and project and tools will be determined based on an analysis of the nature and objectives. contract technical requirements of the project. Standards, practices, and conventions for software projects - SQAP Updating Activities refers to the activity that will evaluate lists of standards, practices, and conventions – applicable to all software projects. Follow-up the SQA function’s activities and project progress, and Resources and schedule estimates for the SQA function - perform SQAP revisions required. presents resources and schedule estimates for the SQA function activities planned for the next year. The estimates should be based 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 1 of 5  IT2002 on the following information derived from the project requirements: Assessment of staff skills and knowledge requirements and staff days, skills and experience, equipment, project activities, type resulting training needs - deals with the evaluation of skills and of professional expertise, and schedules. knowledge required from project staff, identification of deficiencies, and the training program expected to solve these deficiencies. Product Assurance Activity Elements………………………………………. The Project Plan………………….……………………………………………… Conformance Evaluation of project plans - lists the SQA function’s conformance evaluation tasks of the project plan tasks. The Project Plan Conformance evaluation of products - lists the evaluations of software development products for their conformance to Deals with the activities and tasks to be performed by the project team requirements, standards, and conventions. throughout the project’s life cycle, namely, during the development and Evaluation of product for acceptability - lists evaluation of the operation stages. The project plan is a comprehensive document that required confidence level of a software project product (including serves the software project throughout the project lifetime; the product documentation) to be acceptable by the acquirer that is development and operation stages. required to be carried out by the SQA function over the next year. Conformance evaluation of product maintenance plan - lists The Process of Preparing a Project Plan evaluation of conformance of maintenance plans with contract requirements, regulations, standards, and conventions that have to The project manager is usually the person responsible for preparing the be carried out over the next year. project plan - which is expected to be completed and reviewed before the project implementation begins. The process of preparing a project plan Measurement plans for products - lists the measurement plans requires the following phases: and required data collection for software products to be prepared by the SQA function over the next year. Data collection phase - includes the study of qualified manpower availability for the project, appropriate development tools, possible Process Assurance Activity Elements………………………………………. development risks, and method or their elimination or at least their mitigation. Consultation with other project managers and experts completes the data collection phase. Conformance evaluation of life cycle processes - deals with the evaluation tasks of life cycle processes, models, and procedures to Project plan compilation phase be performed by the SQA function over the next year. Project plan reviews Conformance evaluation of environment - deals with the Project plan updates are usually unavoidable, as change requests evaluation of the adequacy of the environment of development, test, originated by the acquirer and methodological and other changes and support services to be performed by the SQA function over the initiated by the project team are very common. next year. Conformance evaluation of subcontractors’ participation in The Elements of the Project Plan……………………………………………... project implementation - presents the SQA function evaluation tasks aimed to determine the adequacy of the pre-contract The elements are classified into two (2) groups: the development plan and activities. the quality plan. Measurement of development, testing, and operation processes - lists the measurement plans and required data collection for software life cycle processes to be prepared by the SQA function over the next year. 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 2 of 5  IT2002 Development Plan Elements………………………………………………….. Project Milestones - events of importance in the development process, that is, the completion of the design phase. For each Project Products: A development plan includes the following milestone, the completed project products and scheduled times are products: to be defined. o Deliverables Project Cost Estimation - includes human resources costs, o Software products of each activity subcontractor costs, costs of purchased software, and costs of o Development process mapping additional resources, such as travel costs and equipment costs. o Development resources estimation Project Methodology and Development Tools: The methodology Control Methods: The project manager and the department and development tools have to be applied for each phase of the management control project implementation by defining the project. monitoring practices to be applied: progress report and coordinating Software Development Standards and Procedures - are meetings and so on. determined by the customer as part of the requirements stated in Mapping the Development Process - involves preparing detailed the project contract. definitions of each of the project’s activities. These descriptions Required Development Facilities - include hardware, include definitions of inputs and outputs and the specific activities laboratories, software and hardware development tools, office planned. Activity descriptions include: space, and other items. o An estimate of the activity’s duration Documentation Control: The planner is required to define the list o The logical sequence in which each activity is to be of the projects controlled documents and quality records. In performed addition, a work instruction for the project’s documentation control Estimating Development Resources: The type of professional should be prepared. resources required and the estimated quantity are: Security Including Virus Protection: The planner is required to o Internal (developer) staff and their professional skills define security controls related to the project documents, code in o External (subcontractor) staff and their professional skills processes, and software products. Special work instructions might Project Staff Organization: The organization plan includes: be required in certain projects. o Organizational structure o Professional requirements for each team Quality Plan Elements………………………………………………………….. o Number of team members required for each period of time o Name of team leaders, and, if possible, the name of team Quality Goals – are the developed software system’s substantive members quality requirements. These should reflect the major acceptance Project Interfaces: Include: criteria indicated in the customer’s requirement document. These o Software interface serve as measures of the achievement of the customer’s quality o Hardware interface requirements. o Teams interface Procedures and Work Instructions: The relevant procedures and Project Risks: Two types of project risks: work instructions should be defined according to the combined o Product Risks - a state where the software product may quality assurance and development considerations. cause damage to the developer and/or to the user of the Criteria for Ending each Project Stage: A criterion for ending software. each of the development stages, accepted by the customer and o Development Risks - a state of a development task or developer, is essential for the regular flow of the development environment, which, if ignored, will increase the likelihood process. It requires: of project failure o The body that applies the criterion 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 3 of 5  IT2002 o Defining the criteria: Quantitative criteria are preferred to Development Plans and Quality Plans for Small Projects……………….. qualitative ones. Project Life Cycle SQA Activities: The quality plan should provide It should be clear that the development and quality plan procedures a complete listing of all planned review activities: design reviews applicable to large projects cannot be automatically applied to small (DRs), design inspections, code inspections, and so on, with the projects. For these projects, special procedures are needed. These following determined for each activity: procedures determine how to treat the project in question with respect to o Planned review activities the plans: o Planned software tests a. Cases/situations where neither development nor quality plans are o Planned acceptance tests for externally developed required, for example, projects requiring 15 man-days or less. software b. Cases/situations where the decision to prepare the plans is left to Configuration Management Tools and Procedures: The quality the project leader’s discretion, for example, projects that require plan should specify configuration management tools and less than 50 man-days, with no significant software risk items procedures, including the timing of baseline version releases. identified. Monitoring Measurement Activities: The planners should define c. A small and complicated project that has to be completed within 30 software quality metrics for quality, productivity, schedule keeping, days, with a heavy penalty for not being completed on time: In this and so forth. The responsibility for performing the measurements case, partial planning that includes, at least the following, is needed: and for the monitoring of measurement should be determined. project mapping of development activities, cost estimates based on Person(s) Responsible for Approving Project Outputs: The resources estimates, and a list of identified project risks, including person(s) authorized to approve each of the project products, ways to manage them. documents, and code files, especially deliverable items, should be determined. Recommended Development Plan for Small Projects: Training in Use of New Development Tools: The need to apply Project products new development tools for given development activities creates a Project milestones training requirement. The planner should find out which of the Development risks scheduled development teams needs training. Estimates of project costs Change Management: The change management procedures to be Recommended Quality Plan for Small Projects: applied throughout the project should be defined and agreed upon Quality goals with the customer. Advantages to Planned Small Projects Project Plans for Small Projects and Internal Projects……………… A more comprehensive and thorough understanding of tasks is It is quite natural for project leaders to try to evade the “hassle” of attained. preparing the development and quality plans. This behavior reflects the Greater responsibility for meeting obligations may be assigned to tendency to avoid “bureaucracy” and the sweeping control that customers project commitments. may attempt to exercise. This tendency is especially common in two specific Better understanding with respect to the requirements and schedule situations: small projects and internal projects. The argument for preparing may be reached between the developer and the customer. plans for such projects is discussed in the following two sections. It becomes easier for the management and customers to share control of the project and to identify unexpected delays early on. 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 4 of 5  IT2002 Development Plans and Quality Plans for Internal Projects……………... Internal projects are those projects intended for use by other departments in the organization or by the entire organization, as well as projects dealing with software package development for the software market. The common denominator to all these project types is that no external body participates “as customer” in their development. Internal projects can be on a very large scale. The Benefits of Full-Scale Project Plan for an Internal Project: The following can enjoy the advantages of plan preparation: Software Development Departments o Avoiding budget overruns: This is important when the profit system center is applied. o Avoiding damage to other projects caused by delays in releasing professionals occupied in an internal project o Avoiding loss of market status caused by delayed completion of new software products o Avoiding loss of market status caused by delayed completion of external projects triggered by late completion of internal projects Internal Customers o Smaller deviations from planned completion dates and smaller budget overruns o Better control over the development process o Fewer internal delay damages The Organization o Reduced risk of market loss due to late arrival of software product o Reduced penalties for noncompliance with contract demands o Reduced risk of impairing the firm’s reputation as a reliable software developer __________________________________________________________________________ Reference: Galin, D. (2018). Software quality assurance: Concepts and practice: IEEE Computer Society, Inc. 04 Handout 1 *Property of STI  [email protected] Page 5 of 5