Dimensions of Service Quality

Measuring of service quality relies on the customer’s perception and this could be different from
the expected service. To determine the gap between services expected and perceived service,
several models are used like the SERVQUAL model, RATER model, e-SERVICE QUALITY
etc. The main dimensions of service quality determination are as follows:

 Reliability –

This is the ability to perform the service dependably and accurately, as promised. In
software service, it would be the correct technical functioning of the application and
various features such as GUI features, billing, product information etc.

 Responsiveness –

How quickly the services are rendered to the customer and the promptness of service
delivery. With respect to software services, it would be the ability to respond to customer
problems or give solutions.

 Assurance –

This is a measure of the ability to convey trust to the customers and how well they extend
the courtesy. Software assurance involves the amount of confidence the customer has in
handling the software application or navigating a site, the belief he has on the information
provided and its clarity, reputation etc.

 Empathy –

Giving personalized attention, understanding the requirements and caring for the
customers. The software service would include customized applications, one-to-one
customer attention, security privacy and understanding customer preferences.

 Tangibles –

The physical attributes like appearance, equipment, facilities etc. When we speak of
software services, the tangibles would be aesthetics of the software application or
website, navigation features, accessibility, flexibility etc.

This Six Sigma Green Belt training course shows how all of these come together to define
service quality.
Measuring Software Quality
Software quality measurement and assurance involves processes that check if the developed
software meets the standardized specifications and works accurately. SQA (Software Quality
Assurance) is an integral part of the complete software development life cycle and regularly
measures the different attributes of the software before it’s released. This way the businesses
ensure that high-quality software services are delivered to the customer on-time. Quality control
is achieved through software testing, verification and validation, and other processes to detect
bugs or errors and fix them appropriately. Let us now look at some of the aspects of software
testing, defect tracking and measurement for better understanding of software quality
measurement.

Software testing is the process of evaluating the performance of the software by providing inputs
and observing the outputs thereby ensuring that the application meets the technical, functional,
user and business requirements as specified. This course on Software Testing will give you more
insights into the different types of testing processes that are popularly used. Testing is part of the
software development cycle and involves verification of the code, identifying defects or bugs and
evaluating the different functionalities like usability, security, compatibility, performance and
installation etc.

Testing Methodologies
Static Testing – The processes of reviewing, inspection, walkthroughs etc. wherein verification
of the software takes place without actually running the code, is called static testing. Syntax,
code structure, data flow etc. are checked and static analysis like mutation testing is also used to
check for efficiency of the test cases.

Dynamic Testing – When the programs are executed with the help of test cases and software is
validated, the process is called dynamic testing. This kind of testing is done even before the
programming is complete so that sections of code are tested individually using tools like stubs or
drivers and can be done manually or through automation.

White-Box Testing – The testing approach wherein the internal system of the application is
tested thoroughly and is applied at the unit, functional and system level testing processes. It’s
effectively used to detect the maximum number of errors or bugs except the unimplemented
sections or in case of missing requirements. The different techniques of white-box testing
include:

 API Testing – application programming interface; public and private APIs are used to test
the applications
 Code coverage – test cases are developed to cover a certain criteria of coverage
 Fault injection methods – faults are injected into the system to measure the efficiency of
the testing strategy
  Mutation testing methods – new software tests are developed to measure the performance
of the existing tests and involves modification of the source code in small ways to assess
the test cases

This course on planning and conducting User Tests gives some unique insights.

Black-Box Testing – This involves testing of the software functionalities without going into the
intricate details of the software code or system. The user-end features are tested and several
scenarios are tested for user acceptance or integration etc.

Compatibility Testing – A software application doesn’t serve the desired purpose if it’s not
compatible with other applications, operating systems or target environments. Compatibility
testing ensures that these issues do not exist in the software developed.

Regression Testing – Software development involves a lot of change management due to

changes in customer requirements and this sometimes causes errors in software that was
previously working fine. Regression testing is very helpful to find bugs after a major code
change has happened or to uncover old bugs that might have crawled in. The common method to
conduct regression testing is to use old test cases and check if faults that were fixed earlier have
re-occurred. Due to the enormity of the testing process in regression method, it’s the most time-
consuming of all testing methodologies and are often automated to reduce testing cycles.

Performance Testing – The performance of a application is tested to measure several attributes

like usability, scalability, responsiveness, reliability, stability etc. The different kinds of
performance testing are as follows:

 Load Testing – Here the performance of the software is tested when large numbers of
users work on it at the same time or while handling huge volume of data etc.
 Volume Testing – Method to test software functions when the file sizes are increased
 Stress Testing – Used to measure software reliability when used for long periods of time
or when exposed to heavy workload. It’s also called as endurance testing.

Learn more the latest testing methodologies and defect management systems in this course JIRA
– a widely used issue management system.

In this article, we’ve taken a peak into Service Quality Management and ways to measure and
track it. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are many ways to customize these
principles to suit different industries.