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People Forget How Fast You Did A Job - But They Always Remember How Well You Did It."

This document discusses key concepts in software quality assurance including variation control, quality of design, quality of conformance, quality control, quality assurance, and the costs of quality such as prevention, appraisal, and failure costs. It describes software quality assurance activities like reviews, statistical quality assurance, and defining standards. It also discusses topics such as software reliability, safety, mistake-proofing, ISO quality standards, and the components of a software quality assurance plan.

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Kashif Iftikhar
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121 views18 pages

People Forget How Fast You Did A Job - But They Always Remember How Well You Did It."

This document discusses key concepts in software quality assurance including variation control, quality of design, quality of conformance, quality control, quality assurance, and the costs of quality such as prevention, appraisal, and failure costs. It describes software quality assurance activities like reviews, statistical quality assurance, and defining standards. It also discusses topics such as software reliability, safety, mistake-proofing, ISO quality standards, and the components of a software quality assurance plan.

Uploaded by

Kashif Iftikhar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Software Quality Assurance

People forget how fast you did a job —


but they always remember how well
you did it.”
Software Quality
Assurance
Quality Concepts

Variation control is the heart of quality control


(software engineers strive to control the process applied,
resources expended, and end product quality attributes).
Quality of design - refers to characteristics designers
specify for the end product to be constructed
Quality of conformance - degree to which design
specifications are followed in manufacturing the product
Quality control - series of inspections, reviews,
and tests used to ensure conformance of a work
product to its specifications
Quality assurance - consists of the auditing and
reporting procedures used to provide management
with data needed to make proactive decisions
Cost of Quality
Prevention costs - quality planning, formal technical
reviews, test equipment, training
Appraisal costs - in-process and inter-process inspection,
equipment calibration and maintenance, testing
Failure costs - rework, repair, failure mode analysis
External failure costs - complaint resolution, product
return and replacement, help line support, warranty work
Software Quality Assurance
Conformance to software requirements is the foundation
from which software quality is measured.
Specified standards are used to define the development
criteria that are used to guide the manner in which software
is engineered.
Software must conform to implicit requirements (ease of
use, maintainability, reliability, etc.) as well as its explicit
requirements.
SQA Activities
Prepare SQA plan for the project.
Participate in the development of the project's software process description.
Review software engineering activities to verify compliance with the defined
software process.
Audit designated software work products to verify compliance with those defined as
part of the software process.
Ensure that any deviations in software or work products are documented and
handled according to a documented procedure.
Record any evidence of noncompliance and reports them to management.
Software Reviews
Purpose is to find defects (errors) before they are passed on
to another software engineering activity or released to the
customer.
Software engineers (and others) conduct formal technical
reviews (FTR) for software engineers.
Using formal technical reviews (walkthroughs or
inspections) is an effective means for improving software
quality.
Formal Technical Reviews
Involves 3 to 5 people (including reviewers)
Advance preparation (no more than 2 hours per person) required
Duration of review meeting should be less than 2 hours
Focus of review is on a discrete work product
Review leader organizes the review meeting at the producer's request
Reviewers ask questions that enable the producer to discover his or her
own error (the product is under review not the producer)
Producer of the work product walks the reviewers through the product
Recorder writes down any significant issues raised during the review
Reviewers decide to accept or reject the work product and whether to
require additional reviews of product or not
The Players
review
leader

producer

recorder reviewer
Statistical Quality Assurance

Information about software defects is collected and


categorized
Each defect is traced back to its cause
Using the Pareto principle (80% of the defects can be traced
to 20% of the causes) isolate the "vital few" defect causes
Move to correct the problems that caused the defects
Statistical SQA
• collect information on all
defects
Product • find the causes of the
& Process defects
• move to provide fixes for
the process

measurement
... an understanding of how
to improve quality ...
Software Reliability
Defined as the probability of failure free operation of a
computer program in a specified environment for a specified
time period
Can be measured directly and estimated using historical and
developmental data (unlike many other software quality
factors)
Software reliability problems can usually be traced back to
errors in design or implementation.
Software Safety
Defined as a software quality assurance activity that focuses on
identifying potential hazards that may cause a software system to fail.
Early identification of software hazards allows developers to specify
design features to can eliminate or at least control the impact of
potential hazards.
Software reliability involves determining the likelihood that a failure
will occur, while software safety examines the ways in which failures
may result in conditions that can lead to a mishap.
Mistake-Proofing Software

Poka-yoke devices are mechanisms that lead to the


prevention of a potential quality problem before it occurs or
to the rapid detection of a quality problem if one is
introduced
Poka-yoke devices are simple, cheap, part of the
engineering process, and are located near the process task
where the mistakes occur
ISO Quality Standards
Quality assurance systems are defined as the organizational
structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes, and resources for
implementing quality management.
ISO 9000 describes the quality elements that must be present for a
quality assurance system to be compliant with the standard, but it does
not describe how an organization should implement these elements.
ISO 9001 is the quality standard that contains 20 requirements that
must be present in an effective software quality assurance system.
SQA Plan
Management section - describes the place of SQA in the structure of the
organization
Documentation section - describes each work product produced as part of the
software process
Standards, practices, and conventions section - lists all applicable
standards/practices applied during the software process and any metrics to be
collected as part of the software engineering work
Reviews and audits section - provides an overview of the approach used in the
reviews and audits to be conducted during the project
Test section - references the test plan and procedure document and defines test
record keeping requirements
Problem reporting and corrective action section - defines procedures
for reporting, tracking, and resolving errors or defects, identifies
organizational responsibilities for these activities
Other - tools, SQA methods, change control, record keeping, training,
and risk management

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