SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE

LECTURE # 2

SOFTWARE QUALITY-I
Contact Information
2

 Instructor: Khizer But

Lecturer
Department of Computer Science
GJIC Sialkot

Email:
 [email protected]
Office
 hours:
Will update you soon
4 Topics to Cover
Quality


Quality
 Types
Quality
 Control
Different
 views of Quality
Quality
 Models
 Quality
5

Quality means::


meeting the customer‟s requirements, at the agreed cost, within the

timescales.
“Fitness for
 purpose” [Joseph M Juran]
Customer satisfaction
 Quality Definitions [3,4]
6

here are
 many quality definitions some of them are listed below

he American
 Heritage dictionary defines quality as „a characteristic or attribut
omething‟.

EE Glossary:
 Degree to which a system, component, or process meet
pecified requirements, and (2) customer or user needs or expectations

SO 8402:
 The totality of features and characteristics of a product or servi
ear on its ability to satisfy specified or implied needs

nother definition, coined by Gerald Weinberg in Quality Software Managem

ystems Thinking, is "Quality is value to some person." This definition stresses t
uality is inherently subjective - different people will experience the quality of t
ame software very differently.
 Software Quality [1] [12]
7

oftware
 Quality can be defined as,

onformance
 to explicitly stated functional and performance requirements, e
cumented development standards, and implicit characteristics that are exp
professionally developed software” [Roger Pressman. Software Engineer
actitioner's Approach McGraw Hill 6 ed 2004]

is definition
 emphasizes three important points

ftware requirements are the foundation from which quality is measured.

nformance to requirements is lack of quality

ecified standards define a set of development criteria that guide the way in w
ftware is engineered. If the criteria are not followed , lack of quality will almost su
sult.

a software
 conforms to its explicit requirements but fails to meet implicit require
ftware quality is suspect.
8 Quality Types
Quality
 of Design

Quality
 of Conformance
 Quality Types [5,6]
9

Quality
 of Design (how well software is designed )

measures
 how valid the design are in creating a worthwhile product
Quality
 of design is the quality which the producer or supplier is intending
offer to the customer. When the producer is making the quality of design of t
product, he should take into consideration the customer's requirements in or
to satisfy them with fitness for use of the product.
Quality
 of Design is extremely important, and it is said that design is only 5%
of the product cost, but has a 70% influence on quality, manufacturabil
serviceability, and general acceptance in the market.
Customer
 focused organizations must continuously work on improvin
Quality of Design; and improving the quality of design will also have a
positive impact on the Quality of Conformance.
 Quality Types [5,6,7]
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Quality
 of Conformance (how well the software conforms to that desig

Quality
 of conformance is the level of the quality of product actually produc
and delivered through the production or service process of the organizati
per the specifications or design.
When the
 quality of a product entirely conforms to the specification (design), t
quality of conformance is deemed excellent.
It focuses
 on implementation based on the design.
Specifications
 are targets and tolerances determined by the designer of
product. Targets are the ideal values for which production is expected to strive
tolerances are acceptable deviations from these ideal values recognizing that
difficult to meet the exact targets all the time due to variability in mater
machine, men and process.
Objective Quality VS Perceived Quality [14
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Quality
 might be the most important factor underlying the long-term
success of products and firms. The business press routinely cites quality as
the cause of firm success and failure.

Objective
 quality is operationalized as a composite of instrument
measures and expert ratings on multiple product attributes. For example,
a personal computer’s objective quality attributes include processing
speed, hard disk capacity, reliability, and features like the modem.
Objective quality does not include intangible attributes like aesthetics
and brand image or salesperson behavior.

Perceived
 quality is the overall subjective judgment of quality relative to
the expectation of quality. These expectations are based on one’s own
and others’ experiences, and on sources including brand reputation,
price, and advertising. It is not necessary to use or examine a product to
form perceptions of quality.
Objective Quality VS Perceived Quality
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However,
 it is now well established that it is not the objective quality but ra
customers’ perceptions of quality that drive preferences and, ultimately, satisfact
loyalty, sales, and profitability.

Numerous anecdotes suggest that customer perceptions of quality do not re

objective quality. Companies frequently find that negative perceptions persist
after products perform well in quality tests. For example it took Google three year
after its launch to be perceived as the superior search engine.
14 Quality Control
Quality Control [1]
15

What
 is quality control?

Quality
 control is defined as the processes and methods used to monitor work a
observe whether requirements are met. It focuses on reviews and removal of de
before shipment of products.

It is possible
 to have the same group that builds the product perform the quality contr
function, or to establish a quality control group or department within the organization
unit that develops the product.

For software
 products, quality control typically includes specification reviews, inspect
of code and documents, and checks for user deliverables.
 Quality Control
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 Objective

minimize
 the produced defects, increase the product
quality

Implementation
 approaches

Fully
 automated

Entirely
 manual

Combination
 of automated tools and human interactions
Quality Assurance VS Quality Control [11]
17

Quality
 Assurance: A set of activities designed to
ensure that the development and/or maintenance
process is adequate to ensure a system will meet its
objectives.

Quality
 Control: A set of activities designed to evaluate
a developed work product.

One of the major points of quality control vs. QA is that

assurance of quality is done before starting a project
whereas the quality control begins once the product has
been manufactured.

Assurance
 of quality is a proactive or preventive
process to avoid defects whereas quality control is a
corrective process to identify the defects in order to
correct them.
Variation Control [1]
18

Variation
 is the heart of quality control

We want
 to minimize the difference between the predicted resources needed to comple
project and actual resources used including Staff, equipment and time
19 Different Views of Quality

Transcendental
 View
User
 View
Manufacturing
 View
Product
 View
Value
 based View
Different views of Quality
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Transcendental
 view: sees quality as something that can be recognized
not defined.

quality is universally identifiable, absolute unique and perfect

Thosewho hold transcendental view would say, “I can’t define it, but I know when I see
associated
 with intangible properties that delight users
Advertisers
 are fond of promoting products in these terms. “Where shoping is a pleasur
(supermarket), “We love to fly and it shows” (airline), and “It means beautiful ey
(cosmetics) are example.
Different views of Quality [12]
21

User
 view: fitness for purpose or meeting user‟s needs

User
 based definitions are based on the idea that quality is an individual matter, an
products that best satisfy their preferences (i.e. perceived quality) are those with t
highest quality.
This
 is a rational approach but leads to problems.

Consumer
 preferences vary widely, and it is difficult to aggregate these preferences in
products with wide appeal. This leads to the choice between a niche strategy or a ma
aggregation approach which tries to identify those product attributes that meet the needs of
the largest number of consumers.
Different views of Quality [12]
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Manufacturing
 view: conformance to process standards or the
development of the product

Manufacturing-based
 definitions are concerned primarily with engineering
manufacturing practices and use the universal definition of “conformanc
requirements.” Requirements, or specifications, are established design, and
deviation implies a reduction in quality. The concept applies to services as well
products.
Different Views of Quality [12]
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Product
 view: inherent characteristics in the product itself

Hypothesis:
 If a product is manufactured with good internal properties, then it will
good external properties.
Example:
 Modularity enables testability.

For example
 reliability can be measured (e.g. mean time between failure), and the
engineer can design to that benchmark. Quality is determined objectively. Althoug
approach has many benefits, it has limitations as well. Where quality is based on individu
taste or preference, the benchmark for measurement may be misleading.
Different Views of Quality [12]
24

Value-based
 view: customers willingness to pay

Value-based
 quality is defined in terms of costs and prices as well as a number of other
attributes. Thus, the consumer’s purchase decision is based on quality (however it is de
at the acceptable price.
Centralidea
How much a customer is willing to pay for a certain level of quality.
Quality
 is meaningless if a product does not make economic sense.
Thevalue-based view makes a trade-off between cost and quality.
People/user Quality Expectation
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eople’s quality expectation for software systems they use and rely upon are two-fo

e software
 system must do what they are supposed to do. In other words , they mu
right things (Validation)

ey must  perform these specific tasks correctly. In other words, they must do t
ht (Verification)

Verification
 --> refers to the set of activities that ensure that
software correctly implements a specific function.

Validation
 --> refers to a different set of activities that ensure
that the software that has been built is traceable to customer
requirements.
nternal/Producer Quality Expectation
26

or managers:
 adherence to process standards, proper choice of methodologies and

ervice related
 producers: usability, maintainability

d party or software packaging producers: modularity

arketing
 personnel: profitability and customer value
27 Quality Models
McCall‟s Model
ISO 9126 Model
IEEE Model

FURPS Model

GQM Approach
 Quality Models [9,10]
28

A Quality
 Model is defined as, “ the set of characteristics and the relation
between them which provides the basis for specifying quality requirements
evaluating quality”

Software
 quality is described by specific quality models

Standard
 quality models

 McCall
 ISO/IEC 9126

 IEEE

Application
 or company specific quality models

 FURPS
 GQM Approach
McCall’s Factor-Criteria-Metrics Mode
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Classification into :

Factors (to specify):



They
 describe the external view of the
software, as viewed by the users.

Criteria (to build):



They
 describe the internal view of the
software, as seen by the developer.

Metrics (to control):



T
 hey are defined and used to provide a

scale and method for measurement.

McCall’s Quality Factors and Criteria
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McCall,
 Richards, and Walters studied the concept of software quality in terms of two k
concepts as follows:

quality factors, and

quality criteria.

A quality
 factor represents the behavioral characteristic of a system.

Examples:
 correctness, reliability, efficiency, testability, portability e.t.c

A quality
 criterion is an attribute of a quality factor that is related to software developme

Example:
 Modularity is an attribute of the architecture of a software system. A highly modular softw
allows designers to put cohesive components in one module, thereby increasing the maintainability
the system.
McCall’s 11 Quality Factors
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Product
 Revision
Maintainability
 - Can I fix it?
Flexibility
 - Can I change it?
Testability
 - Can I test it?

Product
 Transition
Portability
 - Will I be able to use on another
machine?
Reusability
 - Will I be able to reuse some of the
software?
Interoperability
 - Will I be able to interface it
with another application?

Product
 Operation
Correctness
 - Does it do what I want?
Reliability
 - Does it do it accurately all the time?
Efficiency
 - Will it run on my machine as well as Attributesof QualityFactors
it can?
Integrity
 - Is it secure?
Usability
 - Can I run it?
McCall’s Quality Criteria
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Some Quality Criteria‟s from McCall‟s Model is listed below:

Accuracy
 (The precisions of computations and outputs)

Completeness
 (The degree to which the full implementation of the required functionalities has
achieved)

Error Tolerance (The degree to which the continuity of operations is ensured under adverse condition

Expandability
 (The degree to which software functions can be expanded )

Hardware
 Independence (The degree to which the software is dependent on the underlying hardwa

Modularity
 (The provision of highly independent modules)

Simplicity
 (The ease with which the software can be understood)
 References
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Software
1. Engineering by Roger Pressman
faculty.winthrop.edu/dannellys/csci626/02_Definition.ppt
2.
www.heppenstall.ca/academics/doc/320/L01_SoftwareQuality.pdf
3.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_quality
4.
http://www.businessgyan.com/node/2625
5.
http://www.openlearningworld.com/books/Quality%20by%20Design/Quality%20by%20Design
6.
/Quality%20of%20Design%20and%20Quality%20of%20Conformance.html
http://churmura.com/general/quality-of-conformance/31600/
7.
http://mktsci.journal.informs.org/content/25/3/230.abstract
8.
http://www.bth.se/tek/besq.nsf/%28WebFiles%29/CF1C3230DB425EDCC125706900317C44
9.
/$FILE/chapter_1.pdf
http://www.heppenstall.ca/academics/doc/320/L01_SoftwareQuality.pdf
10.
http://www.totalqualityassuranceservices.com/quality-control-vs-quality-assurance-the-differe
11.
between-them/
http://totalqualitymanagement.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/definition-of-quality/
12.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_implicit_and_explicit_meaning
13.
http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/sternbusiness/spring_2007/qualityControl.html
14.
For any query Feel Free to ask
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