Topic: What does it take to Manage Software Quality?

Message

   The Software Quality Management comprises of Quality Planning, Quality Assurance and Quality Control Processes. We shall now take a closer look at each of them.

1) Quality Planning

Quality Planning is the most important step in Software Quality Management. Proper planning ensures that the remaining Quality processes make sense and achieve the desired results. The starting point for the Planning process is the standards followed by the Organization. This is expressed in the Quality Policy and Documentation defining the Organization-wide standards. Sometimes additional industry standards relevant to the Software Project may be referred to as needed. Using these as inputs the Standards for the specific project are decided. The Scope of the effort is also clearly defined. The inputs for the Planning are as summarized as follows:

    a. Company’s Quality Policy
    b. Organization Standards
    c. Relevant Industry Standards
    d. Regulations
    e. Scope of Work
    f. Project Requirements

Using these as Inputs the Quality Planning process creates a plan to ensure that standards agreed upon are met. Hence the outputs of the Quality Planning process are:

    a. Standards defined for the Project
    b. Quality Plan

To create these outputs namely the Quality Plan various tools and techniques are used. These tools and techniques are huge topics and Quality Experts dedicate years of research on these topics. We would briefly introduce these tools and techniques in this article.

a. Benchmarking: The proposed product standards can be decided using the existing performance benchmarks of similar products that already exist in the market.

b. Design of Experiments: Using statistics we determine what factors influence the Quality or features of the end product

c. Cost of Quality: This includes all the costs needed to achieve the required Quality levels. It includes prevention costs, appraisal costs and failure costs.

d. Other tools: There are various other tools used in the Planning process such as Cause and Effect Diagrams, System Flow Charts, Cost Benefit Analysis, etc.

All these help us to create a Quality Management Plan for the project.

2) Quality Assurance

The Input to the Quality Assurance Processes is the Quality Plan created during Planning.
Quality Audits and various other techniques are used to evaluate the performance of the project. This helps us to ensure that the Project is following the Quality Management Plan.

The tools and techniques used in the Planning Process such as Design of Experiments, Cause and Effect Diagrams may also be used here, as required.

3) Quality Control

Following are the inputs to the Quality Control Process:

    - Quality Management Plan.
    - Quality Standards defined for the Project
    - Actual Observations and Measurements of the Work done or in Progress

The Quality Control Processes use various tools to study the Work done. If the Work done is found unsatisfactory it may be sent back to the development team for fixes. Changes to the Development process may be done if necessary.

If the work done meets the standards defined then the work done is accepted and released to the clients. 

Author	Message
soumali Newbie Joined: 02Apr2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 34	Topic: What does it take to Manage Software Quality? Posted: 13Jun2007 at 1:14am
	The Software Quality Management comprises of Quality Planning, Quality Assurance and Quality Control Processes. We shall now take a closer look at each of them. 1) Quality Planning Quality Planning is the most important step in Software Quality Management. Proper planning ensures that the remaining Quality processes make sense and achieve the desired results. The starting point for the Planning process is the standards followed by the Organization. This is expressed in the Quality Policy and Documentation defining the Organization-wide standards. Sometimes additional industry standards relevant to the Software Project may be referred to as needed. Using these as inputs the Standards for the specific project are decided. The Scope of the effort is also clearly defined. The inputs for the Planning are as summarized as follows: a. Company’s Quality Policy b. Organization Standards c. Relevant Industry Standards d. Regulations e. Scope of Work f. Project Requirements Using these as Inputs the Quality Planning process creates a plan to ensure that standards agreed upon are met. Hence the outputs of the Quality Planning process are: a. Standards defined for the Project b. Quality Plan To create these outputs namely the Quality Plan various tools and techniques are used. These tools and techniques are huge topics and Quality Experts dedicate years of research on these topics. We would briefly introduce these tools and techniques in this article. a. Benchmarking: The proposed product standards can be decided using the existing performance benchmarks of similar products that already exist in the market. b. Design of Experiments: Using statistics we determine what factors influence the Quality or features of the end product c. Cost of Quality: This includes all the costs needed to achieve the required Quality levels. It includes prevention costs, appraisal costs and failure costs. d. Other tools: There are various other tools used in the Planning process such as Cause and Effect Diagrams, System Flow Charts, Cost Benefit Analysis, etc. All these help us to create a Quality Management Plan for the project. 2) Quality Assurance The Input to the Quality Assurance Processes is the Quality Plan created during Planning. Quality Audits and various other techniques are used to evaluate the performance of the project. This helps us to ensure that the Project is following the Quality Management Plan. The tools and techniques used in the Planning Process such as Design of Experiments, Cause and Effect Diagrams may also be used here, as required. 3) Quality Control Following are the inputs to the Quality Control Process: - Quality Management Plan. - Quality Standards defined for the Project - Actual Observations and Measurements of the Work done or in Progress The Quality Control Processes use various tools to study the Work done. If the Work done is found unsatisfactory it may be sent back to the development team for fixes. Changes to the Development process may be done if necessary. If the work done meets the standards defined then the work done is accepted and released to the clients. Post Resume: Click here to Upload your Resume & Apply for Jobs

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