Topic: Quality Assurance v/s Quality Control

Message

   Quality Methods
are segmented two categories-
 -          preventive methods
 -          detective methods 
 Quality Assurance-
is a planned and systematic set of activities necessary to provide
adequate confidence that the products and services will conform to
specified requirements and meet user needs. Quality Assurance is a
staff function.
 Examples: quality assurance activities in an IT environment would determine the need for:
                                                 System development methodologies, Estimation processes, 
 System maintenance processes, Requirements definition processes
 Testing processes and standards

 Quality Control
– is a process by which product quality is compared with applicable
standards, and the action taken when non-conformance is detected.
Quality control is a line function. 
 Quality
control activities focus on identifying defects in the actual products
produced. These activities begin at the start of the software
development process with reviews of requirements, and continue until
all application testing is complete.

 It
is possible to have quality control without quality assurance. For
example, a test team may be in place to conduct system testing at the
end of development, regardless of whether that system is produced using
a software development methodology.

 Internal Auditing- is an independent appraisal activity within an organization for the review of operations, and is a service to management.
 -Quality Assurance is preventive in nature while Quality Control is detective in nature.
      Quality Assurance   Quality Control
   Helps establish process   Relates to specific product or service.
   Sets up measurement programs to evaluate process.   Verifies specific attributes are there or not in product/service.
   Identifies weaknesses in process and improves them.   Identifies for correcting defects.
   Management responsibility, frequently performed by staff function.   Responsibility of team/worker
   Concerned with all products produced by the process   Concerned with specific product.
   Is a
Quality Control over Quality Control activity.    

 The following statements help differentiate quality control from quality assurance:
 • Quality control relates to a specific product or service.
 • Quality control verifies whether specific attribute(s) are in, or are not in, a specific product or service.
 • Quality control identifies defects for the primary purpose of correcting defects.
 • Quality control is the responsibility of the team/worker.
 • Quality control is concerned with a specific product.
 • Quality assurance helps establish processes.
 • Quality assurance sets up measurement programs to evaluate processes.
 • Quality assurance identifies weaknesses in processes and improves them.
 • Quality assurance is a management responsibility, frequently performed by a staff function.
 • Quality assurance is concerned with all of the products that will
ever be produced by a process.
 • Quality assurance is sometimes called quality control over quality control because it evaluates whether quality   
  control is working.
 • Quality assurance personnel should never perform quality control unless it is to validate quality control.

 How to Identify Important Software Quality Factors
 1. Correctness: Extent to which program specifies its specifications and fulfills the user’s mission objectives. 
 2. Reliability: Extent to which a program can be expected to perform its intended function with required precision.  
 3. Efficiency:  The amount of computing resources and code required by a program to perform a function.
 4. Integrity: Extent to which access to software or data by unauthorized person can be controlled.
 5. Usability: Effort required in Learning, Operating, Preparing Input, and Interpreting Output of a Program.
 6. Maintainability: Effort required locating and fixing an error in an Operational program.
 7. Testability: Effort required in Testing a program to ensure that it performs its Intended Functions.
 8.  Flexibility: Effort required modifying an Operational Program.
 9. Portability: Effort required Transferring software from one configuration to another. 
 10. Reusability: Extent to which a program can be used in other applications – related to the packaging and scope of 
                            the functions that program perform.
 11. Interoperability: Effort required to couple one system with another.
 Vocabulary:

 Client: The customer that pays for the product received and receives the benefit from use of the product

 Customer: The individual or organization, internal or external to the producing organization that receives the product.

 Empowerment:  Giving
people the knowledge, skills, and authority to act within their area of
expertise to do the work and also improve the process

 Leadership:
The ability to lead including inspiring others in a shared vision of
what can be, taking risks, serving as a role model, reinforcing and
rewarding the accomplishments of others, and helping others to act.

 Management:  A team or individuals who manage(s) resources at any level of the organization.

 Outputs:  Products, services, or information supplied to meet customer needs.

 Policy:  Managerial desires and intents concerning either process (intended objectives) or products (desired attributes).

 Process:  
 (1) The work effort that produces a product.  This includes efforts of
people and equipment guided by policies, standards, and procedures.  
 (2)
The process or set of processes used by an organization or project to
plan, manage, execute, monitor, control, and improve its software
related activities.  A set of activities and tasks [ISO/IEC12207-1].  A statement of purpose and an essential set of practices (activities) that address that purpose.
 Process Improvement: A change to a process to make the process produce a given product faster, more economically, or of higher quality.  Such changes may require the
product to be changed.  The defect rate must be maintained or reduced.

 Product / Services:  The output of a process, the work product.  There
are three useful classes of products: Manufactured Products (standard
and custom), Administrative/Information Products (invoices, letters,
etc…) and Service Products (physical, intellectual, psychological, and
physiological).  Products
are defined by a statement of requirements; they are produced by one or more people working in a process.

 Product Improvement:  To
change the statement of requirements that defines a product to make the
product more satisfying and attractive to the customer (more
competitive).  Such changes frequently require the process to be changed.  This process may result in an entirely new product.

 Productivity:  The ratio of the output of a process to the input, usually measured in the same units.  It
is useful to compare the value added to a product by a process, to the
value of the input resources required (using fair market values for
both input and output).

 Quality:  A product is a quality product if it is defect free.  To
the producer, a product is a quality product if it meets or conforms to
the statement of requirements that defines the product.  This statement is usually shortened to: quality means “meets requirements.”  From a customer’s perspective, quality means “fit for use.”

 Quality Improvement:  To change a production process so that the rate at which defective products (defects) are produced is reduced.  Some process changes may require the product to be changed.

 Requirement:  A
formal statement
of: 1) an attribute to be possessed by the product or a function to be
performed by the product; 2) the performance standard for the attribute
or function; and/or 3) the measuring process to be used in verifying
that the standard has been met.

 Statistical Process Control:  The use of statistical techniques and tools to measure an ongoing process for change or stability.

 Supplier:  An individual or organization that supplies inputs needed to generate a product, service, or information to a customer.

 Values (Sociology):  The ideals, customs,
instructions, etc… of a society toward which the people have an affective regard.  These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or may be negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy.  Any object or quality desired as a means of as an end in itself.

 Vision:  A statement that describes the desired future state of a unit.


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