Software Quality Assurance

1161 Words3 Pages

Software Quality Assurance

ABSTRACT

High complexity, invisibility of the product and opportunity to detect the defects provided the uniqueness which will meet the challenges for the development and operation of quality assurance for software. This paper provides a brief introduction to software quality assurance and discuses about the software quality metrics and their limitations.

Keywords: SQA (software Quality Assurance), software quality metrics, process metrics, product metrics

INTRODUCTION

Definition: Software Quality Assurance is a set of activities designed to evaluate the process by which the products are developed or manufactured. Contrast with quality control. [1]

Software Quality assurance is an important aspect of product development. Unlike the other engineering disciplines, such as manufacturing and hardware software quality assurance does not have control. [2]

The main objectives of SQA are it assures acceptable levels of confidence, conformance to functional technical requirements. It assures the acceptable levels of confidence to managerial scheduling and budgets requirements. It assures the software development and control processes described in the project's Management Plan are correctly carried out and that the project's procedures and standards are followed. SQA assures that clear and achievable standards exist and then evaluates the software product to the established standards.

[3]Kurt F. Fischer identified the following eight QA functions to assure sufficient planning, reporting, and control to affect the development of software products which meet their contractual requirements.

1. Initial quality planning

2. Development of software standards

and procedures

3. Development of quality assurance

tools

4. Conduct of audits and reviews

5. Inspection and surveillance of

formal tests

6. Configuration verifications

7. Management of the discrepancy

reporting system

8. Retention of QA records

The hierarchy of SQA unit starts with the SQA unit head at the top and his planning tasks are preparing annual activity program and budget for the SQA unit, planning of the organizations software quality management system.

The management tasks include monitoring implementation of the annual SQA activities of a program appointing SQA members.

[4]Fletcher J. Buckley identifies the three major roles of an SQA professional as

The first SQA role is Information Gatherer, who looks across many projects to provide management with the information it needs to make decisions among economic, marketing, legal, quality, and scheduling conflicts.

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