Software Testing

Quality Management
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The project quality management knowledge area is comprised of the set of processes that ensure the result of a project meets the needs for which the project was executed. Processes such as quality planning, assurance, and control are included in this area. Each process has a set of input and a set of output. Each process also has a set of tools and techniques that are used to turn input into output.

Definition of Quality

Quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bare on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.

Or

Quality is defined as meeting the customer’s requirement for the first time and for every time. This is much more that absence of defects which allows us to meet the requirements.

Goals of quality programs
  • Fitness for use. (Is the product or service capable of being used?)
  • Fitness for purpose. (Does the product or service meet its intended purpose?)
  • Customer satisfaction. (Does the product or service meet the customer's expectations?)
Quality Management Processes

Quality Planning: The process of identifying which quality standards is relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them.

  • Input includes: Quality policy, scope statement, product description, standards and regulations, and other process Output.

  • Methods used: benefit / cost analysis, benchmarking, flowcharting, and design of experiments.

  • Output includes: Quality Management Plan, operational definitions, checklists, and Input to other processes.

Quality Assurance: The process of evaluating overall projects performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards.

  • Input includes: Quality Management Plan, results of quality control measurements, and operational definitions.

  • Methods used: quality planning tools and techniques and quality audits.

  • Output includes: quality improvement.

Quality Control:The process of monitoring specific project results to determine if they comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance.

  • Input includes: work results, Quality Management Plan, operational definitions, and checklists.

  • Methods used include: inspection, control charts, pareto charts, statistical sampling, flowcharting, and trend analysis.

  • Output includes: quality improvements, acceptance decisions, rework, completed checklists, and process adjustments.

Quality Policy: The overall quality intentions and direction of an organization as regards quality, as formally expressed by top management.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

A common approach to implementing a quality improvement program within an organization

Quality Concepts

  • Zero Defects
  • The Customer is the Next Person in the Process
  • Do the Right Thing Right the First Time (DTRTRTFT)
  • Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) (From Japanese word, Kaizen)
Tools of Quality Management

Problem Identification Tools :

Pareto Chart

  1. Ranks defects in order of frequency of occurrence to depict 100% of the defects. (Displayed as a histogram)
  2. Defects with most frequent occurrence should be targeted for corrective action.
  3. 80-20 rule: 80% of problems are found in 20% of the work.
  4. Does not account for severity of the defects

Cause and Effect Diagrams (fishbone diagrams or Ishikawa diagrams)

  1. Analyzes the Input to a process to identify the causes of errors.
  2. Generally consists of 8 major Input to a quality process to permit the characterization of each input.

Histograms

  1. Shows frequency of occurrence of items within a range of activity.
  2. Can be used to organize data collected for measurements done on a product or process.

Scatter diagrams

  1. Used to determine the relationship between two or more pieces of corresponding data.
  2. The data are plotted on an "X-Y" chart to determine correlation (highly positive, positive, no correlation, negative, and highly negative)
Problem Analysis Tools
  1. Graphs
  2. Check sheets (tic sheets) and check lists
  3. Flowcharts
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