Reference Library Quality Management
	This page provides access to a variety of downloadable papers that address quality management issues. The following topics are considered: General Quality Reviews Software Safety Software Quality Assurance (SQA) General A Roadmap to Full - Cycle Developer and QA Testing [PPT] SilverMark This PowerPoint presentation contains the following topics: the test/development life-cycle (families of testing tools, why test early), forces in component testing (what is component testing, component test design, component testing inhibitors and enablers), and test mentor overview (concepts and terminology, brief case study). From Software Quality Control to Quality Assurance [PDF] Mortice Kern Systems Inc. This paper addresses the transformation of traditional software quality control techniques to a proactive quality assurance program within embedded systems and other mission critical software: This paper previews a two-stage approach to transforming quality control to quality assurance: Quality Assessment (Stage 1) provides objective quantitative evaluation of quality while identifying and fixing software defects early in the development cycle, before they get to the customer and even before testing; Quality Assurance (Stage 2) helps prevent defects from entering the code base by enforcing coding standards during, and by preventing new defects from occurring during times of change through accurate impact analysis. Good Enough Quality: Beyond the Buzzword [PDF] James Bach This article discusses Good Enough Software. The author defines Good Enough Quality and provides a framework for GEQ. Practice of Software Quality Control [PDF] Yang Li This paper discusses how the SCPI software branch used the principles of software engineering. The Capability Maturity Model for Software (CMM) was used. Software Quality - Control Guidelines for Codes Developed for the NWTC [PDF] Marshall L. Buhl, Jr. and H. James Green This paper presents guidelines for generating quality control. These guidelines include: version tracking, change log, archives, verification, validation, version/installation checking, and documentation. Back to the top Quality Quantifying Quality Attributes [HTML] Jim Brosseau This article describes steps taken to go from taxonomy of attributes to "testable" statements concerning the quality of the system. Appendix E SDC Software Quality Management Plan [PDF] SDC This paper discusses the SDC policy for Software Quality Management (SQM). Contents include: SQM plan goals (SQM plan overview, SQM plan implementation, SQM metrics), and responsibilities (project team responsibilities, DMMG, SDC senior management). The Definition of 'Software Quality': A Practical Approach [PDF] Roland Petrasch This paper defines quality, explains the problem with the term quality, and gives an example to illustrate that describing the management of requirements and characteristics in the development process can determine the quality of the product. The Quest for Software Quality [DOC] Kamesh Pemmaraju This article focuses on the dilemma of defining and assessing software quality and the rapid advances being made in the software industry to address these issues. What is Quality? [HTML] *FEE* Jim Highsmith In this article the author discusses lack of common understanding of quality as the root of team debate and workshop exercises which allow a discussion of what quality actually means. The author also proposes two key questions in thinking about quality. Back to the top Reviews An Approach to Postmorta, Postparta & Post Project Reviews [PDF] Norman L. Kerth A Postpartum is an activity where people come together to review a previous project. The purpose from this review is to reflect and learn from the past project to help improve the team's process on future projects. For some projects and some people this can be quite a stressful event. It is an event, when executed poorly can do great damage. However, when done well, it can yield vast improvements in the team's process and productivity. This work shares what the author has learned. DOE Systems Engineering Methodology (SEM) Structured Walkthrough (SWT) Process Guide Version 3[PDF] U.S. Department of Energy This process guide describes the method for conducting a structured walkthrough during the lifecycle stages of systems engineering projects, regardless of hardware platform. This process guide consists of the following sections: overview, responsibilities before the walkthrough, responsibilities during the walkthrough, responsibilities after the walkthrough, additional activities after the walkthrough, follow-up activities, structured walkthroughs for lifecycle stages, structured walkthroughs for other documents, structured walkthrough meeting record (sample), and structured walkthrough management summary report (sample). Review Checklists [DOC] Author Unknown This paper contains a brief checklist that can be used to assess products that are derived as part of software development. Sections include: system engineering, software project planning, software requirements analysis, software design, coding, software testing, and maintenance. Paper I Sample - Driven Inspections [PDF] Thomas Thelin, Hĺkan Petersson and Claes Wohlin Sample- Driven Inspections (SDI) provides a solution to problems with software inspection including not being efficient and effective as expected and not being conducted properly. In this paper, the SDI method is described and empirical evidence is provided, which indicates that the method is appropriate to use. A Monte Carlo simulation is used to evaluate the proposed method. Furthermore, the paper discusses the results and important future research in the area of SDI. Software Inspections are not for Quality, but for Engineering Economics [PDF] Tom Gilb This paper on software inspections includes the following topics: inspection checking, some examples of inspection checking, using inspection to reduce defect injection, avoid using inspection for reviews, how to properly use inspection for quality, how to get qualities into your products, and how does inspection relate to overall software development. Back to the top Software Safety Analysis of Safety Requirements for Process Control Systems [PDF] Tom Anderson, Rogério de Lemos and Amer Saeed An essential basis for the development of software for safety-critical systems is to establish high-quality requirements specifications. This paper describes an approach to the incremental and iterative analysis of requirements for safety-critical systems. Safety specifications are developed to ensure that hazard states are avoided and the system's integrity is maintained even in the presence of failures in system components. Safecharts for Specifying and Designing Safety Critical Systems [PDF] Hamdan Dammag and Nimal Nissanke This paper proposes a novel variant of Statecharts, called Safecharts, especially for use in the specification and the design of safety critical systems. The objective is to provide a sharper focus on safety issues and a systematic approach to deal with them. This is achieved by making a clear separation between functional and safety requirements. A novel feature of Safecharts is the safety annotation, which proposes an explicit ordering of states according to risk level. Software Engineering for Safety: A Roadmap [PDF] Robyn R. Lutz This report describes the current state of software engineering for safety and proposes some directions for needed work that appears to be achievable in the near future. System and Software Safety in Critical Systems [PDF] Ulla Isaksen, Jonathan P. Bowen and Nimal Nissanke The safety aspects of computer-based systems are increasingly important as the use of software escalates because of its convenience and flexibility. However the complexity of even modestly sized programs is such that the elimination of errors with a high degree of confidence is extremely difficult. There are a number of approaches to enhancing safety in safety-critical control systems. These are surveyed and compared with particular emphasis on systems with software in the controlling system. A glossary of terms and an extensive bibliography for further reading are included. The Ethics of Safety - Critical Systems [PDF] Jonathan P. Bowen Safety-critical systems require the utmost care in their specification and design to avoid errors in their implementation, using state of the art techniques in a responsible manner. Legislation and standards impose external pressures, but education and ethical considerations should help provide more self-imposed guidelines for all those involved in the production of safety-critical systems. This paper considers some of the issues involved, with pointers to material providing greater depth in particular areas, especially with respect to the use of formal methods. Back to the top Software Quality Assurance (SQA) SJ-RT Smith Jones Rapid Transit Software Quality Assurance Plan Draft [DOC] U.S. Department of Energy This Software Quality Assurance Plan (SQAP) sets forth the process, methods, standards, and procedures that will be used to perform the Software Quality Assurance function for the Smith Jones Rapid Transit (SJ-RT) project. Contents include: SQA description (SQA roles and responsibilities, required skills), audits and reviews (standards, in-stage audits and reviews, stage exit reviews, peer reviews), verification and validation of requirements, and SQA milestones. Software Defect Reduction Top 10 List [PDF] Barry Boehm and Victor R Basili This paper describes developments in the area of software development that will help to avoid pitfalls and help predict and control projects. These ten techniques are discussed. 7. Software Quality [PDF] J. Denzinger This slide presentation on software quality includes the following topics: quality control, what can we do to remove errors in early development phases, objectives of reviews, basic guidelines of reviews, result of a review, reviewer's preparation, and conducting the review. Software Quality and Risk [PDF] David Hedley This slide presentation includes the following topics: what is quality, formal technical reviews, how is quality assured, software quality metrics, quality standards and procedures, risk, statistical quality assurance, risk projection, risk identification, risk management, risk assessment, monitoring the project, slippage, and re-planning options. Software Quality Assurance [DOC] Author Unknown This presentation on quality assurance outlines the following topics: software quality (definition, software quality factors, metrics for grading the software quality factors, the software quality system), software reviews, formal technical reviews (the review meeting, review reporting and record keeping, review guidelines, review checklists), and software quality standards. Software Quality Control and Prediction Model [PDF] Norman F. Schneidewind In this paper the author develops a quality control and prediction model for improving the quality of software delivered by development to maintenance. This model identifies modules that require priority attention during development and maintenance by using Boolean discriminant functions. The model also predicts during development the quality that will be delivered to maintenance by using both point and confidence interval estimates of quality. The author shows that it is important to perform a marginal analysis when making a decision about how many metrics to include in a discriminant function. Back to the top