CIF 301 Project Quality Unit 6

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CIF 301 Project QualityUnit 6
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Project Quality

• Introduction
• Quality is generally agreed to be a good thing
• Often the use of procedures that will help ensure
  a systems quality will be lacking
• Quality systems must be defined
• Metrics should be used to check quality systems

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The importance of software quality

• Increasing criticality of software
• The intangibility of software
• Accumulating errors during software development

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Defining software quality

• Should be three specification for software
  quality
• a functional specification
• a quality specification
• a resources specification

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ISO 9126

• Published in 1991
• Provides a definition for software quality
• Seen as the base on which more detailed standards
  can be built

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ISO 9126

• ISO 9126 defines six software quality
  characteristics
• Functionality
• Reliability
• Usability
• Efficiency
• Maintainability
• Portability

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Product versus process quality management

• What is the difference?
• Why is this important?
• Often one or the other is looked at
• Both should always be considered

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BS EN ISO 9001

• Standard for quality management systems
• Current standard BS EN ISO 90012000
• This is a family of standards.
• There are other related quality standards

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BS EN ISO 9001

• BS EN ISO 9000 is a group of standards
• 9000, fundamentals and vocabulary 9001,
  Quality Management Systems requirements
• 9004, guidelines for performance improvement
• 9001 is the standard that applicants are assessed
  against.
• It is a general standard that can be applied to
  any business or organisation

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TickIT

• The BS EN ISO 9000 series of standards refers to
  quality management systems in general
• In the UK, the Department of Trade and Industry
  (DTI) have formulated the TickIT standards.
• The TickIT standards give an interpretation of
  the BS EN ISO 9001 standard as it specifically
  applies to software development.

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TickIT

• The main requirements of Tick IT are
• A detailed development plan is required before
  development is embarked upon.
• Change control procedures should be used at all
  stages of development
• Design reviews must take place
• The suitability of the design methodology must be
  reviewed

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TickIT

• main requirements of Tick IT (cont.)
• Progress must be reviewed on a systematic basis
• It must be possible to trace back the features of
  software design to specifications and
  requirements
• Designs must be properly documented

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TickIT

• main requirements of Tick IT (cont.)
• Suitable test plans, specifications and records
  must be produced
• A code of practice must be in place that governs
  the way the software is developed

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TickIT

• The code of practice must include the following
• The design must be broken down into levels, each
  with identifiable inputs and outputs.
• Software must be organised into modules.
• A module must normally perform a single function
  or a set of related functions.
• A plain language description must exist for each
  module.

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TickIT

• A TickIT auditor will certify that a particular
  organisation conforms to the standard
• The process is referred to as certification
• The TickIT scheme is now administered by a
  division of the British Standards Institute on
  behalf of the DTI

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Capability Maturity Model

• Developed in US by The Software Engineering
  Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
• The Capability Maturity Model attempts to place
  an organisation producing software at one of five
  levels.

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Capability Maturity Model

• Level 1 Initial
• Level 2 Repeatable
• Level 3 Defined
• Level 4 Managed
• Level 5 Optimizing

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Capability Maturity Model

• Level 1 Initial
• The procedures followed tend to be haphazard.
• Some projects will be successful, but this tends
  to be because of the skills of particular
  individuals including project managers.
• There is no level 0 and so any organization would
  be at this level by default.

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Capability Maturity Model

• Level 2 Repeatable
• Organizations at this level will have basic
  project management procedures in place.
• The way an individual task is carried out will
  depend largely on the person doing it
• Level 3 Defined
• The organization has defined the way in which
  each task in the software development cycle is to
  be done.

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Capability Maturity Model

• Level 4 Managed
• The products and processes involved in software
  development are subject to measurement and
  control.
• Level 5 Optimizing
• Improvement in procedures are designed and
  implemented using the data gathered from the
  measurement process

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Ways to help enhance software quality

• Increasing visibility
• checking each others code
• proposed by Weinberg in 1971in what he termed
  egoless programming
• Procedural Structure
• Checking intermediate stages

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Conclusion

• IT Project Quality
• Quality definitions
• ISO 9126
• BS EN ISO 9001
• TickIT
• The capability maturity model
• Enhancing software quality