Introduction to Software Quality Assurance (SQA)

Ikram Ahmed Khan

Chief Executive Business Beam (Pvt.) Limited ikram.khan@businessbeam.com

Agenda
Different views of quality. The economics of quality assurance activities. SQA Processes Activities and responsibilities of SQA team. Responsibilities of testers. Characteristics of Good SQA Engineer.
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What is Quality?
Popular Views about Quality:
quality related to luxury, class and taste quality is related to quality of life. I know about quality when I see the product.

Professional Views about Quality:

Conformance to requirements. Fitness for use.

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Two aspects of Software Quality

q Intrinsic product quality, often limited to defect rate and reliability. Q Customer Satisfaction, often includes product quality and process quality.

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Role of Customer
Customers dont buy products, they buy assurances that their expectations with the products would met. You also, can only sell assurances in other words, Quality.

Customer is in absolute position to judge the quality.

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Quality Assurance
Quality assurance is a system of activities designed to ensure production that meets preestablished requirements and standards.

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Objectives of Software Quality Assurance

Only Quality Control (testing) is not enough:
What would you do if your software does not pass the QC test? QC is a reactive approach, not proactive one.

Quality Assurance includes Proactive as well as Reactive approaches.

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Measuring Software Quality

Usually recognized in the form of bugs or defects. Defect rate (defect/KLOC or defects/FP) Reliability (Failure free operation)

IBM monitors CUPRIMDSO Capability (Functionality), Usability, Performance, Reliability, Installability, Maintainability, Documentation, Service, & Overall.
HP monitors FURPS Functionality, Usability, Reliability, Performance & Service.
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Purpose of SQA Activities

Practically, zero defect product is not possible to achieve. The purpose of quality assurance practices are to minimize the number of defects. How much efforts are needed to minimize the number of defects?
are you developing a customized project or product? how critical your application is?
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Developer to Tester Ratio

There is no standard developer to tester ratio in IT industry. However, industry does have some norms:
For customized projects, ratio must be at least 3:1 For products, ratio can be as high as 1:3

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Organizational Positioning of SQA (Observed)

CEO

Development Manager

HR Manager

Admin Manager

SQA Manager

Project Manager 1

SCM Manager

Project Manager 2

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Organizational Positioning of SQA (Recommended)

CEO

Admin Manager

Development Manager

SQA Manager

SCM Manager

Support Manager

Project Manager 1

Project Manager 2

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Top Management Support to SQA Department

Proper staffing and hiring Separate budget for payroll and running expenses Separate capital budget Test facilities and environment Trust and confidence Authority
Dont force to close defects Dont force to sign acceptance Act as an arbitrator for the conflicts between QA/Dev.

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SQA Responsibilities for a Project

Review of documents developed by development team. Track the compliance with standards. Development of QA Plan (test plan + test cases). Implementation of test cases (Black Box or Glass Box Testing). Management of bug repository. Participating in code and design reviews.

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SQA Responsibilities for a Project (cont...)

Typical SDLC phases and relevant Artifacts
Requirements Collection Requirement Specs

SQA Responsibilities
Reviews

Analysis

Functional Specs

Reviews

Architecture & Design

Design Specs

Reviews

Development

Code & Executables Implement Test Cases

Testing

Deployment
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Deployment Docs

Review
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SQA Artifacts for a Project

Dev. Artifacts
Requirement Specs

SQA Artifacts
RS Reviews

SQA Artifacts (more)

Functional Specs

FS Reviews Test Plan

Design Specs

DS Reviews Test Cases

Code & Executables

Bug Reports

More Test Cases

Deployment Docs DD Reviews

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Communication Between SQA and Development

Development

SQA

Development

SCM

SQA

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Responsibilities of Testing Team

Responsibilities of a tester
Design test cases Write test scripts Implement test cases

Responsibility of SQA manager

Give 25% time for reviewing test cases written Lead review meetings Resolve conflicts

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Other Responsibilities of SQA

Participate in product and process audits. Initiate and participate in developing standards. Develop SQAs own standards, processes and checklists.

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An Effective Testing Team

SQA Team should be composed of:
Members with different background Members from different domains Technical gurus and user representatives Members with more analytical abilities.

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Characteristics of Good SQA Engineer

Experience & Education as a programmer or analyst. A thick skin. Good sense of humor. Tolerance for chaos. Firmness. Evidence oriented. Logical. Honest. Self sufficient.
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Thank You