Successful software development quality assurance programs begin with a clear plan. Any such plan must include well-defined standards, methods, and procedures. These must then be strictly observed throughout the development process. As the development project moves forward, meaningful audits designed to reinforce compliance to these quality assurance must also be performed.
The standards of software quality assurance refer to well-known benchmarks by which the product being developed can be set against. Along similar lines, the procedures found in any good quality assurance program refer to fixed patterns to which the development process can be examined and adjusted as the case may be.
Typical standards utilized in within quality assurance begin with documentation. This set of standards describes the code, algorithms, interfaces, and API’s. Documentation standards will also often include statements of the attributes, capabilities, characteristics, and or qualities desired in the final product. Next on the list is design. Design standards can be further broken down into smaller subsets. Data design standards define structures which reside within software. Architecture design standards describe the flow of information system used by the structures residing within a given piece of software.
The next subset of design standards is the interface. These standards guide the development of the internal, external, and user interfaces. Finally the procedure standards are used by the designer to represent procedural details using graphical and or textual notations. Following documentation and design are code standards. A set of code standards must be used to determine the code language to be used for developing a particular piece of software. These standards also define some rules for structures and interfaces.
Procedures are no less important than the standards governing the development of the final product, but they can be summed up slightly more succinctly. Generally speaking procedures are the lists of steps to be taken during the execution of a process. Some examples of procedures include but are not limited to, inspections and audits, testing, corrective action and repair, and overall management of the project.
Using the specific set of standards and procedures from the projects inception to the completion of the final product a quality assurance manager can control every aspect of development. Beginning the initial planning stage, software quality assurance simplifies and clarifies the concept of the project. After development has commenced, the procedures and standards established during the planning stage assure complete and functional software is being developed; easily identifying potential problems before they become large and difficult to correct.
The finished software is then tested according to the performance requirements to assure it meets expectations. Once all requirements are satisfied and the software is implemented regular maintenance is required to assure long-term quality and functionality. Again following standards and procedures established early on to quickly diagnose and correct issues discovered only after real world application.
the procedures and standards established during the planning stage assure complete and functional software is being developed; easily identifying potential problems before they become large and difficult to correct. The finished software is then tested according to the performance requirements to assure it meets expectations. Once all requirements are satisfied and the software is implemented regular maintenance is required to assure long-term quality and functionality.
