Chapter 8 IS4720 Project Quality Management

modern quality management

- Requires customer satisfaction - Prefers prevention to inspection - Recognizes management responsibility for quality

user acceptance testing

An independent test performed by end users prior to accepting the delivered system

software defect

Anything that must be changed before delivery of the program

appraisal cost

Cost of evaluating processes and their outputs to ensure quality

external failure cost

Cost that relates to all errors not detected and corrected before delivery to the customer

Six Sigma DMAIC

Define - the problem/opportunity, process, and customer requirements Measure - define measures, then collect, compile, and display data Analyze - scrutinize process details and find improvement opportunities Improve - create solutions Control - track and verify the stability of the improvements and the predictability of the solution

conformance

Delivering products that meet requirements and fitness for use

Quality & Productivity

Higher quality demand affects productivity; better methods is the answer to having both higher quality and productivity

performance

How well a product or service performs the customer's intended use

scalability

How well a system can scale up, or adapt to the increased demands of growth

planning quality

Identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and how to satisfy them; a metric is a standard of measurement Set product expectations - ways to meet expectations - ways to measure it (metrics) - continuous improvement Implies the ability to anticipate situations and prepare actions to bring about the desired outcome Important to prevent defects by: ◦ Selecting proper materials ◦ Training and indoctrinating people in quality ◦ Planning a process that ensures the appropriate outcome

CMMI Levels

Incomplete Performed Managed Defined Quantitatively Managed Optimizing applicable to software development; companies may not get to bid on government projects unless they have a CMMI Level 3

performing quality control

Monitoring specific project results to ensure that they comply with the relevant quality standards

Organizations that spend more on _________ _________ spend less on ________ ________ and _______.

Organizations that spend more on QUALITY ASSURANCE spend less on QUALITY CONTROL and REWORK.

quality management and time

Poor quality will increase time through rework and/or wrong methods

PQM Planning Stage

Process: Plan Quality Outputs: quality management plan, quality metrics, quality checklists, process improvement plan, and project document updates

PQM Executing Stage

Process: perform quality assurance Outputs: organizational process asset updates, change requests, project management plan updates, and project document updates

PQM Monitoring and Controlling

Process: perform quality control Outputs: quality control measurements, validated changes, validated deliverables, organizational process asset updates, change requests, project management plan updates, and project document updates

continuous quality improvement is another goal of quality assurance? T/F

TRUE Through all stages of lifecycle - QA of scope, time, cost, human resources, communication, risk, etc.

portability

The ability of an application to operate on different devices or software platforms

measurement and test equipment costs

The capital cost of equipment used to perform prevention and appraisal activities

cost of quality

The cost of conformance plus the cost of nonconformance

Project Quality

The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.

functionality

The degree to which a system performs its intended function

Maintainability

The ease of performing maintenance on a product

Why doesn't testing sufficiently prevent software defects?

The number of ways to test a complex system is huge and users will continue to invent new ways to use a system that its developers never considered

conformance to requirements

The project's processes and products meet written requirements

system outputs

The screens and reports the system generates

design of experiments

a quality planning technique that helps identify which variables have the most influence on the overall outcome of a process

ISO 9000 standards

a quality system standard that: - is a three-part, continuous cycle of planing, controlling, and documenting quality in an organization - provides minimum requirements needed for an organization to meet its quality certification standards - helps organizations around the world reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction

metric

a standard of measurement

quality audit

a structured review of specific quality management activities that help identify lessons learned that could improve performance on current or future projects

Quality Assurance includes what?

all the activities related to satisfying the relevant quality standards for a project

stress testing

checks if the system can handle the transaction and database volume load

quality management and communication

communicating about quality is critical - everyone on the same page about quality - reporting and directives

regression testing

comprehensive retest after each problem-fix

prevention cost

cost of planning and executing a project so it is error-free or within an acceptable error range

what does design of experiments involve?

documenting important factors that directly contribute to meeting customer requirements

maturity models

frameworks for helping organizations improve their processes and systems

benchmarking

generates ideas for quality improvements by comparing specific project practices or product characteristics to those of other projects or products within or outside the performing organization (CMM)

Quality Management and scope

incorrect quality definition may change scope

software quality function deployment model

maturity model that focuses on defining user requirements and planning software projects

integration testing

occurs between unit and system testing to test functionally grouped components

performing quality assurance

periodically evaluating processes to ensure the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards

Who is responsible for the quality of projects?

project managers

Expectations and Quality

project managers must understand and manage stakeholder expectations as they vary by organization and geographic region culture, and laws regulating quality

quality management and human resource

right skills matter much in quality

Suggestions for improving quality for IT projects

◦ Establish leadership that promotes quality ◦ Understand the cost of quality ◦ Focus on organizational influences and workplace factors that affect quality ◦ Follow maturity models (CMM)

Ways quality expectations may vary include?

◦ Organization's culture ◦ Culture in various geographic regions ◦ Laws regulating quality

Six Sigma

A data-driven approach for eliminating defects in any process (Manufacturing, retail, service, etc.) ◦ Goal: No more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities ◦ (Different from number of bugs per lines of code - known as bug density) ◦ A defect is any instance where the product or service fails to meet customer requirements ◦ An opportunity is an instance or a step to create a defect Not to be confused with a Six Sigma per Normal Distribution, which refers to 2 defective units per I Billion units produced (i.e. Yield is [Billion - 2] per Billion.

Leadership and quality

As Joseph M. Juran said in 1945, "It is most important that top management be quality-minded. In the absence of sincere manifestation of interest at the top, little will happen below."* A large percentage of quality problems are associated with management, not technical issues

PMI's Maturity Model (OPM)

PMI has Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM) Applicable to all kinds of projects To help improve processes, and increase and measure maturity against a comprehensive set of organizational best practices.

Using Software to Assist in Project Quality Management

Spreadsheet and charting software helps create Pareto diagrams, fishbone diagrams, and so on Statistical software packages help perform statistical analysis Specialized software products help manage Six Sigma projects or create quality control charts Project management software helps create Gantt charts and other tools to help plan and track work related to quality management

main outputs for quality control

- acceptance decisions - rework - process adjustments

other dimensions of quality

- conformance to requirements - fitness for use

expectations of IT projects

- functionality - features - system outputs - performance - reliability - maintainability - portability, compatibility, scalability

types of tests in coding stage

- unit testing - integration testing - system testing - user acceptance testing - stress testing - regression testing

Project Quality Management Processes

1. Planning Quality/Plan Quality Management 2. Quality Assurance 3. Control Quality

Five Cost Categories Related to Quality

1. prevention cost 2. appraisal cost 3. internal failure cost 4. external failure cost 5. measurement and test equipment costs

internal failure cost

A cost incurred to correct an identified defect before the customer receives the product

capability maturity model integration (CMMI)

A process improvement approach that provides organizations with the essential elements of effective processes

fitness for use

A product can be used as it was intended to be used - a product that meets written requirements may not be fit for use (written requirements are incorrect)

Project Quality Management

Ensuring that a project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken

Testing is a part of Quality Assurance? T/F

FALSE Testing is a part of Quality Control

quality management and risk

Failure to manage risk will affect quality

Summarize Project Quality Management and Main Processes?

Project quality management ensures that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken Main processes include: ◦ Plan quality ◦ Perform quality assurance ◦ Perform quality control

What is the difference between quality assurance and quality control?

Quality Assurance is Proactive, Quality Control is Reactive

Types of Tests in Analysis and Design Stages

Requirements - verification - validation Design - benchmarking - review - traceability

quality management and cost

Rework and wrong methods also cost more

Quality Assurance is building quality into the methods and processes? T/F

TRUE Quality Assurance comes before testing

Testing is Quality Control? T/F

TRUE Testing should be done during every phase of the IT product development life cycle

cost of nonconformance

taking responsibility for failures or not meeting quality expectations

unit testing

tests each individual component (often a program) to ensure it is as defect-free as possible

system testing

tests the entire system as one entity

reliability

the ability of a product or service to perform as expected under normal conditions

compatability

the ability to work with another program or hardware device

features

the system's special characteristics that appeal to users