Software Quality Assurance

Duration

3 days

Overview

Software Quality Assurance (SQA) is NOT the same as Software Testing. True SQA deals with the processes producing software, whereas Testing and other forms of Software Quality Control (SQC) deal with the products of those processes. Both are important for reliably producing quality software.

Proactive SQA™ is a key basis of significant value-enhancing revisions to IEEE SQA Std. 730’s often-resisted traditional view of SQA, which is largely limited to after-the-fact “traffic cop” enforcement of procedural compliance. Effective SQA can and should do far more, contributing proactively to assure the software process in fact does the right things well so it truly produces high quality cheaper by catching and preventing errors early.

This interactive workshop explains common SQA misconceptions and the six functions SQA should perform to provide far greater value, analyzes why SQA groups so frequently have failed in IS, and presents practical approaches for successfully using SQA effectively throughout any life cycle to produce high quality systems. Because some distinguish SQA as reviewing documents vs. testing’s executing code, key concepts and techniques are presented for reviewing requirements and designs. And, because some still expect an SQA course to be about testing, half of this class does describe testing content more briefly than in our Effective Methods of Software Testing Workshop.

Participants will learn:

• What SQA is and why SQA is NOT SQC (testing).
• Reasons for SQA failures and factors critical to success of SQA in IS development.
• The six Proactive Software Quality Assurance™ functions that SQA should perform.
• Proactive methods for more effectively reviewing requirements and designs.
• A structured Proactive Testing™ model of which testing activities should be performed when and by whom within the life cycle to maximize testing efficiency and effectiveness.
• Truly agile test planning techniques that prevent showstoppers.
• Designing tests that spot numerous ordinarily-overlooked defects in less time.
• Applying risk analysis, reusable test ware, and metrics to perform more thorough testing in less time..
• Measuring system quality and SQA/Testing effectiveness.

Audience

This course has been designed for quality and testing specialists, systems and business managers, project leaders, analysts, auditors, and others responsible for information system quality.

Course Outline

SYSTEM/SOFTWARE QUALITY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE

Exercise: What is quality, quality assurance

Quality in the project manager’s triangle

Quality is free, cost of poor quality

What we, others mean by quality

Need for positive common quality definition

Quality factors and quality dimensions

Engineered Deliverable Quality

Quality assurance vs. quality control

SQA in IEEE Stds. 12207 and 730

Proactive SQA changes in IEEE Std. 730

Not just ‘traffic cop’ compliance

SYSTEM/SOFTWARE PROCESSES

REAL vs. Presumed processes, silos

Exercise: Your software process

Defect injection, detection, ejection metrics

Economics of quality problems in life cycle

Making the business case for SQA

Life cycle concepts, waterfall vs. iterative

Process capability, variation, improvement

Project, process, product measures

Direct and indirect process evaluation

SEI Process Capability Maturity Models

QUALITY ASSURANCE CONCEPTS

Exercise: Why SQA groups so often fail

SQA groups’ changes over time

Common SQA interpretations, issues

Quality control (QC) testing

‘QA Test’

Document and procedure compliance

‘QA Reviews’ and toll gates

Standards and procedures manuals

Staffing and organizational influence

Reasons for resistance to SQA

SQA needs broader view of quality

Proactive SQA™ for effectiveness

Assuring processes vs. doing it all

6 functions of effective software QA

QA Plans, quality reviews of deliverables

Exercise: Managing SQA tasks, resources

Engineering standards, conventions

Quality controls at all key points

Project control

Configuration management, checkpoints

Recordkeeping and auditing

Metrics and analysis for improvement

Exercise: Key product and process metrics

Promoting awareness and recognition

ACTIVE STATIC TESTING

Role of requirements in producing quality

Exercise: ‘Established Requirements’ issues

Exercise: Reviewing Requirements

Unrecognized weaknesses of “Regular Way”

Why review of requirements fails

Formal technical reviews, procedures

Review approaches, formality

Often overlooked walkthrough limitations

Why reviews so economically find defects

Foundation technique, topic guidelines

Evaluating requirements form, testability

REAL, business vs. system requirements

Finding overlooked, incorrect requirements

Reviewing design suitability and content

Four powerful design review CAT-Scans

Exercise: Reviews and Software Process QA

HOW TESTING CAN CUT EFFORT & TIME

Testing for correctness vs. testing for errors

Developer views of testing

Reactive testing—out of time, but not tests

Proactive Testing Life Cycle model

CAT-Scan Approach to find more errors

Dynamic, passive and active static testing

V-model and objectives of each test level

Developer vs. independent test group testing

Strategy—create fewer errors, catch more

Four keys to effective testing

Need for testing sampling

Written vs. not written benefits and issues

Test activities that save the developer’s time

The “we don’t have time” fallacy

TEST PLANNING VALUE NOT BUSYWORK

Risk elements, relation to testing

Proactive vs. reactive risk analysis

IEEE Standard for Test Documentation

Benefits of the structure

Enabling manageability, reuse, selectivity

Test plans vs. test designs, cases, procedures

Exercise: Anticipating showstoppers

Risk-based way to define test units

Letting testing drive development

Preventing major cause of overruns

Master Test Plan counterpart to project plan

Approach, use of automated tools

Entry/exit criteria, anticipating change

DETAILED TEST PLANNING

IEEE Standard on Unit Testing

Functional (Black Box) testing strategy

3-level top-down test planning and design

Exercise: Functionality matrix

Detailed Test Plan technical document

White box structural testing coverage

Use cases, revealing overlooked conditions

Exercise: Defining use case test coverage

INTEGRATION/SYSTEM TEST PLANNING

Graphical technique to simplify integrations

Integration test plans prevent schedule slips

Smoke tests; system and special testing

Daily, top- and bottom-down builds strategy

DESIGNING AND WRITING TEST CASES

Exercise: Your challenges and issues

Exercise: Disciplined brainstorming

Checklists find more overlooked conditions

Data formats, data and process models

Business rules, decision tables and trees

Equivalence classes and boundary values

Formal, informal Test Design Specifications

Leveraging reusable test designs

Test Case Specifications vs. test data values

Writing test cases, script/matrix

Embedding keystroke-level procedural detail

Exploratory testing applied most effectively

MEASURING AND MANAGING TESTING

Estimating

Defect isolation

Defect reporting, categories and analysis

Defect reports that prompt suitable action

Exercise: Measures for managing testing

Common measures of test status, issues

Exercise: Test status report audiences

Projecting when software is good enough

Exercise: Measuring testing effectiveness

Exercise: Post-Implementation Review

Programme scope, delivery arrangements and suitability are confirmed during enquiry.