Software quality assurance

Software quality assurance (SQA) is a means and practice of monitoring the software engineering processes and methods used in a project to ensure proper quality of the software.[1]:10–5 It may include ensuring conformance to standards or models, such as ISO/IEC 9126 (now superseded by ISO 25010), SPICE or CMMI.[2]

IEEE software life cycle

It includes standards and procedures that managers, administrators or even developers may use to review and audit software products and activities to verify that the software meets quality criteria which link to standards. According to Automotive SPICE (which is based on ISO/IEC 15504), software quality assurance is a supporting process (SUP.1) that provides the independent assurance that all work products, activities and processes comply with the predefined plans and quality strategies.[3]

SQA encompasses the entire software development process, including requirements engineering, software design, coding, code reviews, source code control, software configuration management, testing, release management and software integration. It is organized into goals, commitments, abilities, activities, measurements, verification and validation.[4]

Purpose

SQA involves a three-prong approach:

  • Organization-wide policies, procedures and standards
  • Project-specific policies, procedures and standards
  • Compliance to appropriate procedures

Guidelines for the application of ISO 9001:2015 to computer software are described in ISO/IEC/IEEE 90003:2018.[5] External entities can be contracted as part of process assessments to verify that projects are standard-compliant. More specifically in case of software, ISO/IEC 9126 (now superseded by ISO 25010) should be considered and applied for software quality.

Activities

Quality assurance activities take place at each phase of development. Analysts use application technology and techniques to achieve high-quality specifications and designs, such as model-driven design. Engineers and technicians find bugs and problems with related software quality through testing activities. Standards and process deviations are identified and addressed throughout development by project managers or quality managers, who also ensure that changes to functionality, performance, features, architecture and component (in general: changes to product or service scope) are made only after appropriate review, e.g. as part of change control boards.

See also

References
  1. Bourque, Pierre; Fairley, Richard E., eds. (2014). Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK Guide): Version 3.0 (PDF). IEEE Computer Society. ISBN 978-0-7695-5166-1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  2. Kelemen, Zádor Dániel; Kusters, Rob; Trienekens Jos Identifying criteria for multimodel software process improvement solutions – based on a review of current problems and initiatives
  3. "Automotive SPICE". www.automotivespice.com. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  4. Nielsen, David CMM and Project Quality Management
  5. 14:00-17:00. "ISO/IEC/IEEE 90003:2018". ISO. Retrieved 2020-07-14.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  • 730-2014 – IEEE Standard for Software Quality Assurance Processes. 2014. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.2014.6835311. ISBN 978-0-7381-9168-3.
  • April, Alain (2018). Software Quality Assurance. Wiley-IEEE. ISBN 978-1-118-50182-5.
  • Chemuturi, Murali (2010). Software Quality Assurance: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques for Software Developers. J.Ross Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60427-032-7.
  • Kelemen, Z. D.; Kusters, R.; Trienekens, J. (2012). "Identifying criteria for multimodel software process improvement solutions – based on a review of current problems and initiatives". Journal of Software: Evolution and Process. 24 (8): 895–909. doi:10.1002/smr.549. S2CID 14382496.
  • Auburn University Libraries. Auburn University Libraries / Illiad @ Auburn Libraries, onlinelibrary-wiley-com.spot.lib.auburn.edu/doi/10.1002/9781119312451.ch3.
  • "Software Quality Assurance(SQA): Plan, Audit & Review." Meet Guru99 – Free Training Tutorials & Video for IT Courses, www.guru99.com/software-quality-assurance-test-audit-review-makes-your-life-easy.html.
  • Collofello, James S., and Jeffrey J. Buck. "Software Quality Assurance for Maintenance." IEEE Software, vol. 4, no. 5, Sept. 1987, p. 46. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1109/MS.1987.231418
  • Parnas, David L., and Mark Lawford. "Inspection's Role in Software Quality Assurance." IEEE Software, vol. 20, no. 4, July 2003, p. 16. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1109/MS.2003.1207449.
  • Laporte, Claude Y., and Alain April. Software Quality Assurance. IEEE Press, 2018.
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