The PROJECT PERFECT White Paper Collection

Customer Satisfaction through Quality Index

Lokesh Gulechha

Definition: Quality
What is Quality?
The term 'quality' is often used in a vague, blurred way. It means different things to
different people. So the definition of quality varies from person to person. Some may
define quality as reasonably bug-free, delivered on time and within budget, meets
requirements and/or expectations, and is maintainable.

Exhibit 1: Different view of Quality from different person

The definition given by the ISO/IEC 8402 standard is-

"The totality of features and characteristics of a product or a service that bear on its
ability to satisfy stated or implied needs".
Definition: Quality Index
What is Quality Index?
We can’t measure quality of a product that is performing well today, but can go down
tomorrow because of changes in customer needs. Thus we define Quality Index (QI),
which is a measure of quality.
-eed for Quality Index
• Customer satisfaction is one of the most critical things when it comes to
quality of the application. Based on the QI, one can measure customer
satisfaction.
• Easy for management to digest one number and drill down, if required.
• The QI trend provides continuous feedback, which is required for control. It is
easy to monitor when the process is going out-of-control.

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Quality Characteristics of Product

Exhibit 2: Quality characteristics of product

Completeness
Security
Conciseness

Efficiency
Quality Consistency
Characteristics
of Product

Reliability
Profitability

Usability Maintainability

Quality can be seen as the sum of multiple separate quality attributes i.e. quality
characteristics of product.
Let’s look at each characteristic and their sub-characteristics on which they are judged
in following table

Exhibit 3: Quality Characteristics of Product

Characteristic Sub-Characteristic Definition

Completeness Required information is present.
Suitability Replaces existing process and
performs a specified task.
Accuracy Performs specified task accurately.
Data Integrity In case of multiple systems, data across
all the systems is the same.
Interoperability Ability to interact with specified
systems.
Conciseness No excessive information is present.

Consistency Product contains uniform notation,

symbols and terminology within itself.

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Portability Ability to operate in different

environments with required effort to
install.
Adaptability Ability to adapt to different
environments.
Install ability Effort required for installing the
product in a specified environment.
Maintainability Ability of the product to extend with
new requirements.
Analyzability Ability to identify causes of failures or
parts to be modified.
Changeability Effort required for modification, defect
removal or environmental change.
Stability Ability to withstand unexpected
modifications.
Testability Ability to be tested against acceptable
criteria and performance evaluation.
Usability Effort required for using the product.
Understandability Effort required for recognizing the
logical concept and its applicability.
Learn ability Effort required for learning its
application
Operability Effort required for operation and
operation control.
Reliability Ability to perform satisfactorily using
it’s functions
Fault tolerance Level of performance in case of failure
Recoverability Ability to recover the data in case of
product failure
Efficiency Ability to perform its function with
required latency (response time) and
resources.
Latency time Response and processing time in
performing its function.
Resource used Amount of resources used and the
duration of such use in performing its
function.
Security Ability to protect data against
unauthorized access and to withstand
malicious interference with its
operations.

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Evaluating Quality Index

There are two approaches for evaluating QI:

Metric based Approach

Question-Answer (QA) based Approach
Question-Answer (QA) based Approach
This approach is easy and works well for evaluating QI. Based on the requirement and
the view point of the customer, we can measure QI and drill down, if required.

Process
Each Characteristic and their Sub-Characteristics are converted into meaningful
questions and sent to the stakeholders. Stakeholders should rate each one on a scale of
1 to 3 as follows: -

Bad = 1

Fair /Acceptable = 2

Good = 3
We can use the rating table for this purpose.

Rating table
The following rating table can be used for calculating QI , which contains questions as
a measurement, on the basis of which the rating can be decided:-
Exhibit 4: Rating Table
-ame
Testing Platform
Date
Quality Index
(QI)

Rating
Characteristic Sub-Characteristic - Measurement S (i) C (j)
Completeness
Suitability - How efficiently can the product
replace the existing process?
Accuracy - Is the product resulting in accurate
data?
Data Integrity - In case of multiple systems, is
the data across all systems same?

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Exhibit 4: Rating Table

Interoperability-- How easy to exchange and
use information with other systems?
Conciseness What is the amount of information the
product can offer?
Consistency Does the product contain uniform notation,
symbols and terminology within itself?
Portability
Adaptability – How simple is it to adapt to a
new environment?
Install ability- How easy is it to install and
configure the product?
Maintainability
Analyzability - How easily can the causes of
failures be identified or the parts be modified?
Changeability - How easily can the product
be modified, made defect-free or adapt itself
to environmental change?
Stability - How does the system react to
unexpected modifications?
Testability Is the product tested against acceptable
criteria and performance evaluation?
Usability
Understandability - Is product easy to
understand?
Learn ability- How easy is it for a novice to
learn the product?
Operability - How easily can the product be
operated?
Reliability Fault tolerance - How does the product
perform when it encounters an error (crashes,
exits gently, throws error, etc)?
Recoverability - how does the product
recover data in case of failure?
Efficiency Latency time – What is the turnaround time
of the product response to a user request?
Resource used-Is product using the resource
without wastage?
Security Is the information secure?

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Calculation:
Once rating is completed, calculate rating of each Characteristics using following
formulae:-
∑ S (i)
i = N (j)
C (j) =
N (j)

Where,

C (j) = Rating of Quality Characteristics,

S (i) = Rating of Quality Sub- Characteristics on which C (j) is judged,
N (j) = number of Sub- Characteristics. For Characteristics not having
Sub - Characteristics N (j) will be 1,
i, j = 1, 2, 3…n
After C (j) is computed we calculate QI of product using formulae:

∑ C (j)
j=n
QI =- * 100
n
Where,
QI = Quality Index
n = number of Quality Characteristics
Based on the QI calculated we can decide Quality level of product using following
table: -
Exhibit 5: Quality Level of Product

1.0 – 1.5 Bad

1.5 – 2.5 Fair /Acceptable
2.5 – 3.0 Good

Remember

QI, as a number per se, is probably not meaningful. It's the trend that is relevant.

QI number can't be compared across companies in the industry, as there are a lot of
variables, which won't cancel each other!

QI cannot be compared across different teams within the same company

Conclusion
Quality is a subjective term. Each type of 'customer' will have their own slant on
'quality' - the accounting department might define quality in terms of profits while an

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end-user might define quality as user-friendly and bug-free. Quality Index is a

measure of quality.
The objective of calculating QI is to achieve customer satisfaction and also result in
improved productivity, reduced errors, reduced training and improved acceptance.
Finally I would like to conclude with following statement by Kitchenham (1989):
“Quality is hard to define, impossible to measure, easy to recognize”

Reference

Center of software engineering:
http://www.cse.dcu.ie/essiscope/

Software QA and Testing Resource Center: http://www.softwareqatest.com/

About the Author

A Capgemini India Test Engineer with over two years of proven test execution and
test analysis experience using Mercury (now HP) tools in the Financial Services
sector. Highly organized, versatile and results-oriented team player, with an energetic
and articulate approach to testing. Ability to acquire new skills within short time
scales, adapt to rapidly changing work practices and build and maintain excellent
working relationships with colleagues.
Project Perfect is a project management software consulting and training organisation
based in Sydney Australia. Their focus is to provide creative yet pragmatic solutions
to Project Management issues.
Project Perfect sell “Project Administrator” software, which is a tool to assist
organisations better manage project risks, issues, budgets, scope, documentation
planning and scheduling. They also created a technique for gathering requirements
called “Method H”, and sell software to support the technique. For more
information on Project tools or Project Management visit www.projectperfect.com.au

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