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The SQA Unit and Other Actors in The SQA System

The document describes the various tasks and roles within an SQA (Software Quality Assurance) unit. It discusses the tasks of the SQA unit head including planning, management, external contacts, and professional activities. It also outlines the sub-unit tasks related to the project life cycle, infrastructure operations, audits and certifications, support, standards and procedures development, and engineering development and maintenance. Finally, it discusses the roles of SQA trustees and committees and the tasks and operations of SQA forums.

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Ali Raza
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365 views14 pages

The SQA Unit and Other Actors in The SQA System

The document describes the various tasks and roles within an SQA (Software Quality Assurance) unit. It discusses the tasks of the SQA unit head including planning, management, external contacts, and professional activities. It also outlines the sub-unit tasks related to the project life cycle, infrastructure operations, audits and certifications, support, standards and procedures development, and engineering development and maintenance. Finally, it discusses the roles of SQA trustees and committees and the tasks and operations of SQA forums.

Uploaded by

Ali Raza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 26

The SQA unit and other actors in the SQA


system
26.1 The SQA unit
26.1.1 Tasks performed by the head of the
SQA unit
The typical tasks performed by an SQA unit head may be classified into
the following categories:
• Planning
• Management of the unit
• Tasks related to contacts with customers and other external bodies as
well as with the executive in charge of software quality
• SQA professional activities.
26.1.2 SQA sub-unit tasks related to the
project life cycle
The SQA tasks related to the project life cycle sub-unit may be
classified into two groups:
• “Pure” managerial follow-up and approval tasks (project life cycle
control tasks)
• “Hands-on” or active participation in project team SQA activities,
where professional contributions are required (participation tasks).
26.1.3 SQA sub-unit infrastructure operations
tasks
SQA systems employ a variety of infrastructure components to operate
smoothly, namely:
• Procedures and work instructions
• Supporting quality devices (templates, checklists)
• Staff training, instruction and certification
• Preventive and corrective actions
• Configuration management
• Documentation control
26.1.4 SQA sub-unit audit and certification
tasks
The types of SQA audits carried out in or by software organizations can
be classified as follows:
• Internal audits
• Audits of subcontractors and suppliers to evaluate their SQA systems
• External audits performed by certification bodies
• External audits performed by customers who wish to evaluate the SQA
system prior to accepting the organization as a supplier.
26.1.5 SQA sub-unit support tasks
Most of the consumers of SQA support services are located within the
organization: project managers, team leaders and SQA trustees. The
support they need revolves around implementation of SQA procedures,
for example:
• Preparation of project plans and project quality plans
• Staffing review teams
26.1.6 SQA sub-unit standards and procedures:
development and maintenance tasks
To fulfil the attendant obligations, the SQA unit is required to:
• Prepare an annual program for development of new procedures and
procedure updates, including.
• Responsibility for development of new procedures and procedure updates,
with participation in appropriate committees and forums
• Follow-up of developments and changes in SQA and software engineering
standards
• Initiation of updates and adaptations of procedures in response to changes
in professional standards, including adoption or deletion of standards
applied by the organization.
26.1.7 SQA sub-unit engineering
development and maintenance tasks
• Testing quality and productivity aspects with respect to new
development tools and new versions of currently used development tools
• Evaluation of quality and productivity of new development and
maintenance methods and method improvements
• Development of solutions to difficulties confronted in application of
currently used software development tools and methods
• Development of methods for measuring software quality and team
productivity
• Provision of technological support to CAB committees during analysis
of software development failures and formulation of proposed solutions
26.2 SQA trustees and their tasks
• SQA trustees are staff members who, being strongly interested in
software quality, volunteer part of their time to promoting quality
• As SQA “agents”, trustees are expected to provide the internal support
necessary to successfully implement SQA components. Trustees’ tasks
vary substantially among organizations.
• Tasks may be unit-related and/or organization-related, and include
some or all of the following activities.
26.3 SQA committees and their tasks
• SQA committees can be either permanent or ad hoc.
• Permanent committees commonly deal with SCC (software change
control), CA (corrective actions), procedure s, method development
tools and quality metrics.
• Ad hoc committees commonly deal with specific cases of more
general interest such as updates of a specific procedure, analysis and
solution of a software failure, elaboration of software metrics for a
targeted process or product, updating software quality costs and data
collection methods for a specific issue.
26.4 SQA forums – tasks and methods of
operation
SQA forums typically focus on:
• SQA procedure improvements and implementation
• Quality metrics
• Corrective actions – analysis of failure and success cases
• Quality system issues – development and implementation of new tools
• Quality line management problems – daily operational software
quality problems brought before it by quality managers from every
level.
Continue…
Members of an open forum may include:
• SQA unit members
• Trustees
• Software development and maintenance staff
• SQA and software engineering consultants/experts
• Customer representatives

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