Monitoring and Controlling are processes needed to track, review, and regulate the progress and performance of the project. It also identifies any areas where changes to the project management method are required and initiates the required changes.
The Monitoring & Controlling process group includes eleven processes, which are:
Monitor and control project work: The generic step under which all other monitoring and controlling activities fall under.
Perform integrated change control: The functions involved in making changes to the project plan. When changes to the schedule, cost, or any other area of the project management plan are necessary, the program is changed and re-approved by the project sponsor.
Validate scope: The activities involved with gaining approval of the project’s deliverables.
Control scope: Ensuring that the scope of the project does not change and that unauthorized activities are not performed as part of the plan (scope creep).
Control schedule: The functions involved with ensuring the project work is performed according to the schedule, and that project deadlines are met.
Control costs: The tasks involved with ensuring the project costs stay within the approved budget.
Control quality: Ensuring that the quality of the project?s deliverables is to the standard defined in the project management plan.
Control communications: Providing for the communication needs of each project stakeholder.
Control Risks: Safeguarding the project from unexpected events that negatively impact the project’s budget, schedule, stakeholder needs, or any other project success criteria.
Control procurements: Ensuring the project’s subcontractors and vendors meet the project goals.
Control stakeholder engagement: The tasks involved with ensuring that all of the project’s stakeholders are left satisfied with the project work.
During the software development cycle, a software quality assurance engineer plays a pivotal role with their attention to detail concerning the product’s functionality and quality standards. These SQA experts are responsible for creating and implementing testing strategies to locate and remedy issues within software applications. Their work ensures that the errors, malfunctions, and discrepancies in software applications are adequately rectified, thus providing users with maximum satisfaction through a reliable interface.
What is Quality?
Quality defines to any measurable characteristics such as correctness, maintainability, portability, testability, usability, reliability, efficiency, integrity, reusability, and interoperability.
There are two kinds of Quality:
Quality of Design: Quality of Design refers to the characteristics that designers specify for an item. The grade of materials, tolerances, and performance specifications that all contribute to the quality of design.
Quality of conformance: Quality of conformance is the degree to which the design specifications are followed during manufacturing. Greater the degree of conformance, the higher is the level of quality of conformance.
Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance is the preventive set of activities that provide greater confidence that the project will be completed successfully.
Quality Assurance focuses on how the engineering and management activity will be done?
As anyone is interested in the quality of the final product, it should be assured that we are building the right product.
It can be assured only when we do inspection & review of intermediate products, if there are any bugs, then it is debugged. This quality can be enhanced.
Importance of Quality
We would expect the quality to be a concern of all producers of goods and services. However, the distinctive characteristics of software and in particular its intangibility and complexity, make special demands.
Increasing criticality of software: The final customer or user is naturally concerned about the general quality of software, especially its reliability. This is increasing in the case as organizations become more dependent on their computer systems and software is used more and more in safety-critical areas. For example, to control aircraft.
The intangibility of software: This makes it challenging to know that a particular task in a project has been completed satisfactorily. The results of these tasks can be made tangible by demanding that the developers produce ‘deliverables’ that can be examined for quality.
Accumulating errors during software development: As computer system development is made up of several steps where the output from one level is input to the next, the errors in the earlier? deliverables? will be added to those in the later stages leading to accumulated determinable effects. In general, the later in a project that an error is found, the more expensive it will be to fix. In addition, because the number of errors in the system is unknown, the debugging phases of a project are particularly challenging to control.
Software Quality Assurance
Software quality assurance is a planned and systematic plan of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that an item or product conforms to establish technical requirements.
A set of activities designed to calculate the process by which the products are developed or manufactured.
Implementation of Software Quality Assurance
In terms of providing effective software quality assurance or SQA, construction of an extensive system that tracks each phase of development is equally important as maintaining pre-established standards. In order to properly implement SQA into a project, follow these procedures.
1. Specify the goals and objectives for quality
Establishing a clear definition of quality for your project is the first step. Establish SMART goals-specific measurable achievable relevant and time-bound-that complement the needs of your clients and the goals of your company.
2. Create a plan for SQA
Make a SQA plan that details the methods for ensuring quality throughout the project. The following should be part of this plan:
Roles and responsibilities: Assigning team members to specific quality assurance positions.
Standards and Procedures: Defining coding, review, and documentation standards.
Tools and Resources: Identifying tools for defect tracking, test automation, and document management.
3. Establish Quality Metrics
Establish metrics to gauge the SQA process efficacy. Defect density code coverage by tests customer issue incidents etc. are a few examples. These metrics will be used to track the success and advancement of quality assurance initiatives.
4. Perform Formal Technical Reviews
To find flaws early in the development process conduct inspections and peer reviews at different points. Test plans design documents code and requirements can all be subject to reviews.
5. Implement Testing Strategies
Create a thorough testing plan that addresses the following testing standards:
Unit Testing: Individual components are tested to ensure their correctness.
Integration tests: Ensure that software components work together properly.
System Testing: Ensure that the system meets all of the defined standards.
Acceptance Testing: Running tests to confirm that the system is ready for production.
6. Ensure Compliance with Standards
Throughout the development process follow applicable industry standards (e. g. ISO/IEC 25010 for software quality or industry-specific compliance standards).
7. Utilize Automation Where Possible
If you want to increase efficiency and consistency automate labour-intensive and repetitive tasks like build deployments regression testing and some performance testing.
8. Train and Develop Skills
Train team members on the newest technologies tools and approaches for quality assurance on a regular basis. The team’s capacity to recognize and address quality problems can be greatly improved by investing in skill development.
9. Continuous Process Improvement
Continue to assess the SQA process efficacy and make necessary adjustments. Determine your areas of weakness and take corrective action using the quality metrics that were gathered.
10. Risk control
Determine possible hazards that might affect the software’s quality and create plans to reduce them. Prioritizing SQA efforts can be aided by routine risk assessments.
SQA Encompasses
A quality management approach
Effective Software engineering technology (methods and tools)
Formal technical reviews that are tested throughout the software process
A multitier testing strategy
Control of software documentation and the changes made to it.
A procedure to ensure compliances with software development standards
Measuring and reporting mechanisms.
SQA Activities
Software quality assurance is composed of a variety of functions associated with two different constituencies ? the software engineers who do technical work and an SQA group that has responsibility for quality assurance planning, record keeping, analysis, and reporting.
Following activities are performed by an independent SQA group:
Prepares an SQA plan for a project: The program is developed during project planning and is reviewed by all stakeholders. The plan governs quality assurance activities performed by the software engineering team and the SQA group. The plan identifies calculation to be performed, audits and reviews to be performed, standards that apply to the project, techniques for error reporting and tracking, documents to be produced by the SQA team, and amount of feedback provided to the software project team.
Participates in the development of the project’s software process description: The software team selects a process for the work to be performed. The SQA group reviews the process description for compliance with organizational policy, internal software standards, externally imposed standards (e.g. ISO-9001), and other parts of the software project plan.
Reviews software engineering activities to verify compliance with the defined software process: The SQA group identifies, reports, and tracks deviations from the process and verifies that corrections have been made.
Audits designated software work products to verify compliance with those defined as a part of the software process: The SQA group reviews selected work products, identifies, documents and tracks deviations, verify that corrections have been made, and periodically reports the results of its work to the project manager.
Ensures that deviations in software work and work products are documented and handled according to a documented procedure: Deviations may be encountered in the project method, process description, applicable standards, or technical work products.
Records any noncompliance and reports to senior management: Non- compliance items are tracked until they are resolved.
Advantages of SQA
High-quality software is produced by SQA.
A well-designed application saves money and time.
SQA helps to improve reliability.
SQA is advantageous when there is no maintenance for an extended period of time.
Commercial software of superior quality boosts a company’s market share.
Enhancing the software development process.
Enhances the software’s quality.
The cost of maintenance is reduced. Your business can move on to the next big thing and forget about the release if it is done correctly the first time. If you release a product with persistent problems your company will become mired in an expensive time-consuming and never-ending cycle of repairs.
Drawbacks of SQA
The quality assurance process has several drawbacks:
Cost: Adding resources to improve the product is one of them the more resources added the less money is spent. Time-consuming: Project deployment and testing take longer which delays the project.
Administrative overhead: SQA procedures may result in the need for reporting documentation and quality metrics tracking. Particularly for smaller projects the advantages may occasionally be outweighed by this extra administrative load.
Resource-intensive: SQA calls for knowledgeable staff members who are knowledgeable about testing techniques instruments and quality control procedures. Such talent can be costly and difficult to acquire and retain.
Opposition to Change: Because they believe that SQA procedures are superfluous or bureaucratic some team members may be against their adoption. An organization’s ability to implement and benefit from quality assurance procedures may be hampered by this resistance.
Not Foolproof: Software may still have flaws or vulnerabilities in spite of rigorous testing and quality assurance procedures. The complete removal of all defects or problems in software products cannot be ensured by SQA.
Complexity: Especially in large-scale projects with numerous stakeholder’s dependencies and integration points SQA procedures can be complicated. Careful planning and coordination are necessary to manage the complexity of quality assurance tasks.
Quality Assurance v/s Quality control
Quality Assurance
Quality Control
Quality Assurance (QA) is the set of actions including facilitation, training, measurement, and analysis needed to provide adequate confidence that processes are established and continuously improved to produce products or services that conform to specifications and are fit for use.
Quality Control (QC) is described as the processes and methods used to compare product quality to requirements and applicable standards, and the actions are taken when a nonconformance is detected.
QA is an activity that establishes and calculates the processes that produce the product. If there is no process, there is no role for QA.
QC is an activity that demonstrates whether or not the product produced met standards.
QA helps establish process
QC relates to a particular product or service
QA sets up a measurement program to evaluate processes
QC verified whether particular attributes exist, or do not exist, in a explicit product or service.
QA identifies weakness in processes and improves them
QC identifies defects for the primary goals of correcting errors.
Quality Assurance is a managerial tool.
Quality Control is a corrective tool.
Verification is an example of QA.
Validation is an example of QC.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
1. What does software quality assurance mean?
Answer: SQA is a collection of organized and methodical development tasks meant to guarantee compliance with established standards and specifications. In order to produce software products of the highest quality it includes tasks like testing bug tracking code reviews and process improvements.
2. What is the process for software quality assurance?
Answer: The SQA process uses steps like planning creating test cases conducting tests and reporting problems to systematically guarantee the quality of software products. By helping to find and fix problems it guarantees that software meets specifications and operates as planned.
3. Why is quality assurance used in software?
Answer: SQA is used to ensure that software products meet quality standards reduce errors and boost customer satisfaction. It improves overall program dependability and efficiency detects issues and verifies requirement compliance. By reducing the risks connected with broken programs SQA encourages efficient software development.
4. What is the purpose of software quality assurance?
Answer: SQA improves product reliability and prevents defects by using systematic processes to ensure that software satisfies predetermined standards and requirements.
5. Software quality assurance activities: what are they?
Answer: To guarantee software quality throughout the development lifecycle SQA activities include planning creating standards running tests monitoring errors and keeping records.
It uses the tools which keep that the necessary change has been implemented adequately to the appropriate component. The SCM process defines a number of tasks:
Identification of objects in the software configuration
Version Control
Change Control
Configuration Audit
Status Reporting
Identification
Basic Object: Unit of Text created by a software engineer during analysis, design, code, or test.
Aggregate Object: A collection of essential objects and other aggregate objects. Design Specification is an aggregate object.
Each object has a set of distinct characteristics that identify it uniquely: a name, a description, a list of resources, and a “realization.”
The interrelationships between configuration objects can be described with a Module Interconnection Language (MIL).
Version Control
Version Control combines procedures and tools to handle different version of configuration objects that are generated during the software process.
Clemm defines version control in the context of SCM: Configuration management allows a user to specify the alternative configuration of the software system through the selection of appropriate versions. This is supported by associating attributes with each software version, and then allowing a configuration to be specified [and constructed] by describing the set of desired attributes.
Change Control
James Bach describes change control in the context of SCM is: Change Control is Vital. But the forces that make it essential also make it annoying.
We worry about change because a small confusion in the code can create a big failure in the product. But it can also fix a significant failure or enable incredible new capabilities.
We worry about change because a single rogue developer could sink the project, yet brilliant ideas originate in the mind of those rogues, and
A burdensome change control process could effectively discourage them from doing creative work.
A change request is submitted and calculated to assess technical merit; potential side effects, the overall impact on other configuration objects and system functions, and projected cost of the change.
The results of the evaluations are presented as a change report, which is used by a change control authority (CCA) – a person or a group who makes a final decision on the status and priority of the change.
The “check-in” and “check-out” process implements two necessary elements of change control-access control and synchronization control.
Access Control governs which software engineers have the authority to access and modify a particular configuration object.
Synchronization Control helps to ensure that parallel changes, performed by two different people, don’t overwrite one another.
Configuration Audit
SCM audits to verify that the software product satisfies the baselines requirements and ensures that what is built and what is delivered.
SCM audits also ensure that traceability is maintained between all CIs and that all work requests are associated with one or more CI modification.
SCM audits are the “watchdogs” that ensures that the integrity of the project’s scope is preserved.
Status Reporting
Configuration Status reporting (sometimes also called status accounting) providing accurate status and current configuration data to developers, testers, end users, customers and stakeholders through admin guides, user guides, FAQs, Release Notes, Installation Guide, Configuration Guide, etc.
When we develop software, the product (software) undergoes many changes in their maintenance phase; we need to handle these changes effectively.
Several individuals (programs) works together to achieve these common goals. This individual produces several work product (SC Items) e.g., Intermediate version of modules or test data used during debugging, parts of the final product.
The elements that comprise all information produced as a part of the software process are collectively called a software configuration.
As software development progresses, the number of Software Configuration elements (SCI’s) grow rapidly.
These are handled and controlled by SCM. This is where we require software configuration management.
A configuration of the product refers not only to the product’s constituent but also to a particular version of the component.
Therefore, SCM is the discipline which
Identify change
Monitor and control change
Ensure the proper implementation of change made to the item.
Auditing and reporting on the change made.
Configuration Management (CM) is a technic of identifying, organizing, and controlling modification to software being built by a programming team.
The objective is to maximize productivity by minimizing mistakes (errors).
CM is used to essential due to the inventory management, library management, and updation management of the items essential for the project.
Why do we need Configuration Management?
Multiple people are working on software which is consistently updating. It may be a method where multiple version, branches, authors are involved in a software project, and the team is geographically distributed and works concurrently. It changes in user requirements, and policy, budget, schedules need to be accommodated.
Importance of SCM
It is practical in controlling and managing the access to various SCIs e.g., by preventing the two members of a team for checking out the same component for modification at the same time.
It provides the tool to ensure that changes are being properly implemented.
It has the capability of describing and storing the various constituent of software.
SCM is used in keeping a system in a consistent state by automatically producing derived version upon modification of the same component.
