The Importance Of Software Quality Management

Software Quality is a highly overused term and it may mean different things to different people. You will learn What is Software Quality Management?, What does it take to Manage Software Quality?, Quality Planning, Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Importance of Documentation and What is Defect Tracking?

The definition of the ISO 8204 for quality:

“Totality of characteristics of an entity that bears on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs.”

This means that the Software product delivered should be as per the requirements defined. We now examine a few more terms used in association with Software Quality.

Quality Planning

In the Planning Process we determine the standards that are relevant for the Software Product, the Organization

Since quantitative measurements are essential in all sciences, there is a continuous effort by computer science practitioners and theoreticians to bring similar approaches to software development. The goal is obtaining objective, reproducible and quantifiable measurements, which may have numerous valuable applications in schedule and budget planning, cost estimation, quality assurance testing, software debugging, software performance optimization, and optimal personnel task assignments.

Common software measurements include:

• Balanced scorecard

• Bugs per line of code

• Code coverage

• Cohesion

• Comment density[1]

• Connascent software components

• Coupling

• Cyclomatic complexity (McCabe's complexity)

• DSQI (design structure quality index)

• Function Points and Automated Function Points, an Object Management Group standard[2]

• Halstead Complexity

• Instruction path length

• Maintainability index

• Number of classes and interfaces

• Number of lines of code

• Number of lines of customer requirements

• Program execution time

• Program load time

• Program size (binary)

• Robert Cecil Martin's software package metrics

• Weighted Micro Function

Verification gives the answer to the question whether the software is being developed in a correct way and validation provides the answer whether the right software is being produced. In a nutshell, verification denotes precision whereas validation indicates value of the end or final product. Verification and validation is an important step used in various processes in different industries.

Importance of Validation

Validation is requisite in the quality management process. It makes sure that the process or product meets the purpose intended. There are different categories of validation in general described below-

Prospective Validation

This type of validation is done to ensure the characteristics of interest before the product gets launched. Proper functioning of the product meeting the safety standards is also checked in the process of validation.

Retrospective Validation

This kind of validation is done against the written specifications. Retrospective validation is actually based on the historical data or evidence that had been documented.

Partial Validation

This kind of validation is commonly used in research and pilot studies. During this process the most important effects get