Quality Assurance Team

Ossun Shin
Sean Lynn
Will Cooley
Ryan Koteen
Andrew Wierda
Overview
 Quality and Quality Assurance
 Our role in the project
 Audit
 Standards
 QA companies and services
 Jobs in the industry
What is “Quality”?
 “Degree of excellence”
 Totality of features and characteristics of a
product or service that bears on its ability
to meet a stated or implied need
 Conformance to requirement
 Fitness to use
 User satisfaction
Quality in different areas of society
 Airlines : on-time, comfortable, low-cost
services
 Health Care : correct diagnosis, minimum
wait time, lower cost, security
 Consumer Products : properly made,
defect-free, cost effective
Why is Quality important?
 Every business exist to make a profit
 Create and retain satisfied customers
 Quality is vital to the survival of enterprise
What is Quality Assurance?
 Any action taken to prevent quality
problems from occurring
 A planned and systematic set of activities
to ensure that requirements are clearly
established and defined process complies
to these requirements
 Like a “cooking recipe”
Basic Principle of QA
 Working out the best course of action
beforehand and communicating it reliably
to all those concerned
What is Software Quality?
 Reasonably bug-free
 Delivered on time
 Within budget
 Meet requirements and expectations
 maintainable
Software Quality Assurance
 Involves entire software process
– Monitoring
– Improving
– Standards and procedures are followed
– Problems are found and dealt with
Quality Assurance Team
 Motto : “Without our beginning, there is
no end.”

 Mission : “To provide a formal guideline

and direction for each team to ensure a
successful project."
Responsibilities of QA Team
 QA plan
 QA forms
 Contracts
 Enforcement of QA Requirements
 Auditing
 Final Audit
QA Plan
 A detailed description of each teams’
events, course of action, and deliverables
that should be met in order to guarantee
achievement and maintain quality
QA Forms
 Different types of forms include:
– Contract Form
– Moderator/Scribe Forms
– QIF Log/Record
– Performance/Peer Evaluation Forms
– Warning Forms
– Audit Report Form
– Acceptance Form
What is an Audit?
A process in which each team is evaluated
to demonstrate their constancy to follow
all standards, guidelines, and procedures
recognized within the QA Plan
The Auditing Process
 Audit Checklist
 QA Team Lead and Liaison meet with
team to be audited
 Meet at least once with team prior to their
deliverable due
 Team being audited is given 3 days notice
The Auditor Assessment
 Consistency with Quality Assurance Plan
 Overlooked and incomplete features of the
deliverables
 The on time completion of the deliverables
Final Audit
 The auditor inspects the total project for
quality
 The assessment is generally completed at
the end of the semester
 December 10th, 2001
What is Six Sigma?
 Optimized level of performance approaching
zero defects
 Virtually eliminates all internal inefficiencies
 Having a common focus on excellence
throughout the entire organization in
everything they do
 Measurement of how many “defects” are in a
process and figure out how to eliminate them
 Desired level of performance: 3.4 “defects” per
million opportunities
Six Sigma Background
 First implemented at Motorola in 1985
 Extensively used at Motorola from 1985 –
1994
 Savings over 9 years: approximately $2 billion
 General Electric implements Six Sigma 1995
 GE refers “it is now the way we work”
 Savings from 1995 – 2000: approximately $10
billion
Steps of Six Sigma
 Step 1: Identify
– Establish the scope of the project
Develop the Six Sigma project plan

 Step 2: Measure
– Establish balanced metrics

 Step 3: Analyze
– Identify the important process actions
Brainstorm the seven failure modes for each action
Establish cause and effects
Steps of Six Sigma (cont.)
 Step 4: Confirm
– Employ statistics, experiments and observations to
verify cause and effect
 Step 5: Modify
– Change process and product designs
Mistake proof
Change procedures and work instruction
 Step 6: Control
– Management
Independent audit and verification
Principles of TQM
1. Quality can and must be managed
2. Everyone has a customer and is a
supplier
3. Processes, not people are the problem
4. Every employee is responsible for
quality
5. Problems must be prevented, not just
fixed.
6. Quality must be measured
Principle of TQM (cont.)
1. Quality improvements must be continuous
2. The quality standard is defect free
3. Goals are based on requirements, not
negotiated.
4. Life cycle costs, not front end costs
5. Management must be involved and lead
6. Plan and organize for quality improvement
What is ISO?
 TheInternational Organization for
Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide
federation of national standards bodies
from some 140 countries, one from each
country

 ISO is a non-governmental organization

established in 1947
What are Standards?
 Documented agreements containing
technical specifications or other precise
criteria to be used consistently as rules, to
ensure that materials, products, processes,
and services are fit for their purpose

 Example: Thickness of ATM cards

What is ISO 9000?
 ISO 9000 is a set of five universal standards for a
Quality Assurance system that is accepted
around the world
 To become registered in one or more of these
standards involves having an accredited,
independent third party conduct an audit of the
company's operations against the requirements of
the ISO 9000 standards
 Upon successful completion of this audit, the
company will receive a registration certificate
What makes up ISO 9000?
• Five individual, but related, international
standards on quality, known as ISO 9000,
9001, 9002, 9003, and 9004
• To become registered in one or more of these
standards involves having an accredited,
independent third party conduct an audit of the
company's operations against the requirements
of the ISO 9000 standards
• Upon successful completion of this audit, the
company will receive a registration certificate
What makes up ISO 9000?
 Five individual, but related, international
standards on quality, known as ISO 9000, 9001,
9002, 9003, and 9004
 To become registered in one or more of these
standards involves having an accredited,
independent third party conduct an audit of the
company's operations against the requirements of
the ISO 9000 standards
 Upon successful completion of this audit, the
company will receive a registration certificate
Benefits of ISO Certification
 Improve business processes and save
money
 To qualify for new customers, many
organizations require certification in order
to do business
 Enter global markets, many countries
require certification to enter their markets
Quality Assurance Institute

Internationally recognized
Mission - To identify and share state-of-the-art
solutions with our membership in the form of proven work practices
customized by leaders in the industry.

Educational Services
Certification Programs
QA Software Certifications
 CSTE - Certified Software Test Engineer
 CSA - Certified SPICE Assessor
 CSQA - Certified Software Quality Analyst
Prerequisites for CSQA
Certification
 Subscribe to code of ethics
 Submit a character reference
 Pass a comprehensive written exam
 BA degree
 An Associates degree w/ 2yrs IT
experience or
 6 years Information Service experience
Benefits From Certifications
 Greater career advancement
 Recognized professional level of
competence
 Greater acceptance in the role as advisor to
management
QA Companies
 Quality Assurance Services
 Software Certifications
 Quality Logic
 Software Association of Oregon
Types of Services From QA
Companies
 Assessments
 Consulting
 QualityManagement
 Software Test
Benefits Of QA Services
 State-of-the-artsolutions
 Highly experienced advise
 Increase profitability
 Spend less - gain more
Jobs In The Industry
 Company: Microlink Inc.
 Job Title: QA Manager
 Location: Santa Clara, CA.
 Requirements:
– Provide Guidelines to achieve goals in accordance
with established policies.
 Qualifications
– 5-7 years experience
– ISO 9000 experience
 Pay
– $ 90,000 per year
Jobs In The Industry
 Company: Information Technology Business
Group
 Position: Client/Server QA Analyst
 Location: Potomac MD
 Qualifications :
– SDLC experience
– SDM experience
– SEI CMM
– ISO 9000
Jobs In The Industry
 Company: Snelling Information Systems
 Job Title: QA Manager
 Location: New York
 Requirements: Seeking a QA Manager to do
installation of Winrunner and Loadrunner from
scratch. Ability to manage a team of 8-10 QA
Analysts
– 3 – 5 years QA plus manager experience
 Pay
– $70,000 to $90,000 per year
 Software Quality Assurance
Professionals
 Make up 3 to 5 % of Software jobs
 Regarded as the enemy
 They make software better
 With the rise in standards, need for QA
professionals will grow
What makes a good Software
QA Manager?
 Be familiar with QA process
 Maintain enthusiasm
 Promote teamwork
 Promote cooperation
 Have diplomatic skills
What makes a good Software
QA Manager?
 have the ability to withstand pressures and
say 'no'
 have people judgment skills
 be able to communicate with technical and
non-technical people
 be able to run meetings and keep them
focused
QA in the Industry
 Who: Susan Burgess, QA Director at Information
Technology Business Group
 Background
– MBA in Management
– Certified Software Test Engineer
– Certified Spice Assessor
– Certified Quality Analyst
 Responsibilities:
– Managing Teams that examine software and
hardware applications
– Looks for bugs as well as security issues and faulty
implementations and determines if application fits
users needs
QA in the Industry
 What does QA mean to Susan?
– Schedule
– Cost
– Quality
– Why is QA important to Susan?
Liability: “If I approve a project and it fails,

I could get sued. Liability in my job is the

real issue.”