Assuring the quality of external

participant contributor
What is contractor and external participant?

Software development contractors are organizations or groups of

organizations that are contracted by a customer in a project contract to
develop a software system. (ex. healthcare (security of application has been
given to another company)
External participants are organizations that participate in the development
process, performing small to large parts of the work, but are not legally
designated sides in the project’s contract.
Types of external participants
• In the past, partners to software development were seen as the only
participants in a given project. The term “partners” is refers to two
organisations. Firstly the “customer”, is defined as the organisation whom
has desired to acquire the software system. Secondly the “contractor” the
organisation of whom the customer has given the responsibility of
completing the project. Other organisations that contribute to the project
through a set of structured agreements with the contractor can be seen as
“external participants”. This definition excludes the contactor’s partners.
It is said that the larger and more complex the project, the increased
likeliness of acquiring the assistance of external participants. Galin (2004)
states that external
• participants can be divided into three main categories.

• 1. Subcontractors
• 2. Suppliers of Commercial off the shelf software (COTS) and previously
used modules
• 3. The customer may contribute to the
Risks and benefits of introducing external
participants
• (1) Delays in completion of the project.
In those cases where external participants are
late in supplying their parts to the software
system, the project as a whole will be delayed.
These delays are typical for subcontractors
(Need to refer next slide diagram)
2 ) Low quality of project parts supplied by external participants.
Quality
• problems can be classified as (a) defects: a higher than expected
number of defects, often more severe than expected; and (b) non-
standard coding and documentation: violations of style and
structure in instructions and procedures (supposedly stipulated in
any contract). Low quality and non-standard software are expected
to cause difficulties in the testing phase and later in the
maintenance phase. The extra time required to test and correct
low-quality software can cause project delays even in cases when
external participants complete their tasks on time.
 3 ) Future maintenance difficulties.
The fact that several organizations take part in development but only one of
them, the contractor, is directly responsible for the project creates two possibly
difficult maintenance situations:
• (a) One organization, most probably the contractor, is responsible for
maintenance of the whole project, the arrangement commonly stipulated in the
tender itself. The contractor may then be faced with incomplete and/or non-
standard coding and documentation supplied by the external participants, causing
lower-quality maintenance service delivered by the maintenance team and higher
costs to the contractor.
• (b) Maintenance services are supplied by more than one organization, possibly
the subcontractors, suppliers of COTS software and occasionally the customer’s
software development department. Each of these bodies takes limited
responsibility, a situation that may force the customer to search for the body
responsible for a specific software failure once discovered.
4) Loss of control over project parts. Whether intentionally or
not, the control of software development by external bodies
may produce an unrealistically optimistic picture of the
project’s status.
• Communication with external participants’ teams may be
interrupted for several weeks, a situation that prevents
assessment of the project’s progress. As a result, alerts about
development difficulties, staff shortages and other problems
reach the contractor belatedly. The possibilities for timely
solution of the difficulties – whether by adaptations or other
suitable changes – are thereby often drastically reduced.
 Benefits Risks For the contractor:
• 1. Budget reductions
• 2. Remedy of professional staff shortages
• 3. Shorter project schedule
• 4. Acquisition of expertise in specialized areas

For the customer (as external participant):

• 1. Protecting the customer’s commercial secrets
• 2. Provision of employment to internal software development
department
• 3. Acquisition of project know-how for self-supplied maintenance
• 4. Project cost reductions
For the contractor and the customer:

1. Delayed completion of the project caused by delays in completion of

parts supplied by external participants
2. Low quality of parts supplied by external participants
3. Increased probability of difficulties in maintaining parts supplied by
external participants
4. Loss of control over development of specific project parts
Assuring the quality of external participants’
contributions: objectives

(1) To prevent delays in task completion and to ensure

early alert of anticipated delays.
(2) To assure acceptable quality levels of the parts
developed and receive early warnings of breaches of
quality requirements.
(3) To assure adequate documentation to serve the
maintenance team.
(4) To assure continuous, comprehensive and reliable
control over external participants’ performance.
 SQA tools applied to external participants in a
software development project
1. The requirements document review : this is a departmental and process
is preformed by “contractor” and “subcontractor” . assures a correct and
complete list of the requirements related to software functionality, to formal
and staff aspects of the project and to SQA issues; it contributes mainly to
delay reduction and fewer cases of low quality. (It is very important to start
the error detection in this very early stage of the project development.)
2. Choice of external participants, : this process requires the collection and
systematic evaluation of information about the suppliers and subcontractors
based on previous experience in order to induce the contractor towards a
particular organisation.
if done properly, reduces all types of risks, especially those related to low
quality.
3.The project coordination and joint control committee, :The role of the
committee is to coordinate and keep track on the progress of the project.
There a number of different activities of which are common to the
committees schedule. (continue...)
Some of the main activities according to Galin (Reference
book)

(A) Ensure the timeline of the project is acceptable and

that milestones are met
(b)Conduct the relevant follow ups
(c) In severe situations, meetings and conferences must be
arranged
(d) Decision making about timetable/resource problems
that were identified during the follow up
(e) Decision making regarding solution of problems
identified in design reviews and software tests
(f) Solving conflicts regarding contract implementation
4.Participation in design reviews :

• The main goal of design reviews is to realise the approval

of documents produced in the design phase, so the
developer can continue to the next stage of development
process.
• Participation in software testing : When required it should
use all the stages of the testing process: design reviews of
planning and design of
• the tests, evaluation of the results and follow up meetings
for correction and regression testing
• (Galin, 2004).
• Galin also said that shortcomings of the testing phase
were one of the main causes of software errors.
5. Participation in software testing : When required it should
use all the stages of the testing process: design reviews of planning and design of the
tests, evaluation of the results and follow up meetings for correction and regression
testing (Galin, 2004). Galin also said that shortcomings of the testing phase were one of
the main causes of software errors.

6. Specialised procedures: Usually adoptions of processes already

applied and discussed in this report but supported by templates, checklists and forms.
Standardising the format by using a template makes it easier for the SQA team to
• review and run the tests. The main objectives according to Galin are as follows:
• (a)Preparation of requirements documents for external participants
• (b)Choice of external participant
• (c) Audit of subcontractors in SQA system
• (d) The supplier’s file
• (e) Appointment of committee for project parts carried out by external participants and
preparations of instructions
• (f) Progress reporting requirements for project parts
7.Qualification and certification of the supplier’s team
leaders and other staff : assure the professional
capacities of the project teams, and contribute to
reduction of low-quality products.
8.Progress reports of external participants’ development
activities are prepared : mainly in order to reduce the
risk of delays.
9.Review of deliverables (documents) and acceptance
tests is aimed at assuring : the quality of the work
performed by the external participant and
consequently reduces the risks of future maintenance
difficulties.