Western Governors University C 857 / C857 Software Quality Assurance - Study Guide

Western Governors University C 857 / C857 Software Quality Assurance - Study Guide •Detect defects. •Remove defects as close to the point of insertion as possible. •Determine product progress/status. •Identify potential improvements. •Produce technical work of a more uniform and predictable quality. •Assist employees with cross-training. •Reduce costs to build and maintain better products. •Reduce development time. •Reduce testing cost and time. •Reduce total system maintenance cost dramatically (as much as 10 to 1 according to recent statistics). Why should we conduct reviews? A buddy check is normally thought of as an informal verification technique in which the life-cycle work product is examined by the author and one other person. The objectives of buddy checks include: •Improve the life-cycle work product; •Consider alternative implementations; •Exchange techniques and style variations; •Point out problems with clarity and understandability; •Allow the author to look at the life-cycle work product from a different "angle" or point of view; •Mentoring of others in the concepts embedded in the life-cycle work product. What is a buddy check? Circulation reviews take on attributes of both buddy checks and walkthroughs. Circulation reviews can be informal or follow strict rules. The life-cycle work product is circulated to each reviewer who reviews it and either attaches comments, questions, and recommendations directly on the life-cycle work product or places them into a separate document. The objectives of circulation reviews include: •Improve the life-cycle work product; •Consider alternative implementations; •Point out problems with clarity and understandability; •Point out areas of concern and offer comments and suggestions; •Gain consensus from a large population of reviewers; •Gain input from valuable contributors who cannot be present for a face-to-face review. What is a circulation review? A technical review is a formal team evaluation of a life-cycle work product to identify any discrepancies from specifications and standards, determine its suitability for use, and provide recommendations after the examination of various alternatives. The objectives of technical reviews are to ensure that: •The life-cycle work product conforms to its specifications; •The development or maintenance of the life-cycle work product is being done according to plans, standards, and guidelines applicable to the project; •Changes to the life-cycle work product are properly implemented and affect only those areas of the system identified by the change specification. What is a technical review? An inspection is a formal verification technique in which life-cycle work products are examined in detail by a group of peers for the explicit purpose of detecting and identifying defects. The process is led by a moderator or facilitator or inspection leader who is not the author and is impartial to the life-cycle work product under review. The author is not allowed to act as the moderator. Written action on all major defects is mandatory. Rework due to corrections of major defects is formally verified. Defect data is systematically collected and stored in an inspection database. This defect data is analyzed to improve the product, the process, and the effectiveness of the inspection process. The objective of an inspection is to detect and identify life-cycle work product defects in a rigorous, formal, peer examination that does the following: •Verifies that the life-cycle work product satisfies both its specification and preceding intermediate work products. •Verifies that the life-cycle work product conforms to applicable standards. •Identifies real or potential deviations from standards and specifications. •Collects engineering data (i.e., defect and effort data). •Does not examine alternatives or stylistic issues. What is an inspection? Walkthroughs were designed to be a less formal verification technique in which life-cycle work products are examined by a group of peers for the purpose of finding defects, omissions, and contradictions. The walkthrough is normally led by the author or the producer of the material being reviewed. As the walkthrough progresses, errors, suggested changes, and improvement suggestions are noted and documented. The consolidated notes are taken by the author for review and revision as the author sees fit. The objectives of walkthroughs in addition to detecting defects are to: •Improve the life-cycle work product; •Consider alternative implementations; •Point out efficiency and readability problems, or modularity problems if the life-cycle work product is code; •Exchange techniques and style variations; •Educate the participants. What is a walkthrough? Structured walkthroughs are more closely aligned with inspections than the informal walkthrough. One can think of doing a walkthrough while using many of the inspection requirements such as: •Ensuring that each participant has individually prepared for the structured walkthrough and is prepared with a listing of major and minor defects before coming to the face-to-face part of the structured walkthrough; •Having roles and responsibilities preplanned such as recorder, reviewer, and any special roles; •Controlling the checking and logging rate; •Concentrating on major defects; •Restricting the structured walkthrough to presenting and consolidating a list of major and minor defects and not allowing solution discussions; •Collecting the defect data and analyzing it for trends and process improvement. What is a structured walkthrough? Testing is a quality control function in that it is used to verify the functionality and performance of life-cycle work products or product components as they move through the product life cycle. The purpose of testing is to: •Establish confidence that a program or system does what it is supposed to do. •Make lack of quality visible. •Execute a program with the intent of finding errors. •Exercise a component to verify that it satisfied a specific requirement. •Provide continual assessment of whether the software being produced will meet the needs of the user. What is testing? It has been stated and agreed to for decades that complete testing of a system is not always possible. What is the key testing principle that "complete testing is not possible"? Testing is not an activity that is given to an engineer simply because he/she is new to the organization, is expendable, or management cannot decide what else to do with the person. What is the key testing principle that "testing is creative and difficult"? Testing is an intricate set of activities that must be planned just like any other project activity. Planning for testing, including the testing environment, is not a trivial task and should not be minimized. The following aspects should be considered for every test: •Test philosophy and criticality; •Objectives and completion criteria; •Methods; •Responsibilities and people involved; •Resources and test tools; •Budget; •Schedule; •Documentation;