February 2011 Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BScIT) Semester 6 BT0057 Quality Management Principle 2 Credits

(Book ID: B0650)

Assignment Set 1 (30 Marks)

Answer all questions 5 x 6 = 30

1.

Define the term Quality.

Answer: Quality, simplistically, means that a product should meet its specification. Standards shall and can help to define terms like quality. Nevertheless, the means of expression used in standards are often not appropriate for the practice. This is also true for the definition of the ISO 8204 for quality: Totality of characteristics of an entity that bears on its ability to satisfy stated and implied need. That means: We require a quality software product to have certain characteristics that are related to requirements (of the user) and satisfy them. It is clear that the pair requirement and characteristic plays a central role in the definition of quality. Therefore, an object oriented model1 contributes to a better understanding for these notions. Figure 1 show a software product, which is to fulfill requirements in having appropriate characteristics. The existence of relationships between requirements and characteristics makes statements about the quality of a product possible. 2. What is the objective of Reliability? Discuss various issues involved in ensuring Reliability. Answer: The need for a means to objectively determine software quality comes from the desire to apply the techniques of contemporary engineering fields to the development of software. That desire is a result of the common observation, by both lay-persons and specialists, that computer software does not work the way it ought to. In other words, software is seen to exhibit undesirable behavior, up to and including outright failure, with consequences for the data which is processed, the machinery on which the software runs, and by extension the people and materials which those machines might negatively affect. The more critical the application of the software to economic and production processes, or to life-sustaining systems, the more important is the need to assess the software's reliability. Regardless of the criticality of any single software application, it is also more and more frequently observed that software has

penetrated deeply into most every aspect of modern life through the technology we use. It is only expected that this infiltration will continue, along with an accompanying dependency on the software by the systems which maintain our society. As software becomes more and more crucial to the operation of the systems on which we depend, the argument goes; it only follows that the software should offer a concomitant level of dependability. In other words, the software should behave in the way it is intended, or even better, in the way it should. The circular logic of the preceding sentence is not accidental it is meant to illustrate a fundamental problem in the issue of measuring software reliability, which is the difficulty of determining, in advance, exactly how the software is intended to operate. The problem seems to stem from a common conceptual error in the consideration of software, which is that software in some sense takes on a role which would otherwise be filled by a human being. This is a problem on two levels. Firstly, most modern software performs work which a human could never perform, especially at the high level of reliability that is often expected from software in comparison to humans. Secondly, software is fundamentally incapable of most of the mental capabilities of humans which separate them from mere mechanisms: qualities such as adaptability, general-purpose knowledge, a sense of conceptual and functional context, and common sense. Nevertheless, most software programs could safely be considered to have a particular, even singular purpose. If the possibility can be allowed that said purpose can be well or even completely defined, it should present a means for at least considering objectively whether the software is, in fact, reliable, by comparing the expected outcome to the actual outcome of running the software in a given environment, with given data. Unfortunately, it is still not known whether it is possible to exhaustively determine either the expected outcome or the actual outcome of the entire set of possible environment and input data to a given program, without which it is probably impossible to determine the program's reliability with any certainty. However, various attempts are in the works to attempt to rein in the vastness of the space of software's environmental and input variables, both for actual programs and theoretical descriptions of programs. Such attempts to improve software reliability can be applied at different stages of a program's development, in the case of real software. These stages principally include: requirements, design, programming, testing, and runtime evaluation. The study of theoretical software reliability is predominantly concerned with the concept of correctness, a mathematical field of computer science which is an outgrowth of language and automata theory. Probably everyone has an idea about the meaning of quality. However, when it comes to quality in the real world, i.e. in conjunction with a software development project, disagreements between the persons involved often lead to further problems. Especially in the case of customer complaints about faults in a software product, it seems to be unclear not only what the requirements are, but also if the software has the right characteristics with regard to these requirements.

3. What are the Quality Management activities? Explain in brief. Answer: 1. Quality assurance Establish organizational procedures and standards for quality. 2. Quality planning Select applicable procedures and standards for a particular project and modify these as required. 3. Quality control Ensure that procedures and standards are followed by the software development team. Quality management should be separate from project management to ensure independence.

4. List and explain KPAs in CMM. Answer: Key Process areas The CMMI contains several key process areas indicating the aspects of product development that are to be covered by company processes. Key Process Areas of the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Abbreviation Name Area Maturity Level REQM Requirements Engineering 2 Management PMC Project Monitoring Project Management 2 and Control PP Project Planning Project Management 2 SAM Supplier Agreement Project Management 2 Management CM Configuration Support 2 Management MA Measurement and Support 2 Analysis

PPQA PI RD TS VAL VER OPD OPF OT IPM ISM IT RSKM DAR OEI OPP QPM OID CAR

Process and Product Quality Assurance Product Integration Requirements Development Technical Solution Validation Verification Organizational Process Definition Organizational Process Focus Organizational Training Integrated Project Management Integrated Supplier Management Integrated Teaming Risk Management Decision Analysis and Resolution Organizational Environment for Integration Organizational Process Performance Quantitative Project Management Organizational Innovation and Deployment Causal Analysis and Resolution

Support Engineering Engineering Engineering Engineering Engineering Process Management Process Management Process Management Process Management Process Management Process Management Process Management Support Support Process Management Process Management Process Management Support

2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5

5. Discuss continual improvement principle with appropriate examples? Answer: Continual improvement should be a permanent objective of the organization. Steps in application of this principle are: 1. Make continual improvement of products, processes and systems an objective for every individual in the organization. 2. Apply the basic improvement concepts of incremental improvement and breakthrough improvement. 3. Use periodic assessments against established criteria of excellence to identify areas for potential improvement. 4. Continually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of all processes. 5. Promote prevention based activities. 6. Provide every member of the organization with appropriate education and training, on the methods and tools of continual improvement such as the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, problem solving, process reengineering, and process innovation. 7. Establish measures and goals to guide and track improvements, and 8. Recognize improvements.

February 2011 Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BScIT) Semester 6 BT0057 Quality Management Principle 2 Credits
(Book ID: B0650)

Assignment Set 2 (30 Marks)

Answer all questions 5 x 6 = 30

1. What are the issues need to be looked into while ensuring Quality? Answer: 1. Concerned with ensuring that the required level of quality is achieved in a software product. 2. Involves defining appropriate quality standards and procedures and ensuring that these are followed. 3. Should aim to develop a quality culture where quality is seen as everyones responsibility.

2. What do you mean by the term Software Quality Management? Explain. Answer: When applied to software the adjective quality may apply to source code as seen by software developers, or to applications software as seen by the end-users of the software. There are many attributes that can be used to measure software quality. The definition of quality as fitness for purpose means that the purpose of the software needs to be used to deduce those attributes that should be used to measure its quality. One attribute often used is the number of faults encountered in the software. Software that contains few faults is considered to have higher quality than software that contains many faults.

3. What do you mean by the term Software Quality Management? Explain. Answer: Before discussing the principles and some of the common misconceptions about the software, it is important to put the subject of process in perspective. When some approach seems to fit a need, it is often tempting to assume it will solve all the problems. While Process Management provides a powerful basis for assessing software problems and a consistent framework for organizational improvement, it is not a cure-all. There are six basic principles of the software process change which are as under: i. Major changes to the software process must start up at the top. Senior management leadership is required to launch the change effort and to provide continuing resources and priority. ii. Ultimately, everyone must be involved. Software Engineering is a team effort, and anyone who does not participate in improvement will miss the benefits and may even inhibit progress. iii. Effective Change requires a goal and knowledge of the current process. To use a map, you must know where you are. iv. Change is Continuous. Software Process improvement is not a one-shot effort; it involves continual learning and growth. v. Software Process change will not be retained without conscious effort and periodic reinforcement. vi. Software Process improvement requires investment. It takes planning, dedicated people, management time, and capital investment.

4. Who proposed EFQM Excellence Model? Discuss in brief. Answer: The most elaborated and accepted concept of quality management is the model of the EFQM Excellence Model. The EFQM Excellence Model is a framework for organizational management systems, promoted by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) and designed for helping organizations in their drive towards being more competitive. Regardless of sector, size, structure or maturity, to be successful, organizations need to establish an appropriate management system. The EFQM Excellence Model is a practical tool to help organizations do this by measuring where they are on the path to excellence; helping them understand the gaps; and then stimulating solutions. Over the years a number of research studies have investigated the correlation between the adoption of holistic Models, such as the EFQM Excellence Model, and improved organizational results. The majority of such studies show a positive linkage. One of the most comprehensive of these was carried out by Dr. Vinod Singhal of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr. Kevin Hendricks of the College of William and Mary. The model can be used in four ways: 1. As a framework which organizations can use to help them develop their vision and goals for the future in a tangible, measurable way. 2. As a framework which organizations can use to help them identify and understand the systemic nature of their business, the key linkages and cause and effect relationships. 3. As the basis for the EFQM Excellence Award, a process which allows Europe to recognize its most successful organizations and promote them as role models of excellence for others to learn from. 4. As a diagnostic tool for assessing the current health of the organization. Through this process an organization is better able to balance its priorities, allocate resources and generate realistic business plans. This fourth, diagnostic use, is also known as self-assessment. Self-assessment has wide applicability to organizations large and small, in the public as well as the private sectors. Increasingly organizations are using outputs from self-assessment as part of their business planning process and use the EFQM model as a basis for operational and project review. The EFQM Excellence Model is a non-prescriptive framework based on nine criteria. Five of these are 'enablers' and four are 'results'. The 'enabler' criteria cover what an organization does. The 'results' criteria cover what an organization achieves. 'Results' are caused by 'enablers' and feedback from 'results' help to improve 'enablers'. The model, which recognizes there are many approaches to achieving sustainable excellence in all aspects of performance, is based on the premise that excellent results with respect to

performance, customers, people and society are achieved through leadership driving policy and strategy, that is delivered through people partnerships and resources, and processes.

5. How cost of a software contributes to the quality? Discuss. Answer: The Cost of the quality includes all costs incurred in the pursuit of quality or in performing quality-related activities. Cost of quality studies are conducted to provide a baseline for the current cost of quality, identify opportunities for reducing the cost of quality, and provide a normalized basis of comparison. Quality cost may be divided into costs associated with prevention, appraisal and failure. Prevention cost include i) Quality Planning ii) Formal Technical Reviews iii) Test Equipments iv) Training Appraisal Costs include activities to gain insight into product condition the first time through each process. Examples of appraisal cost include i) in-process and inter-process inspection ii) Equipment calibration and maintenance iii) Testing Failure Costs are those that would disappear if no defects appeared shipping a product to customers. Failure costs may be subdivided into internal failure costs and external failure costs. Internal failure costs are incurred when we detect a defect in our product prior to shipment. Internal failure costs include: i) Rework ii) Repair iii) Failure Mode Analysis External Failure costs are associated with defects found after the product has been shipped to the customer. Examples of the external failure costs are: i) Compliant Resolution ii) Product return and replacement iii) Help line support iv) Warranty Work