Software Quality Assurance Process
Introduction
The QA process area provides management at all levels (senior management and project management) with appropriate visibility into the activities implemented in the project, and the work products being produced throughout life cycle of the project. The QA process evaluates the execution of a project’s activities to help the management ensures that these activities are complying with the organization’s applicable processes and standards.
Within the QA process, objectively independent reviews and audits are conducted and reported. Deviations from standards are identified and reported as non-compliance issues. Objectivity in the evaluation is critical to the success of QA processes; this can be achieved by both independence of the QA individuals and the use of pre-defined criteria for evaluation.
An independent reporting channel to the appropriate level of management must be available so that non-compliance issues can be escalated as necessary. When local resolution of non-compliance issues cannot be obtained, the process indicates the use of escalation mechanism to ensure resolution of issues.
Key Process Roles
Core Procedures
1. Planning
The objective of this procedure is to establish a reasonable plan for performing QA auditing activities on the project level and to be involved in the project from the initial stages, which will provide a strong infrastructure for the project's success.
2. Execution
The objective of this procedure is to execute the QA auditing activities on the project level according to the QA plan. Auditing and evaluating project processes and work products are done to ensure adherence to applicable process description, standards and procedures as per the project’s processes. Auditing ensures that all issues and/or deviations detected during audit processes are communicated to relevant stakeholders and that the corrective actions are identified and documented.
3. Follow-up
The objective of this procedure is to ensure the closure of all NCs appearing in the QA audit according to the agreed corrective actions, or referring the non-closed NCs to the senior management to take the required and suitable action.