Soft audit practice・Audit day 4: Understanding the outline and scale of the organization (2/2)
- 1. (4) Is there a team to confirm the development process?
- 2. Let’s consider process quality and product quality separately
- 3. (5) Is there a process improvement team (SEPG)?
- 4. (6) Is there a software quality assurance department?
- 5. (7) Is there a team in charge of in-process inspection software at the factory?
(4) Is there a team to confirm the development process?
The development process confirmation team (SQA: Software Quality Assurance) is a team that works to guarantee the development process quality of software development . SQA is a term used by CMMI, which requires that this feature be present in the organization.
At software development sites, man-hour shortages and process delays often become noticeable in the latter half of the development process, especially as the release approaches. At that time, in order to recover the process, it is possible to use a bad move (devil’s whisper) such as thinning out the originally planned reviews and tests as a countermeasure.
To prevent such a thing from happening, make sure that the normal software development process is followed, and if there is a problem, report it to the person in charge of development pui and JECT and ask for countermeasures. By doing so, it is the role of the development process confirmation team to guarantee the quality of the software development process .
If you have a development process confirmation team, you can say that the organization can be relieved in terms of maintaining the software development process, so the point is to confirm whether there is such a team. Also, if you have a team, it is useful to check the results of the activities by checking how many problems you have pointed out in the past year or so.
Let’s consider process quality and product quality separately
By the way, if you translate SQA’s original English Software Quality Assurance directly into Japanese, it is a software quality assurance. However, the Software Quality Assurance defined by CMMI is just a guarantee of the process quality of software development. On the other hand, when we say software quality assurance in Japanese, it means the product quality of the process, that is, the quality assurance of the software itself.
It’s a little confusing, but keep in mind that software has two qualities: product quality and process quality . The quality of the software itself is the product quality. In order to always release software with good product quality, it is important to develop software with a good development process.
CMMI is a method designed to evaluate the quality of processes on the premise that software created in a good development process will have good product quality. Therefore, CMMI calls the process quality assurance as Software Quality Assurance.
However, as I said earlier , software quality assurance in Japanese still refers to the quality of the software itself, that is, the product quality, which makes the story confusing. Father Gutara doesn’t like being confused, so instead of using the English abbreviation SQA, he uses the term process confirmation team.
(5) Is there a process improvement team (SEPG)?
The process improvement team is a team that creates and improves the software development process itself. It’s a team that creates rules and procedures for development and, in some cases, standard worksheets. The process improvement team is also an organization that CMMI needs for software development. Often referred to as SEPG, which is an acronym for Software Engineering Process Group, Father Gutara uses the name Process Improvement Team, just like SQA.
Even if the software development process is decided once, it often does not match the actual situation after a few years. This is because there are quite frequent opportunities to change the development process, such as new development methodologies and new development support tools . If there is a team that specializes in changing and improving the rules and procedures that determine the development process in response to such changes in the development environment, the improvement of the development process will proceed in a timely manner, so always the optimum development process Can be maintained.
So when you look at a process improvement team, keep in mind whether there is such a team and, if so, how often you are active.
(6) Is there a software quality assurance department?
The name is Soft Quality Assurance Department, but what we check here is not whether there is a department with such a name, but what is the activity of software quality assurance and which department or organization is responsible for it. dolphin , is that.
There are various items in software quality assurance activities, but the three in order of importance are as follows.
- Software release judgment (do not release poor quality software)
- Confirmation of product quality (determining the quality of software)
- Confirmation of process quality ( confirmation that the correct development process is being carried out)
The first and most important thing is not to release the first poor quality software. It’s a matter of course that it’s funny to check it, but who decides whether or not to release the software based on what criteria ? When it comes to this, it varies from organization to organization.
And what is important when judging the release is how to judge whether or not the release is possible. In other words , what kind of information is collected and what criteria are used to judge the quality of software . This is the second confirmation of product quality.
And since it is necessary to develop software according to a good development process in order to make software of good quality, it is the third to check the quality status.
The point of checking this software quality assurance department is to confirm in which department the important activities for guaranteeing these software quality are carried out.
(7) Is there a team in charge of in-process inspection software at the factory?
The teams and organizations we have seen so far are all related to the quality of the software that is installed in the product and shipped, but the team that is in charge of developing the in-process inspection software of the last factory is the target software. Is different.
At factories that manufacture products equipped with software, inspections are conducted throughout the manufacturing process to confirm that the products are manufactured correctly. This inspection usually works in cooperation with the self-inspection function built into the software installed in the product and the inspection system in the factory that gives inspection instructions and collects inspection results .
Someone has developed these self-inspection functions and in-factory inspection systems because they are actually soft. The team in charge of in-process inspection software arbitrarily named that person. Since it is not a general name, the name changes depending on the company or factory. However, the team in charge of this in-process inspection software also has an important role in product quality assurance, and since it is software, confirm the organizational position such as where the team belongs. ..