Software Quality Management - Book Report/Review Example

Report on Software Quality Management Identify the factors that impact the achievement of defined outcomes for Requirement Elicitation Processes Table of Content 1. Introduction 4 2. Basic Performance – Requirement Elicitation Process 4 2.1 Performance Management Attribute 5 2.2 Work Product control Attribute 7 2.2.1 Measurement framework for evaluation of process capabilities 8 2.2.2 Identification of key factors that significantly impact performance 8 2.2.3 Identification of areas that need to be computerized 9 2.2.4 Development and implementation of the system 9 2.2.5 Training and development 9 3. Conclusion 10 Reference 11 Abstract The use of computers and its application has helped the business houses to evolve new strategies and analytical packages that have not only improved their efficiency and production but its application has also facilitated better communication among various inter-related factors thus creating a wider database of new opportunities. The evaluation of requirements of elicitation processes greatly facilitate in gathering, processing and tracking the changing requirements of the customers. They also help to identify the processes for defined work products and services that help improve and improvise the customer relationship for the entire life span of the products and services. 1. Introduction The fast changing socio economic dynamics have created a fiercely competitive business environment and organizations tend to adapt to the constantly evolving business environment. The advent of new technologies, especially that of computers, has changed the modus operandi of businesses and has helped improve its efficiency and prospects. The use of computers and its application has helped the business houses to evolve new strategies and analytical packages that have not only improved their efficiency and production but its application has also facilitated better communication among various inter-related factors thus creating a wider database of new opportunities. Customers being central to the business objectives, customer relationship becomes the most important factor for the performance outcome of the businesses. The development of effective CRM based on judicious use of information technology has increasingly become an integral part of overall business strategy. The paper would thus be an effort to identify and evaluate the factors that impact the achievement of defined outcomes for requirement elicitation processes. It would gather, process and track the evolving requirements of the customers and identify the processes for defined work products and services that help improve and improvise the customer relationship for the entire life span of the products and services. 2. Basic Performance – Requirement Elicitation Process Requirement elicitation process can broadly be defined as the framework for evaluating the process capability of the work products and services for the achievement of required outcome through quality software development. Since customer satisfaction is the focus of all products and services, it becomes an essential criterion of measurement. According to P.F.Drucker, ‘access to information represents the basic precondition for success of a firm’ (Drucker, 1998). Access to information is vital part of organizational management processes as it not only promotes efficiency and knowledge based discharge of duties by the employees but it a great tool for the management to exploit the available information to improve its performance. Hence, Information System Development or ISD is the new methodology of storing and manipulating strategic business information that are designed to improve the overall business prospects. The ISD has been evolved to encompass various spheres of the business including administration, management, productions, accounts and other areas which are intrinsically linked to produce the desired outcome of efficiency, quality and profits. The collation of information, using integrated approach to the ISD and its acceptance as a major factor for decision making has been acknowledged as one of the biggest asset and as an effective facilitator in an organization that promotes operational efficiency, employee productivity, customer satisfaction and hordes of other such processes which are important for decision making in the concerned areas. While customer relationship management remains the focal point, the software quality management ensures that careful consideration of various inter-related modules which are intrinsic to its successful implementation are incorporated within the processes to produce the desired outcome of efficiency, quality and profits. The primary objective being that it not only smoothes the administration and management of the productions and other related processes but it should also help to create a wider consumer base resulting in better revenue. 2.1 Performance Management Attribute IT planning and acquisition have increasingly become vital part of business strategy in the contemporary times. TQM or total quality management is an essential managerial initiative to improve and improvise the goods and services to meet the changing requirements of the customers. Logothetis claims that ‘TQM is a culture that requires a total commitment to customer satisfaction through continuous improvement and innovation in all aspect of business’ (Logothetis, 1992). The major objective of TQM is to promote quality assurance at various levels of business processes through measures that drastically reduce the percentage of error within the production and maintain a minimum standard. ISO 9000 is the name of Quality Assurance standard that are followed globally. The primary requirements of ISO 9000 is to develop a well defined system that incorporates that is well documented and the information is disseminated amongst the various stakeholders so that they can be followed at each step of different business processes. In the contemporary times of cutting edge competition, Juran asserts ‘all quality improvement occurs on a project-by-project basis and in no other way’ (Juran, 2000). This is the foundation of quality assurance techniques and application which the organizations follow in order to meet the challenges of the time. Thus, the organizations continuously make effort to identify factors and issues that would help meet the challenges with efficiency and unmatched proficiency. Software quality management follows the global practice of ISO/IEC 15504 which ensures that different aspect of the development processes are updated and continue to incorporate the changing requirements of the people. In the fast advancing technology and rapidly evolving societal norms, the preferences of the people is also changing with the same speed. The rapid globalization has created a pluralistic society which has diverse needs and requirement. Hence, the companies through regular surveys, feedback processes and R&D activities are able to identify the opportunities for new products. They incorporate the changing requirements of the people through the development of new products and services that meet the changing demands of the masses. The POG (product opportunity gap) activity is essential part of effective R&D activities of the businesses that gives a competitive edge to the company. Another very important factor in the performance management attribute is understand the wider implication of introducing new technology as it affects the various existing processes and may create conflicting interests and adversely affecting the performance of the organization. It is therefore, advisable to have an established process which would take cognizance of interrelated and diverse processes and create conducive environment that would facilitate easy implementation of the new technology and helps to streamline the various existing and new processes that are introduced while introducing new technology. 2.2 Work Product control Attribute The main objectives of software project are pre-defined and designed towards development of products and services to facilitate organizational or individual goals. Any project that comes into existence has pre-determined objectives that are time bound and achieved through strategic planning, encompassing various aspects of the inter-related factors like budget, human resource, administrative tools and scientific precision that facilitate in the successful outcome of the project. It normally encompasses essential steps like: feasibility study of the project; project development; production and implementation process; monitoring and control mechanisms; and successful completion that leads to the smooth running of the project. There are various external and internal attributes that significantly impact the performance of the software project. A software project is intrinsically linked the process, products and resources which are formally called ‘attributes’ (Fenton et al, 1992). External factors like reliability vis-à-vis machine, efficiency of management team; cost effectiveness in terms of software testing and expertise of people who are testing them; and productivity that is dependent on the timeliness of the production and the quality significantly impact the project. Internal attributes like time taken in the work production, bugs identified within the software that may delay the execution of the project and inadequate data that adversely impacts the quality are major drawback in the successful implementation of the projects. IT planning and acquisition of appropriate technology is the most important part of Software development Life Cycle or SDLC. They have been evolved to encompass various spheres of the business including administration, management, productions, accounts and other areas which are intrinsically linked to the achievement of process outcome for defined work products. The following parameters are key factors for successful implementation of the same. 2.2.1 Measurement framework for evaluation of process capabilities The quality control ISO/IEC 15504-2 has defined 6 capability levels that measure the achievement of the pre-determined goals and objectives. These primarily incorporate the levels from the baseline that are incomplete to the top most level where they optimise the performance productivity. The assessment criteria, thus entails: incomplete process; performed process; managed process; established process; predictable process; and optimizing process (JTC IT-015, 2004). 2.2.2 Identification of key factors that significantly impact performance Though all the phases of pre and post implementation processes of new technology are important, it is important to understand that new technology always disturbs the existing organizational system and its culture. It often inculcates insecurity among the staff and misunderstanding about various aspects of the new technology may promote conflicts within the organization. Hence, before introducing new technology, dissemination of information is an important phase that must be included prior to the introduction of new technology. It is also important to note that the wider implications of the system, incorporating modules of scope creep are essential inputs that make the system more effective in the changing business environment. Scope creep is the ‘change or growth of the project scope’ (Gurlen, 2003). 2.2.3 Identification of areas that need to be computerized SDLC process is an integral part of management information system serving as the centralized monitoring system that coordinates and supports the rest of the functions and user requirements in order to help the organization to achieve all its strategic goals and objectives. Hence, the initial phase of feasibility study is the most important phase as it is the decisive factor that decides the appropriateness of the new technology for the organization and the specific areas where the new technology would significantly make a difference. The rest of the implementation phases are equally important as they help to adapt to a new system smoothly and efficiently, promoting understanding. 2.2.4 Development and implementation of the system The success of the project broadly depends on the timely and efficient development and implementation of the system within the organizational budgetary goals. Frese and Sauter. assert that user involvement; management support; clear requirements; proper planning; and realistic expectations are five criteria of success for the system (Frese and Sauter, 2003). 2.2.5 Training and development When IT system is introduced, training on the use of hardware and software becomes intrinsic part of implementation. The training of the workforce in understanding the IT system and usage greatly facilitates acceptance and inculcates confidence. Barton emphasizes that ‘hands on real time interaction with the new system… with a more broad based understanding of the flow of information through the system’ is needed (Barton, 2001). 3. Conclusion The changing socio-economic environment made it imperative that more consideration be paid to socio-cultural and political environment so that the requirements of the people became the focal point in the development of strategy. Reinatz and Chugh assert that using CRM as business strategy greatly enhances organizational capability to ‘gather, organize, understand, anticipate, and respond’ to the constantly evolving preferences of customers (Reinatz and Chugh, 2002). The use of technologies not only improves the various processes within the system but also the overall performance. Therefore, it becomes highly relevant to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a particular technology before it is being put into implementation in the system processes of an organization. It can therefore, be concluded that effective evaluation of the requirements of elicitation processes become intrinsic to the success of overall performance outcome of the organization. The knowledge of various strengths and weaknesses of the technologies help us to evaluate its appropriateness within the work environment of the organization such that its implementation is able to promote better efficiency in the delivery of the organizational goals and objectives. (1881) Reference Barton, Patricia. (25 November, 2001). Enterprise Resource Planning: Factors Affecting Success and Failures. Available from: [Accessed 9 October, 2009]. Drucker, P.F. Next information revolution. Forbes, 24 August, 1998. Database: Academic Search Elite. Fenton, Norman; Devine Colum; Page, Stella. (1992). SMARTIE: Report on Measurable Standards Attributes Technical Report. Centre for Software Reliability, City University. Frese, Robert and Sauter, Vicki. (16 December, 2003). Project Success and Failure: What is Success and What is Failure, and How Can You Improve Your Odds for Success. Available from: [Accessed 9 October, 2009]. Gurlen, Stephanie. (2 December, 2003). Scope Creep. Available from: [Accessed 9 October, 2009]. Joint Technical Committee IT-015. (2004). Information Technology–Process Achievement. AS/NZS ISO/IEC 15504-2 Juran, Joseph M. (2000). Juran’s Quality Handbook. McGraw-Hill. Logothetis, N. (1992). Managing for Total Quality: From Deming to Taguchi and SPC/N. Hertfordshire. Prentice Hall International (UK). Reinartz, W.J. and Chugh, P. (2002). Learning from experience: making CRM a success at last. International Journal of Call Centre Management, March/April, pp.207-219. Read More