Software Engineering - Old Questions

9. What is software quality assurance? What are the various quality concepts of SQA? Explain.

Software quality assurance (SQA) is a planned and systematic plan of all actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that an item or product conforms to establish technical requirements.

Software Quality Assurance works parallel to development of a software. It focuses on improving the process of development of software so that problems can be prevented before they become a major issue. Software Quality Assurance is a kind of an Umbrella activity that is applied throughout the software process.

Software Quality Assurance have:

• A quality management approach
• Effective Software engineering technology (methods and tools)
• Formal technical reviews that are tested throughout the software process
• A multitier testing strategy
• Control of software documentation and the changes made to it.
• A procedure to ensure compliances with software development standards
• Measuring and reporting mechanisms.

Following activities are performed by an independent SQA group:

• Prepares an SQA plan for a project
• Participates in the development of the project's software process description
• Reviews software engineering activities to verify compliance with the defined software process
• Audits designated software work products to verify compliance with those defined as a part of the software process
• Ensures that deviations in software work and work products are documented and handled according to a documented procedure
• Records any noncompliance and reports to senior management