Practical Insights from Internal Audit Leadersis now available for free download. The survey, a core component of the whole study, was open from February 2 through April 1, Software Certifications recommends that candidates for certification continually research and stay aware of current literature trends in the field. Computer software — Testing. Quality of software remains an internal IT responsibility regardless of who builds the software.
Your request to send this item has been completed. PDF document 1 v. How to maintain the alignment of the various stakeholder expectations of internal auditing. The quality professionals need to assure that those quality cqa are fulfilled through appropriate processes for acquiring purchased software and contracting for software services. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. Internal audit practices and activities that are most valued by boards and audit committees, along with those that are not.
Home About Help Search. In simplistic terms, the IT plan cssa the producer and the quality plan represents the customer. This is 10th week and I did not get any email about the result or find result in website. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website.
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Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Now you are able to determine if you are ready to submit your application and take the certification examination or if you need further study.
Understand the Key Principles Incorporated Into the Examination This step provides you with some insight into what will be emphasized on the examination. This should not be used in place of the CBOK.
It is intended to emphasize some of the key concepts included within the CBOK. A major part of the CSQA examination and a major part of being an effective quality analyst is to understand and use the quality analysis vocabulary. Note that understanding the vocabulary is essential to pass the examination. As you study the quality principles, think carefully how you would apply those principles to your day-to-day work challenges.
It is each candidate's responsibility to stay current in the field and to be aware of published works and materials available for professional study and development. Software Certifications recommends that candidates for certification continually research and stay aware of current literature and trends in the field.
The lists referenced above are suggestions; they are not intended to be all-inclusive. If you have these books in your reference library, company library, or ready access, set them aside for exam preparation. Note that while studying, look for principles as opposed to learning detailed how-to skills. The references give you insight into the top- ics that will be included on the examination. Initiate a Self-Study Program This guide contains a variety of skill areas designed to be representative of the types of skills needed by software quality analysts, and representative of the skill categories addressed in the CSQA examination.
You may decide to start or join a self-study group in your area. Use a representative sample of the reference books for study; if you do not have the specific reference book, use a similar book on the same topic.
Be sure to visit www. Self-study becomes more effective if you can work with one or more other candidates for the examination. If no other candidates are available to form a study group, locate a CSQA to become your mentor during your self-study period. An answer key is provided to help you study and show you the types of essay responses expected. The Common Body of Knowledge for the software quality analyst certificate includes these ten skill categories:.
See page Intro for detailed instructions on how to use the worksheet and competency rating table. Skill Category 1 — Quality Principles and Concepts Before an organization can begin to assess the quality of its products and services, and identify opportunities for improvement, it first must have a working knowledge of quality principles and basic concepts. Edwards Deming, Philip Crosby, and Dr. Joseph Juran 1. Eval-2 Version 6. Skill Category 2 — Quality Leadership The most important prerequisites for successful implementation of any major quality initiative are leadership and commitment from executive management.
Management must create a work environment supportive of quality initiatives. This category covers the management processes used to establish the foundation of a quality-managed environment, as well as commitment, new behaviors, building the infrastructure, techniques, approaches and communications. Skill Category 3 — Quality Baselines Organizations need to establish baselines of performance for quality, productivity and customer satisfaction.
These baselines are used to document current performance and document improvements by showing changes from a baseline. Eval-4 Version 6. Skill Category 4 — Quality Assurance Quality Assurance is a professional competency whose focus is directed at the critical processes used to build products and services.
The profession is charged with the responsibility for tactical process improvement initiatives that are strategically aligned to the goals of the organization.
This category addresses the understanding and application of quality assurance practices in support of the strategic quality direction of the organization. The quality practitioner should understand the importance of a quality function, how to implement a quality function and how it matures over time, as well as how to create a quality plan, the use of quality tools, process deployment, and differentiating between internal auditing and quality assurance.
Skill Category 5 — Quality Planning Executive management establishes the vision and strategic goals of an organization. Planning is the process that describes how those strategic goals will be accomplished. Quality planning should be integrated into the IT plan so that they become a single plan. In simplistic terms, the IT plan represents the producer and the quality plan represents the customer.
Eval-6 Version 6. Customers are more knowledgeable and demanding, therefore, quality and speed of delivery are now critical needs. Companies must constantly improve their ability to produce quality products that add value to their customer base. Defining and continuously improving work processes allows the pace of change to be maintained without negatively impacting the quality of products and services. This category addresses process management concepts, including the definition of a process, the workbench concept and components of a process.
Additionally, it addresses the understanding of definitions and continuous improvement of a process through the process management PDCA cycle. During development, the quality control process is frequently called verification and at the conclusion of development, it is called validation. This category addresses the various types of controls and when they are best used in the process. The quality practitioner should also be familiar with verification and validation techniques, the framework for developing testing tactics, change control and configuration management.
Eval-8 Version 6. Skill Category 8 — Metrics and Measurement A properly established measurement system is used to help achieve missions, visions, goals, and objectives. Measurement data is most reliable when it is generated as a by-product of producing a product or service.
The QA analyst must ensure that quantitative data is valued and reliable, and presented to management in a timely and easy-to-use manner. Measurement can be used to gauge the status, effectiveness and efficiency of processes, customer satisfaction, product quality, and as a tool for management to use in their decision-making processes.
This category addresses measurement concepts, the use of measurement in a software development environment, variation, process capability, risk management, the ways measurement can be used, and how to implement an effective measurement program.
Skill Category 9 — Internal Control and Security Privacy laws and increased accessibility to data have necessitated increased security. Accounting scandals and governmental regulation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have placed increased importance on building and maintaining adequate systems of internal control.
The quality assurance function can contribute to meeting those objectives by assuring that IT has adequate processes governing internal control and security. Eval Version 6. Skill Category 10 — Outsourcing, COTS, and Contracting Quality Organizations can assign software development work responsibilities to outside organizations by purchasing software or contracting services; but they cannot assign the responsibility for quality.
Quality of software remains an internal IT responsibility regardless of who builds the software. The quality professionals need to assure that those quality responsibilities are fulfilled through appropriate processes for acquiring purchased software and contracting for software services. B efore an organization can begin to assess the quality of its products and services, and identify opportunity for improvement, it first must have a working knowledge of quality principles and basic concepts.
Vocabulary of Quality The quality language is the way quality professionals describe the principles, concepts, and approaches used for improving quality. Until the vocabulary is learned and its use encouraged in the organization, quality becomes a difficult program to achieve. Appendix A provides a glossary of definitions for terminology used in the quality language. This terminology is also referred to as the vocabulary of quality. Some of the more widely used terms are:.
From the producer's viewpoint, a defect is a product requirement that has not been met, or a product attribute possessed by a product or a function performed by a product that is not in the statement of requirements that define the product. From the customer's viewpoint, a defect is anything that causes customer dissatisfaction, whether in the statement of requirements or not.
Managerial desires and intents concerning either processes intended objectives or products desired attributes. This includes efforts of people and equip- ment guided by policies, standards, and procedures. A process or set of processes used by an organization or project to plan, manage, execute, monitor, control, and improve its software related activities. The ratio of the output of a process to the input, usually measured in the same units. It is frequently useful to compare the value added to a product by a process, to the value of the input resources required using fair market values for both input and output.
Operationally, the word quality refers to products. A product is a quality product if it is defect free. For a CSQA professional, quality is further defined as follows:.
To the producer, a product is a quality product if it meets or conforms to the statement of requirements that defines the product. This statement is usually shortened to: quality means meets requirements.
This is referred to as fit for use. A requirement of a product or process. For example: percent of the functionality must be tested.
Joseph Juran and Dr. These two definitions are not inconsistent. This is the view of the organization responsible for the project and processes, and the products and services acquired, developed, and maintained by those processes.
Meeting requirements means that the person building the product does so in accordance with the requirements. Requirements can be very complex or they can be simple, but they must be defined in a measurable format, so it can be determined whether they have been met. The customer is the end user of the products or services. Of the two definitions of quality, fit for use, is the more important. These views are as follows:. The infrastructure for quality products and services is illustrated in Figure This process works because of the two-way measurement process established between the involved parties.
This infrastructure has been presented simplistically. The producer gap is the difference between what is specified the documented requirements and internal standards versus what is delivered what is actually built. The customer gap is the difference between what the producers actually delivered versus what the customer wanted. Closing these two gaps is the responsibility of the quality function see Skill Category 4. The quality function must first improve the processes to the point where the producer can develop the products according to requirements received and its own internal standards.
Closing the producer's gap enables the IT function to provide its customers consistency in what it can produce. This has been referred to as the "McDonald's effect" - at any McDonald's in the world, a Big Mac should taste the same. It doesn't mean that every customer likes the Big Mac or that it meets everyone's needs, but rather, that McDonald's has now produced consistency in its delivered product.
Closing the second gap requires the quality function to understand the true needs of the customer. This can be done by customer surveys, Joint Application Development JAD sessions, and more user involvement through the process of building information products. The processes can then be changed to close the customer gap, keeping consistency while producing products and services needed by the customer. Quality Attributes for an Information System Quality is a multifaceted concept driven by customer requirements.
The level of quality can vary significantly from project to project and between organizations. In IT, the attributes of quality are examined in order to understand the components of quality, and as a basis for measuring quality. Some of the commonly accepted quality attributes for an information system are described in Figure Management needs to develop quantitative, measurable "standards" for each of these quality criteria for their development projects.
For example, management must decide the degree of maintenance effort that is acceptable, the amount of time that it should take for a user to learn how to use the system, etc. Skill Category 8 covers this topic in more detail. Reliability Extent to which a program can be expected to perform its intended function with required precision. Efficiency The amount of computing resources and code required by a program to perform a function.
Integrity Extent to which access to software or data by unauthorized persons can be controlled. Usability Effort required learning, operating, preparing input, and interpreting output of a program. Maintainability Effort required locating and fixing an error in an operational program. Testability Effort required testing a program to ensure that it performs its intended function.
Reusability Extent to which a program can be used in other applications — related to the packaging and scope of the functions that programs perform. Interoperability Effort required to couple one system with another. Figure Charles E. Quality Concepts and Practices People say they want quality; however, their actions may not support this view for the following reasons:. This is called acceptable quality level, or AQL. Quality experts agree that AQL is not a suitable definition of quality.
As long as management is willing to "accept" defective products, the entire quality program will be in jeopardy. This is confusion between quality of design and quality of conformance. Orga- nizations may be reluctant to spend on quality assurance, as they do not see an immediate payback.
However, for quality to happen there must be well- defined standards and procedures that are followed. The contributors to poor quality in many organizations can be categorized as either lack of involvement by management, or lack of knowledge about quality.
Following are some of the specific contributors for these two categories:. If achieving quality i. Quality is very difficult to accomplish — it requires the close cooperation of management and staff. Achieving quality requires a commitment and the establishment of an environment in which quality can flourish.
Skill Category 2 focuses on management commitment and a quality management environment. The bottom line is that making quality happen is a monumental challenge. As a result of his experiences in turning around the Japanese economy, Dr. Edwards Deming found that it takes 20 years to change a culture from an emphasis on productivity to an emphasis on quality. Twenty years might be excessive, but management must be prepared to invest years before the really large pay-backs occur. Quality is a long-term strategy, which must be continually nurtured by the quality function and management.
The answer to the question, "Can we afford quality? Studies by Dr. Barry W. Boehm concluded that errors are typically times more expensive to correct in the maintenance phase on large projects than in the requirements phase. Boehm also stated that the total economic impact is actually much larger in operational systems because of the user costs incurred. Recent studies show that with today's more complex systems, Boehm's estimates are conservative.
PDCA Cycle A major premise of a quality management environment is an emphasis on continuous improvement. The approach to continuous improvement is best illustrated using the PDCA cycle,. Shewhart of the Bell System. It is also called the Deming Wheel, and is one of the key concepts of quality.
Clearly describe the goals and policies needed to attain the objective at this stage. Determine the procedures and conditions for the means and methods that will be used to achieve the objective. Teach workers the procedures and skills they need to fulfill the plan and thoroughly under- stand the job. Then perform the work according to these procedures. Check for performance of the procedures, changes in conditions, or abnormalities that may appear. Look for the cause of the abnormality to prevent its recurrence.
Sometimes workers may need to be retrained and procedures revised. The next plan should reflect these changes and define them in more detail. The PDCA procedures ensure that the quality of the products and services meets expectations, and that the anticipated budget and delivery date are fulfilled.
Sometimes preoccupation with current concerns limits the ability to achieve optimal results. Repeatedly going around the PDCA circle can improve the quality of the work and work methods, and obtain the desired results.
This concept can be seen in the ascending spiral of Figure Cost of Quality Quality is an attribute of a product or service. Productivity is an attribute of a process.
They have frequently been called two sides of the same coin because one significantly impacts the other. There are two ways that quality can drive productivity. The first, which is an undesirable method, is to lower or not meet quality standards. For example, if testing and rework components of a system development process were eliminated or reduced, productivity as measured in lines of code per hours worked would increase.
This is often done under the guise of completing projects on time. The second and more desirable method to improve productivity through quality is to improve processes so that defects do not occur, thus minimizing the need for testing and rework.
Quality improvement should be used to drive productivity. The cost of quality COQ is the money spent beyond what it would cost to build a product right the first time. If every worker could produce defect-free products the first time, the COQ would be zero. Since this situation does not occur, there are costs associated with getting a defect-free product produced. This category includes money spent on establishing methods and procedures, training workers and planning for quality. Prevention money is all spent before the product is actually built.
Appraisal includes the cost of inspections, testing and reviews. This money is spent after the product or subcomponents are built but before it is shipped to the user. Some failure costs involve repairing products to make them meet requirements.
Others are costs generated by failures, such as the cost of operating faulty products, damage incurred by using them and the costs incurred because the product is not available.
The user or customer of the organization may also experience failure costs. Figure shows a few examples of the three costs of quality that illustrate the types of activities in each of the categories. Experience has shown that a small group of knowledgeable people can develop estimates for the COQ categories. Cost of Quality Sample. The cost of building a product is comprised of the cost of production, which is the cost if the product could be built defect free, plus the three COQ categories.
Added together, the production cost and COQ become the cost to build a product. The three COQ categories are sometimes called the cost of nonconformance, meaning COQ is the failure to conform to a process that enables defect-free products to be produced.
The quality function attempts to reduce the cost of quality. Figure illustrates this phenomenon. It shows that initiating new appraisal programs such as inspections and reviews in software development, or new preventive programs such as staff training, can reduce the failure costs, which include such things as rework, so there is a net reduction in the cost to build a product.
Obviously, the right appraisal and prevention methods must be used to get these benefits. For example, the cost of adding unidentified requirements during system or acceptance testing is much more costly than identifying those requirements during the requirements-gathering phase. Once individuals understand the cost of "overlooking requirements" they might be more willing to use techniques such as requirements reviews, JAD sessions, and improved processes to avoid the overtime, stress, and excessive cost of building those overlooked requirements late in the development process.
Everyone is responsible for quality, but senior management must emphasize and initiate quality improvement, and then move it down through the organization to the individual employees. The following three quality principles must be in place for quality to happen:.
Quality cannot be delegated effectively. Management must accept the responsibility for the quality of the products produced in their organization; otherwise, quality will not happen.
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