Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
further than just testing at the end of workflow or the end of the development
process. For example, the responsibilities of the SQA group include the devel-
opment of various standards to which the software must conform as well as the
establishment of the monitoring procedures for ensuring compliance with those
standards. In brief, the role of the SQA group is to ensure the quality of the
software process and thereby ensure the quality of the product (Schach
2007
).
10.2.2 Managerial Independence
It is important to have managerial independence between the development team
and the SQA group. If serious defects are found in the product as the delivery
deadline approaches, the software organization must now choose between two
unsatisfactory options. These options include the product being released on time
with faults, or the developers fixing it and delivering it late. Both problems should
be reported to the manager and he should decide which choice would be in the best
interests of both the software development organization and the client. Without an
SQA group, every member of the software development organization would have
been involved to some extent with quality assurance activities. In case small
software company, it may simply not be economically viable to have a separate
SQA group. The best that can be done is to ensure that the analysis artifacts are
checked by someone other than the person responsible for producing those arti-
facts (Schach
2007
).
10.3 Testing Management
Managing tests is at the least as critical as developing, planning and executing
them. Tests must be managed in a manner that provides isolation of the tester from
recourse of every issue they may encounter. If this isolation is not present, the
tester may not report the actually entity as incorrect and instead chose not to report
it. Worse yet, it may seem a good idea to deviate the implementation from the
design to gain the correct results.
Schach proposes that test managers need to have a level of mathematics ability
more substantial than most professionals in the field. This is due to the statistical
analysis required to determine when it is time for testers to test more, move on, or
continue their present plan. Only with the correct techniques correctly carried out
can the tests provide the best results possible. This knowledge of what, when and
how is the main purpose of a testing manager.
