Measuring engineering software quality
Overview
This standard identifies the competences you need to measure software quality as part of the product definition activity, in accordance with approved procedures. You will be given a detailed brief, and will be required to assess these requirements and to extract all necessary information in order to carry out this activity. You will need to select the appropriate software method to use, based on the project requirements. You will be expected to use current British, European, international and company standards to measure the software quality.
Your responsibilities will require you to comply with organisational policy and procedures for working in the software development team. You will be required to report any problems with the computer hardware, software or procedures that you cannot personally resolve, or that are outside your permitted authority, to the relevant people. You will be expected to work to verbal/written instructions and draft specifications, with a minimum of supervision, taking personal responsibility for your own actions and for the quality and accuracy of the work that you carry out.
Your underpinning knowledge will provide a good understanding of your work and will provide an informed approach to measuring software quality. You will understand the computer system and software used, and its application, and will know about the various tools and techniques used to measure all aspects of software quality.
You will understand the safety precautions required when working in the software development team. You will be required to demonstrate safe working practices throughout and will understand the responsibility you owe to yourself and others in the workplace.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- work safely at all times, complying with health and safety legislation, regulations, directives and other relevant guidelines
- plan and prepare the software quality measurement activities before you start them
- use appropriate sources to obtain the required information for the measurement activities
- access and use the correct software components
- create the software tests using appropriate techniques
- use references that follow the required conventions
- apply the appropriate quality measurement techniques
- check the output from the quality reviews
- save and store the software quality results as the appropriate file type and in the correct location
- review and report your findings
deal promptly and effectively with problems within your control, and seek help and guidance from the relevant people if you have problems that you cannot resolve
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- the specific safety precautions to be taken when working in a software quality measuring environment (to include such items as safety guidance relating to the use of visual display unit (VDU) equipment and workstation environment; repetitive strain injury (RSI); the dangers of trailing leads and cables; how to spot faulty or dangerous electrical leads, plugs and connections)
- how to return the work area to a safe and useable condition (such as cleaning down work surfaces; putting media, manuals and unwanted items of equipment into safe storage; leaving the work area in a safe and tidy condition)
- the relevant sources and methods for obtaining any required technical information relevant to the software quality measurement (such as new model brief/request, drawing briefs, specification sheets, request for changes or modifications to code; technical publications; calculations; software requirements; audit reports)
- software quality standards and levels
- software quality methodologies: national, international and relevant organisational software procedures
- software quality measurements
- the collection and use of software metrics
- the need for configuration control on all components (such as ensuring that completed results are approved, labelled and stored on a suitable storage device)
- why it is necessary to liaise with other individuals to establish software qualities
- when to act on your own initiative, and when to seek help and advice from others
Scope/range
Prepare for the software quality measurement activities by carrying out all of the following:
- check that the working environment is in a safe and suitable condition and that all working equipment is in a safe, tested and usable condition (such as cables undamaged, correctly connected, safely routed)
- identify an appropriate software metric (such as lines of code, software test coverage)
- set up the analysis environment
- identify the relevant software code to be analysed
- identify the relevant software process to be reviewed
- identify the required standards and all relevant sources (such as software requirements, design and software coding standards)
Use two of the following as sources of data to collect software metrics:
- change order/modification requests
- software design
- process and quality documents
- software analysis
- software requirements
- code
- standards reference documents
- testing tools
- technical notes
Carry out all of the following before measuring software quality:
- ensure that the data and information you have is complete and accurate
- analyse the data and information to identify requirements of the quality analysis to be preformed
- recognise and deal with problems (such as technical issues and lack of information, or incorrect, information)
Collect metrics, as required by one of the following:
- BS or ISO standards and procedures
- other accepted international standards
- customer (contractual) standards and requirements
- company standards and procedures
- recognised compliance agency/body's standards
Review the quality metrics for all of the following:
- completeness
- traceability
- accuracy
Save and store the results in appropriate locations, to include carrying out all of the following:
- check that the results are correctly titled, referenced and annotated
- ensure that the results have been checked and that it complies with the company procedure
- save the results to an appropriate location (such as storage device, configuration database)
- ensure a separate backup copy is created and placed in safe storage
Review the findings of the software analysis, using one of the following:
- formal report
- software quality report
- metrics report
- software vendor code assessment