Software quality assurance

Abstract

Quality and quality assurance are difficult to define unambiguously in most industries, and this problem is even worse in the software industry. There is, also, a lack of agreement about the goals and functions of software quality assurance (SQA). SQA seems to have no distinctive role other than subjectively assessing the work of software developers and managers. The paper suggests that SQA should take responsibility for the company software metrics programme, and describes the research from the Alvey and the ESPRIT programmes which provide a useful starting point for QA staff. Not only would this give SQA staff a well-defined role, it would also provide the means to address the real issues which should be resolved to assure product quality, such as providing the means both to measure ‘quality’, and to obtain objective evidence of the costs and benefits of various software development techniques.