Software quality control is the set of procedures used by organizations
[Clapp, Judith A, ''Software Quality Control, Error Analysis, and Testing'', 1995 William Andrew In.] to ensure that a software product will meet its quality goals at the best value to the customer,
and to continually improve the organization’s ability to produce software products in the future.
Software quality control refers to specified functional requirements as well as non-functional requirements such as supportability, performance and usability.
It also refers to the ability for software to perform well in unforeseeable scenarios and to keep a relatively low defect rate.
These specified procedures and outlined requirements lead to the idea of Verification and Validation and software testing.
It is distinct from software
quality assurance
Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to ensure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...
which encompasses processes and standards for ongoing maintenance of high quality of products, e.g. software deliverables, documentation and processes - avoiding defects. Whereas software quality control is a validation of artifacts compliance against established criteria - finding defects.
Definition
Software quality control is a function that checks whether a software component, or supporting artifact meets requirements, or is "fit for use". Software Quality Control is commonly referred to as Testing.
Quality Control Activities
*Check that assumptions and criteria for the selection of data and the different factors related to data are documented.
*Check for transcription errors in data input and reference.
*Check the integrity of database files.
*Check for consistency in data.
*Check that the movement of inventory data among processing steps is correct.
*Check for uncertainties in data, database files etc.
*Undertake review of internal documentation.
*Check methodological and data changes resulting in recalculations.
*Undertake completeness checks.
*Compare Results to previous Results.
Software Control Methods
*Rome laboratory Software framework
*Goal Question Metric Paradigm
*Risk Management Model
*The Plan-Do-Check-Action Model of Quality Control
*Total Software Quality Control
*Spiral Model Of Software Developments
*Control management tool
Verification and validation
Verification and validation
Verification and validation (also abbreviated as V&V) are independent procedures that are used together for checking that a product, service, or system meets requirements and specifications and that it fulfills its intended purpose. These are ...
assure that a software system meets a user's needs.
Verification: "Are we building the product right?" The software should conform to its specification.
Validation: "Are we building the right product?" The software should do what the user really requires.
Two principal objectives are:
*Discovery of defects in a system.
*Assessment of whether the system is usable in an operational situation.
Verification and Validation of Methods
*Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V)
*Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)
*Requirements Verification Matrix
*Software Quality Assurance
Testing
*
Unit testing
In computer programming, unit testing is a software testing method by which individual units of source code—sets of one or more computer program modules together with associated control data, usage procedures, and operating procedures&md ...
*
Functional testing
Functional testing is a quality assurance (QA) processPrasad, Dr. K.V.K.K. (2008) ''ISTQB Certification Study Guide'', Wiley, , p. vi and a type of black-box testing that bases its test cases on the specifications of the software component unde ...
*
Integration testing
Integration testing (sometimes called integration and testing, abbreviated I&T) is the phase in software testing in which individual software modules are combined and tested as a group. Integration testing is conducted to evaluate the complianc ...
*
System testing
System testing is testing conducted on a complete integrated system to evaluate the system's compliance with its specified requirements.
System testing takes, as its input, all of the integrated components that have passed integration testing. ...
*
Usability testing
Usability testing is a technique used in user-centered interaction design to evaluate a product by testing it on users. This can be seen as an irreplaceable usability practice, since it gives direct input on how real users use the system. It is m ...
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Software performance testing
In software quality assurance, performance testing is in general a testing practice performed to determine how a system performs in terms of responsiveness and stability under a particular workload. It can also serve to investigate, measure, valid ...
*
Load testing
Load testing is the process of putting demand on a structure or system and measuring its response.
Software load testing
The term ''load testing'' is used in different ways in the professional software testing community. ''Load testing'' gene ...
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Installation testing
*
Regression testing
Regression testing (rarely, ''non-regression testing'') is re-running functional and non-functional tests to ensure that previously developed and tested software still performs as expected after a change. If not, that would be called a '' regre ...
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Stress testing
Stress testing (sometimes called torture testing) is a form of deliberately intense or thorough testing used to determine the stability of a given system, critical infrastructure or entity. It involves testing beyond normal operational capacity, ...
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Acceptance testing
In engineering and its various subdisciplines, acceptance testing is a test conducted to determine if the requirements of a specification or contract are met. It may involve chemical tests, physical tests, or performance tests.
In systems en ...
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Beta testing
Software testing is the act of examining the artifacts and the behavior of the software under test by validation and verification. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to apprecia ...
*
Volume testing {{Unreferenced, date=March 2008
Volume testing belongs to the group of non-functional tests, which are often misunderstood and/or used interchangeably. Volume testing refers to testing a software application with a certain amount of data. This amou ...
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Recovery testing
In software testing, recovery testing is the activity of testing how well an application is able to recover from crashes, hardware failures and other similar problems.
Recovery testing is the forced failure of the software in a variety of ways t ...
See also
*
Software quality management
Software quality management (SQM) is a management process that aims to develop and manage the quality of software in such a way so as to best ensure that the product meets the quality standards expected by the customer while also meeting any neces ...
*
Software quality assurance
Software quality assurance (SQA) is a means and practice of monitoring all software engineering processes, methods, and work products to ensure compliance against defined standards. It may include ensuring conformance to standards or models, suc ...
*
Verification and Validation (software)
Verify or verification may refer to:
General
* Verification and validation, in engineering or quality management systems, is the act of reviewing, inspecting or testing, in order to establish and document that a product, service or system meets ...
*
Software testing
Software testing is the act of examining the artifacts and the behavior of the software under test by validation and verification. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to apprecia ...
References
*Wesselius, Jacco, "Some Elementary Questions on Software Quality Control"
*https://web.archive.org/web/20071023034030/http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/assure/agbsec5.txt
External links
Software Engineering Body of Knowledge Ch. 11 Sec. 2.1
{{Software quality
Quality control
Software quality