Quality

Principles and
Concepts
Vishwatosh Tripathi
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Version Control
Version Change Log Author Date
1.0 First Draft Vishwatosh 31-Oct-2013
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Contents
Vocabulary of Quality
Understand the terms used to explain and implement quality in an IT organization.
The Different Views of Quality
The Two Quality Gaps
Quality Attributes for an Information System
Quality Concepts and Practices
PDCA Cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act)
Cost of Quality
Six Sigma Quality
Baselining and Benchmarking
Earned Value
Quality Control and Quality Assurance
Quality Control
Understanding and Using the Just-In-Time (JIT) Technique
Quality Assurance
Differentiating Between Quality Control and Quality Assurance
Quality Pioneers Approach to Quality
Dr. W. Edward Deming
Philip Crosby
Dr. Joseph Juran
Total Quality Management
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Vocabulary of Quality
Defect
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.
Policy - Managerial desires and intents concerning either processes (intended objectives) or
products (desired attributes).
Procedure - The step-by-step method followed to ensure that standards are met.
Process
The work effort that produces a product. This includes efforts of people and equipment
guided by policies, standards, and procedures.
A statement of purpose and an essential set of practices (activities) that address that
purpose. A process or set of processes used by an organization or project to plan,
manage, execute, monitor, control, and improve its software related activities.
Productivity - 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).
Standard - A requirement of a product or process. For example: 100 percent of the
functionality must be tested.
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The Different Views of Quality

Customer View-
Receiving the right product for their use
Being satisfied that their needs have been met
Meeting their expectations
Being treated with integrity, courtesy and
respect
Producer View-
Doing the right thing
Doing it the right way
Doing it right the first time
Doing it on time without exceeding cost
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The Different Views of Quality

Provider View- This is the perspective of the
organization that delivers the products and
services to the customer.
Supplier View- This is the perspective of the
organization (that may be external to the
producers company, such as an
independent vendor) that provides either the
producer and/or the provider with products
and services needed to meet the
requirements of the customer.
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The two Quality Gaps..

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Definition of Quality
Doing it right the first time meeting customer
requirements (Fn. and non Fn.), according to
agreed upon standards and within the
agreed time frame.
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Big Q
Together the below three constitute the
Big Q
Product Quality
Process Quality
Customer Satisfaction
Smallq is concerned only about the
product quality limited to product defect
rate.
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Quality Attributes of an
Information System
Attributes Definition
Correctness Extent to which a program satisfies its
specifications and fulfills the users mission
objectives.
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.
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Quality Attributes of an
Information System
Attributes Definition
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.
Flexibility Effort required modifying an operational
program.
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.
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PDCA Plan Do Check Act

Plan - Design or revise business process
components to improve results
Do - Implement the plan and measure its
performance
Check - Assess the measurements and
report the results to decision makers
Act - Decide on changes needed to
improve the process
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PDCA ..
Kaoru Ishikawa has
Demings Wheel

expanded Deming's four

steps into Six
Determine goals and
targets.
Determine methods of
reaching goals.
Engage in education
and training.
Implement work.
Check the effects of
implementation.
Take appropriate
action.
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Cost of Quality
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.
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Cost of Quality
Cost of Quality has two main components
Cost of Conformance
The total cost of ensuring that a product is good
quality. It is an organizations investment into quality of
its products.
It includes QA costs, i.e. training, standards and
processes and QC costs, i.e. reviews, audits,
inspections and testing
Cost of Non-conformance
Costs incurred by an organization once the product
or services fail in achieving their goals
For example cost of fixing production issues, possible
loss of business etc.
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Cost of Quality
Prevention
Money required preventing errors and to do the job right the first time
is considered prevention cost. 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
Appraisal costs cover money spent to review completed products
against requirements. 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.
Failure
Failure costs are all costs associated with defective products. 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.
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Cost of Quality
Studies show that the COQ in IT is approximately 50% of the total
cost of building a product. Of the 50% COQ, 40% is failure, 7% is
appraisal, and 3% is prevention. Other studies have shown that $1
spent on appraisal costs will reduce failure costs threefold; and
each dollar spent on prevention costs will reduce failure costs
tenfold. 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.
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The three key principles of

quality
Management is responsible for quality - 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. A quality function is only a
catalyst in making quality happen. The quality function assists
management in building quality information systems by monitoring
quality and making recommendations to management about
areas where quality can be improved. As the quality function is a
staff function, not management, it cannot dictate quality for the
organization. Only management can make quality happen.
Producers must use effective quality control - All of the parties and
activities involved in producing a product must be involved in
controlling the quality of those products. This means that the
workers will be actively involved in the establishment of their own
standards and procedures.
Quality is a journey, not a destination - The objective of the quality
program must be continuous improvement. The end objective of
the quality process must be satisfied customers.
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Best Practices
A Best Practice is one of the most
effective practices for performing a
specific process. Best Practices are
normally identified by benchmarking, or
by an independent assessment. Best
Practices are also identified through
winners of quality competitions such as
the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award, Deming Prize, etc.
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Six Sigma Quality

Motorola developed a concept called Six
Sigma Quality that focuses on defect rates,
as opposed to percent performed correctly.
Sigma is a statistical term meaning one
standard deviation. Six Sigma means six
standard deviations. At the Six Sigma
statistical level, only 3.4 items per million are
outside of the acceptable level. Thus, the Six
Sigma quality level means that out of every
one million items counted 999,996.6 will be
correct, and no more than 3.4 will be
defective.
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Baselining and Benchmarking

Baselining is defining the current level of
performance. For example, the number of defects
currently contained in a thousand lines of code is
usually calculated quantitatively and can be used
to measure improvement.
Benchmarking involves a comparison of one
organizations, or one part of an organizations,
process for performing a work task to another
organizations process, for the purpose of finding
best practices or competitive practices that will
help define superior performance of a product,
service or support process.
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Earned Value
It is important that quality professionals be able to
demonstrate that their work provides value to their
organization. Return-on-investment (ROI) that
demonstrates the dollars returned for the dollars
invested is one of the more popular means to
demonstrate value returned. However, ROI is not
designed to measure subjective values such as
customer loyalty. There is no generally accepted
best way to measure the value earned from
quality initiatives. It is recommended that quality
professionals use the method(s) recommended by
their accounting function for calculating earned
value.
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Quality Control - QC
Quality Control measures both products and processes for
conformance to quality requirements (including both the specific
requirements prescribed by the product specification, and the
more general requirements prescribed by *Quality Assurance*);
identifies acceptable limits for significant *Quality Attributes*;
identifies whether products and processes fall within those limits
(conform to requirements) or fall outside them (exhibit defects);
and reports accordingly. Correction of product failures generally
lies outside the ambit of Quality Control; correction of process
failures may or may not be included.

Also called statistical quality control. The managerial process during

which actual process performance is evaluated and actions are
taken on unusual performance. It is a process to ensure whether a
product meets predefined standards and requisite action taken if
the standards are not met.
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Quality Assurance - QA
A planned and systematic set of activities to ensure that variances in
processes are clearly identified, assessed and improving defined processes for
fulfilling the requirements of customers and product or service makers.

A planned and systematic pattern of all actions necessary to provide

adequate confidence that the product optimally fulfills customer's
expectations.

A planned and systematic set of activities to ensure that requirements are

clearly established and the defined process complies to these requirements.

"Work done to ensure that Quality is built into work products, rather than
Defects." This is by (a) identifying what "quality" means in context; (b)
specifying methods by which its presence can be ensured; and (c) specifying
ways in which it can be measured to ensure conformance.
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QA Vs. QC

QA QC
Process Driven Approach: It is Concerned with Product:
a process to monitor and It measures and controls
improve existing quality
processes. the quality of the software
Quality Assurance ensures
as it is being developed.
that the processes designed Quality Control ensures
for the product development that the final product is
and services are effective error free and satisfactory.
enough to meet the
objectives. Quality Control focuses on
Quality Assurance focuses on finding defects in the
defect prevention. product
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Understanding and Using the

Just in Time (JIT) Technique
Just-in-time (JIT) is a revolutionary production
system developed by Taiichi Ohno, a Toyota
vice president.
The ultimate goal of JIT production is to supply
each process with exactly the required items,
in exactly the required quantity, at exactly
the required time. There are two conditions
necessary to reach this situation: large
amounts of production flexibility, and very
short lead times.
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Understanding and Using the

Just in Time (JIT) Technique
Just-in-time principles can be used in IT in the
following ways:
Systems development and maintenance tasks become
driven when the user of an internal or external product
or service needs them. Programs would not be
developed before they are needed for test or
production.
Systems analysts and programmers would not be given
information and documents to store until they need
them.
Internal information processes would be designed so
individuals can move from job to job with minimal delay.
For example, programmers should be able to stop
working on one program and start another within the JIT
ten-minute turnover standard.
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Edward Demings 14 Points

Create Consistency of Purpose in the Company
Learn the New Philosophy
Require Statistical Evidence of Information Technology Quality
Reduce the Number of Vendors
Use Statistical Methods to Find Sources of Trouble
Institute Modern Aids to Training on the Job
Improve Supervision
Drive Out Fear
Break Down Barriers Between Departments
Eliminate Numerical Goals, Slogans, Pictures, Posters Urging People to
Increase Productivity, Sign Their Work as an Autograph, etc.
Look Carefully at Work Standards
Institute a Massive Training Program for Employees in Simple but Powerful
Statistical Methods
Institute a Vigorous Program for Retraining People in New Skills
Create a Structure in Top Management that Will Push Every Day on the Above
13 Points
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Philip Crosby Do it right the

first time
Crosby in his books phrased terms like - "Quality Without
Tears" and "Quality is Free
He defined quality as a conformity to certain specifications
set forth by management and not some vague concept of
"goodness." These specifications are not arbitrary either;
they must be set according to customer needs and wants.
Four Absolutes of Quality Management
Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as
'goodness' or 'elegance'.
The system for causing quality is prevention, not appraisal.
The performance standard must be Zero Defects, not "that's
close enough".
The measurement of quality is the Price of Nonconformance,
not indices.
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Joseph M Juran Quality

Trilogy
Quality Planning Identify who are the customers.
Determine the needs of those customers.
Translate those needs into our language.
Develop a product that can respond to those needs.
Optimise the product features so as to meet our needs and customer needs.

Quality Improvement Develop a process which is able to produce the product.

Optimise the process.
Quality Control Prove that the process can produce the product under operating conditions with minimal
inspection.
Transfer the process to Operations.
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Total Quality Management

TQM is the term used by many to indicate an organization-wide effort of
continuous process improvement
The improved performance is directed toward satisfying such cross-functional
goals as quality, cost, schedule, mission, need and suitability.
TQM is a process of controlled change.
Central to the TQM approach is the change in management philosophy
regarding the "responsibility for quality." Formerly it rested with a separate group
of individuals in a department/directorate/division often designated as quality
assurance. Under TQM, the responsibility rests with every employee, beginning
with top management. Skill Category 2 provides additional insight into the
change in management philosophy, new behaviors for management and
leadership.
TQM is accomplished using a team organization; both management and the
employees are members of "quality teams" that focus on continuous process
improvement
Communication must be encouraged to allow employees and management to
work together to reach the mutual goal of continuous process improvement.
The timing, sequence, method of implementation, and integration of these
elements will vary from one organization to another.
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Thank You