Workshop

Managing Systems & Software Quality in 2017

Poor software quality is the root cause of some of the most expensive losses in human history ... and the pain continues in 2017!
In the beginning was easy to write a small program of high-quality but as program size increases and you're forced to deal with systems of interacting programs and then systems of systems your productivity falls off. This is largely due to missing or incorrect requirements and other design defects injected throughout the development life cycle. The difficulty of finding and fixing defects increases exponentially with system size. The result is higher risk of budget and schedule overrun.

An effective quality management system reduces IT risk by preventing problems and detecting defects where they occur.
Make the quality management discipline a major component of your company's IT risk reduction strategy. Companies with effective quality management systems achieve > 95% defect removal efficiencies and experience ROI's > $15 for each $1 spent.

Achieve high customer satisfaction ratings.
Make your customer's perception of quality precise and measurable. Transform your customer's requirements into precise definitions of quality and set quality goals. Apply quality classification frameworks to trace back from the customer's stated and implied needs to quality attributes. Measure quality from the perspectives of both the developer and the end user.

Improve the effectiveness of your QMS.
Set IT quality objectives and apply our QMS reference architecture to confirm you've covered all the essential components of an effective quality management system. The architecture is expressed in terms of views, ways of visualising, understanding and evolving your organisation's approach to software quality management.

➜ Learn more from our video

Demonstrate a return on your investment in quality.
Target high return areas for quality improvement. Justify spending on software quality. Identify and track software quality costs. Use quality cost models to identify where poor quality is costing you money. Balance the cost of poor quality with the cost to achieve quality to determine your optimum spend.

Design development processes that work.
Design software development methodologies. Improve the way the work is done by developing methods, processes, procedures and documentation standards that match your class of project. Identify situations where procedure writing won't help.

➜ See Les' blog here

Learn defect reduction techniques.
For example:
1. Defect prevention
    - Structured design and JAD
    - Structured code
2. Defect removal
    - Design and code inspections
    - Formal Testing

Design an ISO 9001 compliant SQMS.
Understand how each clause of ISO 9001 Quality management systems - Requirements applies to software development. Check your quality management system for compliance with ISO 9001. Discover other international standards for best practice that will help you improve your development processes.

➜ Learn more from our video

Quantify quality problems and initiate improvements.
Apply the fundamental metrics that illuminate quality problems and tell you if your quality goals are being met.
1. Classify defects.
2. Measure defect removal efficiency.
3. Identify problem modules.
4. Initiate action for quality improvement.

Benefits:

Save time. Presented by a practising professional in software quality, the workshop saves you time by summarising all the key elements of a software quality management system and providing candidate standards and procedures that can be tailored for your organisation.
Reduce ISO 9000 compliance costs. If you are seeking third party ISO 9000 accreditation this workshop will reduce your cost of compliance.
Build a quality culture. On attending this workshop, participants routinely report that they feel more motivated to improve quality in their organisations.

Who Should Attend

Information Systems Managers.
Quality Assurance Managers.
Project Managers.
People responsible for defining system and software development processes.
Anyone requiring a thorough introduction to systems and software engineering process.

Workshop Outline

Part 1: Software Quality Fundamentals

Unit 1: What is software quality?

Defining software quality with the ISO/IEC 9126 framework
Setting quality goals
Defining quality metrics

Unit 2: How is quality managed?

The ISO 9001 framework for quality management
Management responsibility
Interface with customers
Quality system structure - data and organisation

Unit 3: Costing software quality

Identifying and tracking software quality costs
Targeting high return areas for quality improvement
Justifying spending on software quality improvement

Unit 4: Establishing a quality culture

The fourteen management philosophies that are consistent with an effective quality culture

Unit 5: International standards for software quality

International standards for best practice that are relevant to software development
Applying ISO 9001 to software development
Designing a framework for an ISO 9001 compliant software quality management system

Part 2: Quality Management Processes

Unit 1: Defining the software process

Becoming a process advocate
Designing a software development methodology
Tailoring an existing methodology for a target project

Unit 2: Verifying and validating a software product

How V&V contributes to software quality
Identifying V&V tasks
Integrating V&V tasks with other life cycle activities
Planning V&V activities

Unit 3: Conducting inspections and walkthroughs

Becoming an advocate for detailed technical review
Conducting a walkthrough
Conducting an inspection

Unit 4: Auditing the quality management system

The auditor's mission
The audit process
Planning and conducting an audit
Writing an audit report

Unit 5: Conducting effective training

How we learn
Performing a training needs analysis
Setting learning objectives
Establishing a mentoring program
Evaluating training effectiveness

Part 3: Implementing the Quality System

Unit 1: Planning for software quality

The five phase software quality management implementation plan
Developing a project specific software quality plan

Unit 2: Assessing the software process

Assessing your organisation's software development processes with the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM)
Using the CMM to prioritise process improvement
Selecting the right performance metrics
Analysing process performance with data analysis techniques

Unit 3: Quality in requirements

Analysing the impact of the requirements process on software quality
ISO 9001 requirements for software requirements
Documenting the requirements development process
Evaluating the quality of software requirements
Developing standards for software requirements specifications

Unit 4: Quality in design

Reviewing ISO 9001 requirements for design
Describing the design process and artefacts
Evaluating the quality of software designs
Developing standards for software design descriptions

Unit 5: Quality in code

Interpreting ISO 9001 requirements for code
Describing the coding process
Dealing with complexity
Evaluating code quality
Developing coding standards

Unit 6: Controlling quality with testing

ISO 9001 requirements for testing
Establishing a test program
Developing test strategies
Developing test documentation
Evaluating test results. What defect densities should we expect?

Unit 7: Quality and configuration management

The unwanted consequences of ineffective configuration management
Interpreting ISO 9001 requirements for configuration management
Describing the configuration management process
Evaluating a project's approach to configuration management

Unit 8: Documenting the quality system

ISO 9001 requirements for software quality management system documentation
Designing a quality management system documentation structure
Reviewing the essential components of quality manuals, mission statements, policies, procedures and work instructions
Evaluating the quality of software quality management system elements

Meet the Workshop Leader

➜ Browse Les' Blog

Related talks

The Quality Management Framework

Architecting a Quality Management System

Highly Rated

This workshop is Australia’s most mature and well received software quality programme having been presented to over 1000 participants from 250 public and private sector organizations since 1991.

In-house Presentations

If you have a critical mass of people with this training need it may be more cost effective to run this workshop in-house. Our in-house presentations may be tailored for individual needs or presented in the standard format. For more information Email us or call Les Chambers on +61 7 38704199.

Participant Reaction

This workshop has saved me 6 months work in putting my quality manual together!

Of greatest value was the sample checklist with specific areas of applicability, and being able to relate quality standards to improved quality products through examples and case studies.

Good basis to move ahead. Case studies were excellent. Overall value for money.

I found the workshop very valuable and meaningful in spite of the fact that a good portion of the language was new and I lacked personal experience in this area.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. In addition to satisfying my objectives, I received a useful refresher on systems development practice.

I go away with a better idea of how to approach the daunting task of educating our staff on the need for and use of ISO 9001. I particularly enjoyed and gained a lot from the audit workshop. Thanks for a very interesting week.

At long last an exposition of a methodology that creates an environment which draws together numerous good work practices etc for its development and management.

I enjoyed this workshop as much as any I have attended in a long time. Would appreciate a similar seminar on Project Management.

Brings together many subjects that I had "touched-on" in the past but needed more information especially Software Engineering. I expect this information will be more and more useful to me in the future.

Especially appreciate the ‘real-life’ examples of the materials and would encourage more of this.

Useful introduction to the topic with sufficient information and direction to subsequently develop own SQMS.

Vitally important topic for Australian IT industry. Course well presented and message will be taken away by all attendees to their benefit and that of their employees.

Answered my specific needs re implementing ISO 9001. Knowledge of ISO 9001 very useful.

It is of great importance that the Presenter knows what he is talking about - Les is that kind of person.

Overall I found the course extremely worthwhile and will be putting it into practice next week onwards.

Enjoyed the course; it truly helped me come to terms with ISO 9001. The course was given by someone who has particular experience.

Well worth the time; will save me a lot of time and effort over the next 18 months.

This was the best course I have attended for several years; I guess because of Les’ personal involvement with the subject and clear organization of material. Thanks.

Has given me an excellent starting point for setting up our own software quality management system. I aim to start next week.

The workshop was very professionally run and presented.

The workshop has been very useful as it has allowed me to identify the areas in our organization which need to be attacked first.

Past Workshop Attendees

WorkCover New South Wales,Telstra, AMP Society, American Express TRS Technologies, Australian Army, Royal Australian Navy, RAAF HQ Logistics Command, Citibank, Fujitsu Australia , GIO Australia, NSW TAB, NSW Police Service, NSW Public Works Department, Software Associates, Westpac, Computer Power Group, Department of Community Services & Health, Australian Tax Office, University of Canberra, Department of Social Security, Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria, SPL, Vic State Insurance Office, Department of Defence, Australian Eagle Insurance, Oracle Corp, SEQEB, Antarctic Division, CITEC, QLD Department of Education, Runge Mining, Australian Submarine Corp

Presenter Profile

Background. Les Chambers is a practising professional software engineer with extensive international experience in developing real time and commercial data management systems. In the context of assignments in the U.S.A., Asia, the Middle East and Australia he has performed the sum of all tasks required to construct a software and electronic system; from project manager, safety authority, quality manager, configuration manager to requirements engineer, V&V engineer, design authority, system architect, controls engineer, software developer and hardware designer.

Les is principal of Chambers & Associates Pty Ltd, a Brisbane based systems and software engineering, training and consulting practice he founded in 1988. Les works in Australia and internationally with clients in the industry sectors of railway and road transportation, telecommunications, defence, gaming, government, manufacturing and control systems. His clients have included Telstra, Honeywell, Siemens, Boeing, Royal Australian Air Force, Jupiters Casino Group, Invensys, Ansaldo and Rockwell.

Quality Management Experience. Les' views on software quality spring from his experiences as both a working quality manager on large projects and as a quality consultant responsible for providing advice on implementing software quality management systems. As a consultant he assists organisations in developing and improving software and systems engineering processes.

Training Skills. As a trainer Les' international experience in the nuts and bolts of developing reliable software provides a wealth of case studies. His workshops are consistently rated highly for his mastery of the subject and his ability to entertain and motivate the listener.

Education. Les holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering Honours Degree from Queensland University and has completed quality management system assessor training with Standards Australia.