Quality Management Systems

As we have seen so far, there are various ways we can ensure quality in our projects, but how do we evaluate whether the quality system we pick is effective? This becomes more of a concern if one organization needs to contract its work to another and needs to know whether the contractor will be able to provide quality services and products. This need for the quality system to be auditable necessitates the use of a Quality Management System (QMS).

A QMS is a set of standards that defines how an organization can meet the requirements of its customers and other stakeholders. Quality standards are a set of guidelines, rather than actual standards, that have been widely accepted in the software industry with defined processes and evaluation metrics to help improve the quality of software. The motivation for the selection of a standard is left to the business and the management to decide. Once certified, it is imperative to have the quality plan in place based on the certification that is opted for.

All quality standards have the same underlying principles:

• Well-defined processes to develop software
• Aligning people with processes to synergize and promote commitment to the quality-improvement program
• Enforcing the requirement to produce documentation for each process

Thus, processes should be used as facilitators for quality improvement rather than a hindrance. It is the management's responsibility to foster a culture within the organization that works within the well-defined framework for development while promoting incentives to drive quality at every step of the development process.

There are several software-engineering standards that have been developed by major standardization and certification bodies. The ISO 9000 and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) are the most widely-used international standards in software-engineering and product-development organizations. Let's look at them in detail to understand how implementing standards can help an organization to ensure quality.