Quality Assurance

Review
The focus of Review is on a work product (e.g. Requirements document, Code etc.). After thework product is developed, the Project Leader calls for a Review. The work product is distributed to the personnel who involves in the review. The main audience for the review should be the Project Manager, Project Leader and the Producer of the work product.

Major reviews include the following:

1. In Process Reviews
2. Decision Point or Phase End Reviews
3. Post Implementation Reviews

As per statistics Reviews uncover over 65% of the defects and testing uncovers around 30%. So, it’s very important to maintain reviews as part of the V&V strategies.

In-Process Review: In-Process Review looks at the product during a specific time period of a life cycle, such as activity. They are usually limited to a segment of a project, with the goal of identifying defects as work progresses, rather than at the close of a phase or even later, when they are more costly to correct.

Decision-Point or Phase-End Review: This review looks at the product for the main purpose of determining whether to continue with planned activities. They are held at the end of each phase, in a semiformal or formal way. Defects found are tracked through resolution, usually by way of the existing defect tracking system. The common phase-end reviews are Software Requirements Review, Critical Design Review and Test Readiness Review.

- The Software Requirements Review is aimed at validating and approving the documented software requirements for the purpose of establishing a baseline and identifying analysis packages. The Development Plan, Software Test Plan, Configuration Management Plan are some of the documents reviews during this phase.

- The Critical Design Review baselines the detailed design specification. Test cases are reviewed and approved.

- The Test Readiness Review is performed when the appropriate application components are near completing. This review will determine the readiness of the application for system and acceptance testing.

Post Implementation Review: These reviews are held after implementation is complete to audit the process based on actual results. Post-Implementation reviews are also known as Postmortems and are held to assess the success of the overall process after release and identify any opportunities for process improvement. They can be held up to three to six months after implementation, and are conducted in a format.

Three general classes of reviews:

1. Informal or Peer Review
2. Semiformal or Walk-Through
3. Formal or Inspections

Peer Review is generally a one-to-one meeting between the author of a work product and a peer, initiated as a request for import regarding a particular artifact or problem. There is no agenda, and results are not formally reported. These reviews occur on an as needed basis throughout each phase of a project.

Inspections
A knowledgeable individual called a moderator, who is not a member of the team or the author ofthe product under review, facilitates inspections. A recorder who records the defects found and actions assigned assists the moderator. The meeting is planned in advance and material is distributed to all the participants and the participants are expected to attend the meeting well prepared. The issues raised during the meeting are documented and circulated among the members present and the management.
Walkthroughs
The author of the material being reviewed facilitates walk-Through. The participants are led through the material in one of two formats; the presentation is made without interruptions and comments are made at the end, or comments are made throughout. In either case, the issues raised are captured and published in a report distributed to the participants. Possible solutions for uncovered defects are not discussed during the review.