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SOP
1210: Quality
Function
Objective: |
The
objective of this Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
is
to provide an overview of the methods used to design and implement quality
monitoring for product/project management. |
Scope: |
This
SOP focuses on quality components of business plans, development of an
overall quality plan, test strategy, integration and system test plans,
preparation and verification of test plans, definition of version control
procedures, execution of test plans and validation, user acceptance and
performance testing, system deployment and quality monitoring for deployed
systems.
|
Owner: |
Development |
|
Sections:
Related
Standard
Operating
Procedures:
1000 |
Program/Project
Management |
1005 |
Release
Planning |
1040 |
Requirements
Definition |
1041 |
Detail
Design |
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SDLC Standard Operating Procedures:
SDLC Framework:
SDLC Gates:
SDLC Roles and Responsibilities:
SDLC Forms:
SDLC Templates:
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SOP 1210 - Quality Function Definitions
Term |
Definition/Description |
Program/Project
Management
. |
The
systematic execution of a System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) for a
release or projects that have significant impact on an organization’s
service delivery. This
procedure oversees the SDLC execution; thus, it relies heavily on defined
procedure activities and acceptance criteria for inputs and outputs
Note: Every unit within SDLC interacts with Program/Project Management.
Every release of new and enhanced features and functionality
requires the commitment and effort from all departments. |
Project
Manager |
The
focal point throughout a project who ensures that the responsible party
has completed with quality and comply with defined acceptance criteria.
The Project
Manager also acts as the conduit for communicating the progress of
the project and decisions made throughout the process to the Project Sponsor,
Contracting
Organization, and the Performing
Organization. |
Program
Management |
Addresses
oversight for a group of projects. Program
Managers shoulder the responsible for the successful completion of
program objectives by supporting and developing project staff.
Reporting at this level provides Executive
Management with the information necessary to make informed
decisions and execute actions that optimize benefits to the organization.
|
Program
Manager |
The
tactical manager who facilitates, monitors and communicates the progress
and issues in implementing the strategic objectives of an approved
program. The Program
Manager works cross-functionally to develop the blueprint that
integrates multiple release deliverables that enhance the program’s
portfolio.
|
PMO |
The
PMO is the organization
that consolidates all project plans and reports the status to executive
management. Impacts from
individual projects can be seen from an organizational perspective and
responded to rapidly. The PMO is where project and
program standards, procedures, policies and reporting are established.
|
Business
Gate |
defined
milestone in a project lifecycle when specific requirements must be met in
order to make or validate business decisions relating to the project.
|
Lock-Down |
The
milestone in a project schedule achieved when agreement exists between the
Performing Organizations and the Contracting Organizations for the
delivery of a defined project scope of work within a defined schedule at a
defined cost.
|
Management
Phase Review |
An
event associated with selected business gates where specific decisions
concerning the project are made by appropriate levels of management.
Deviations in deliverables or timeframe are handled by convening
the Gate 6 Review Board. This group will make any decisions concerning scope,
cost, and schedule tradeoffs. These
business gates are:
-
G-11:
Project Strategy Lock-Down
-
G-10:
Requirements Scope Lock-Down
-
G-6:
Project Lock-Down
-
G-4:
Begin Validation
-
G-2:
Begin FOA
-
G-0:
General Availability
|
SDLC Business Gates |
The foundation is Program/Project Management in the SDLC Business Gates. This Systems
Development Life Cycle (SDLC) begins at project initiation and moves
through deployment to the production environment. |
Phase |
A
collection of logically related project activities, usually culminating in
the completion of a major deliverable. The conclusion of a project phase
is generally marked by a review of both key deliverables and project
performance in order to determine if the project should continue into its
next phase as defined or with modifications or be terminated and to detect
and correct errors cost effectively.
|
Program |
A
defined set of projects containing common dependencies, and/or resources
and/or objectives overseen by a Program Manager |
Project |
A
temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service. A
project has a defined scope of work (unique product or service), a time
constraint within which the project objectives must be completed
(temporary) and a cost constraint. In the context of SDLC, a project may be one of:
- an
individual feature
- a
collection of features making a release
- a
collection of product releases making up a portfolio
- a
new product development
|
System
Development Life Cycle (SDLC) |
A
predictable series of phases through which a new information system
progresses from conception to implementation.
All of the activities involved with creating and operating an
information system, from the planning phase and/or the initial concept to
the point at which the system is installed in a production environment.
The major phases are Release Planning, Definition (Requirements and
Specifications), Development, Test (Validation), and Deployment.
|
Scope
of Work |
The
Scope of Work (SOW) contains a listing of all internal and external needs
for the project. This user requirements specified in this list define the
goals for the project.
|
First
Office Application
|
The
First Office Application (FOA) is the first installation and use of the
product/project at one or more designated user/client sites.
|
Training
Needs Form |
This
document outlines all of the functionality that will require training
within a product/project release, who will provide training, who needs to
receive training and whether or not there will be an FOA rollout training
and controlled rollout training.
|
Internet
Service Provider |
The
Internet Service Provider for SDLC provides access to the internet including hardware and software required to establish, maintain and monitor connectivity.
|
1.
Process
Flow Diagrams
Quality
Function Overview
Click Image to Enlarge

Click Image to Enlarge
2.
Roles and Responsibilities
Role |
Responsibility |
Development
Team Leaders
|
Development
Team Leaders
are experienced and knowledgeable individuals responsible for a group of
Developers
and lead the development and delivery of code underlying release
features and functionality. Each
Development
Team Leader has a broad knowledge of all software infrastructure tools used at SDLC, the SDLC web site and mastery in at least one of the following areas: active server pages (ASP), Java or database.
|
Developers
|
Developers are a group of software engineers, at various levels of proficiency and knowledge of the SDLC site, under the supervision of a
Development
Team Leader. They
generate and pre-QA tests the code.
|
Engineering
Department
|
The
Engineering
Department consists of Development (Sustaining, Advanced and Strategic),
Quality
Assurance, Operations
(OCC, Release Engineering, Database Administration, Network, Unix, and
Operations Engineering), Systems Engineering and Program
Management.
|
Product Design
Group
|
The
Product
Design Group is the client-facing area in product that
prototypes and mock-ups client specifications, reaches consensus with
clients on requirements, and insures that requirements are delivered as
defined in the Scope of Work
document.
|
Program
Manager
|
The
Program
Manager is the point individual in the Engineering Department
who oversees one or more releases from inception through delivery of the
solution by the Engineering Department.
|
Project
Manager
|
The
Project
Manager is the point individual in the Product Department who
oversees one or more releases from inception through delivery into
production.
|
Project
Sponsor
|
The
Project
Sponsor is assigned by Senior
Management during the
concept phase and is responsible for all project start-up activities.
The Project Sponsor must be
a member of Senior Management, as this person needs to get backing,
commitment and support from top-level management. The Project Sponsor develops a release strategy (project strategy)
which includes a timeline, research and development budget,
affordability percentage, service requests to be included, and any
additional anchor objectives. The Project
Sponsor is empowered by Senior
Management to arbitrate amongst projects for resources, commit
the organization to specific deliverables and timeframes, and facilitate
resolution of obstacles to the successful completion of a release.
|
Senior
Management
|
Senior
Management
is the executive management team at SDLC. They
establish business strategy and commission projects.
|
Contracting
Organization
|
The
Contracting Organization contracts with the performing organization to
develop the product using a project discipline. The Contracting Organization represents two departments:
Product and Technical Support. Product
is divided into Sales and Advertising, Marketing and Product, and
Strategic Development. A
brief description of each area follows.
-
Sales
and Marketing: The area that sells to clients/customers in both the
domestic and international markets.
-
Marketing
and Product: This area manages the portfolio of features and
functionality for outbound marketing.
-
Strategic
Development: Research and Development group viewing opportunities in
emerging markets and up-selling existing accounts.
-
Technical
Support: Technical Support performs two roles in the current
environment: Training and customer support.
As the Service Organization they provide customer support to
end-users. In their role as the Training Organization they provide
training to field and service engineers.
|
Performing
Organization
|
The Performing Organization
is generally the Engineering Department.
The Engineering Department consists of Development (Sustaining,
Advanced and Strategic), Validation/Quality Assurance, Operations (OCC,
Release Engineering, Database Administration, Network and Operations
Engineering), Systems Engineering/Architecture and project management.
|
Service Organization
|
The Service Organization is the unit that that provides deployment support services to the Contracting Organization for all SDLC products.
Services include provision and support of deployment tools,
software load support, problem resolution, phone support and deployment
planning support. At SDLC the Service Organization is generally Technical Support.
|
Training Organization
|
The Training Organization is the organization that provides customer installation and operations training to the Contracting Organization for all SDLC products. This
generally refers to Technical Support.
|
3.
Metrics
Metrics
covers from Technical Design through Development.
Defect tracking metrics against Development
efforts is addressed in the Quality Function Procedure..
Metric |
Description |
Cycle
Time
|
The number of days or hours it takes to complete requirements for a SDLC Business Gate and/or milestone.
|
Defects
|
Instances of failure
to pass specific tests or quality measures or to meet
specification/acceptance criteria. These are recorded and assessed
throughout a project and reported at the end of the project.
|
Change
Agents
|
Individuals who analyze a
process and recommend ways to improve it, successful or not in its
adoption, will be reported to Engineering Department management. These individuals will receive recognition for their effort
to compress cycle times and/or improve quality.
|
4.
Procedure
Activities
The
origins of Project and Quality Plans begin prior to Gate 12 with the
contribution of information from the Quality Assurance Function of
the Performing Organization to the product development area with
service specifications and feature definitions. Quality considerations are
incorporated into business requirement, project plan and system requirements
documentation fro Gate 12 into Gate 6. The Quality Assurance Function
contributes advise of bugs discovered for production systems,
Note: Whether program/project development is executing
or not, the Quality Assurance group performs continuous Quality Reviews on a
regular basis.
Gate/Activity |
Description |
Click Image to Enlarge
|
Product
Development
|
Create
Business Requirements and submit to Quality
Assurance for approval.
|
Quality
Assurance
|
Review
and approve Business Requirements.
|
Program
Management
|
Create
Business Plan with input from Development, Quality
Assurance and Operations. The final business plan
will not be completed until project lock down is complete at Gate 6.
|
Quality
Assurance
|
Create
Quality plan. This requires input from Project Management,
Operations and Development. Additional input
may be required from Technical Support and a
representative of the Client/Customer.
|
Development
|
Create
System Requirements and submit to Quality Assurance for
approval. System requirements are created in the Development group with
input from Quality Assurance and Operations.
|
Quality
Assurance
|
Review
and approve System Requirements.
|
Development
|
At Gate 6, develop
Functional
Specifications for the project and submit to Quality Assurance
for approval.
|
Quality
Assurance
|
At Gate 6,
Quality Assurance assembles input from
Development,
Program
Management and
Operations to develop a
Test Strategy for the product/project.
-
Develop Test Strategy
-
Review Functional Specification for
Completeness
-
Development Integration and System Test Plans
-
Inspect Project Plan
-
Develop Specifications for the Test
Environment
The Test Strategy and
Test Plans are submitted to
Program
Management for review and approval. The specification
for the Development and Test environments is sent to operations.
|
Operations
|
Prepare Development and
Test Environments and define version control procedures.
|
Program
Management
|
Review and approve
Test Strategy and
Test
Plans submitted by
Quality Assurance.
|
Quality
Assurance
|
Verify testing
preparation to ensure configuration is complete, test tools are
available and test cases exercise the full scope of the application.
Submit the test cases to
Governance for approval.
|
Operations
|
Prepare Integration Test
Environment for
Development.
|
Development
|
Implement systems and
perform unit and integration tests. Fix all defects detected during unit
and integration testing. All test results, defects and fixes must be
thoroughly documented. While implementation is proceeding, documentation
creation should be implemented in parallel and should continue after
testing is complete.
|
Product
Development
|
Develop an Acceptance
Test Plan for the product.
|
Technical
Support and Product Development
|
Complete User Acceptance
Test Cases. Based on the
User Requirements established for the product/project
|
Governance
|
Approve system test
cases (Product
Validation)
|
Operations
|
Prepare System Test
Environment for
QA.
|
Quality
Assurance
|
Execute Integration
Testing and log and track all defects. Defects are submitted to
Development for fixing. Testing criteria include percentages
for completion of testing, “passed” tests and open problems. Once
fixes are completed they are tested again and accepted or rejected. Test
results are submitted to
Governance.
|
Quality
Assurance
|
Execute System (QA)
Testing and log and track all defects. Defects are submitted to
Development for fixing. Testing criteria include percentages
for completion of testing, “passed” tests and open problems. Once
fixes are completed they are tested again and accepted or rejected. Test
results are submitted to
Governance. System Testing should incorporate:
-
Functional Testing
-
Systems Testing
-
Integration Testing
-
Load/Stress Testing
-
Regression Testing
Testing results are
turned over to the Governance function for review.
|
Development
and Quality Assurance
|
Complete agreed upon
fixes and refine product documentation. Documentation may require
several revisions before refinement is complete.
|
Governance
|
Approve product/project
deliverables for User Acceptance Testing.
|
Click Image to Enlarge
|
Product
Development
|
Specify the User
Acceptance Test environment and forward to
Quality Assurance and
Operations.
|
Operations
|
Prepare Acceptance
(User) Test Environment for
QA.
|
Technical
Support and Product Development
|
Execute User Acceptance
Testing and submit results to
Development and
Quality
Assurance. Testing criteria include percentages for
completion of testing, “passed” tests and open problems. Quality
Assurance assists in tracking defects detected during User Acceptance
Testing.
|
Development
|
Fix all defects detected
during User Acceptance Testing.
|
Product
Development and Operations.
|
Create Deployment Plan
for the product/project.
|
Development
and Quality Assurance
|
Complete product
documentation.
|
Technical
Support, Product Development
|
Review test results and
determine whether to release the product/project for
First Office
Application (FOA).
|
Click Image to Enlarge
|
|
With support from the
Technical Support,
Product
Management,
Quality Assurance and
Operations functions, clients participating in
FOA/Beta perform tests and log defects. The
Quality Assurance function supports the logging of defects for later fixing by
Development.
|
Development
|
Defects detected during
FOA/Beta testing are fixed.
|
Governance
|
Review all defects
detected, fixed applied and test results. Determine whether to release
the system for
General
Availability.
|
Operations
|
Prepare Acceptance
Staging and Production Environments.
|
Quality
Assurance
|
Test staging and
production environments as per the plans created during the execution of
the
Configuration
Management Procedure (SOP 1002).
|
Operations
|
After the system is
accepted for
General
Availability, push the system to
staging to the production area and complete deployment.
|
Operations
and Quality Assurance
|
Once the system is
generally available, the metrics defined for system operation in the
Quality Plan and the
SLA are applied.
|
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5.
Forms
6.
Exceptions
7.
Tools/Software/Technology
Used
Tool |
Description |
Microsoft
Word
|
Word
Processing application
|
Microsoft
Excel
|
Spreadsheet
application
|
Rational
|
Case
Tool
|
8.
Attachments
(SDLC INTERNAL USE ONLY)
|
|