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218 PART TWO MANAGING SOFTWARE PROJECTS

disciplines, a special set of ISO guidelines (ISO 9000-3) have been developed to help
interpret the standard for use in the software process.
The requirements delineated by ISO 9001 address topics such as management
responsibility, quality system, contract review, design control, document and data
control, product identification and traceability, process control, inspection and test-
ing, corrective and preventive action, control of quality records, internal quality audits,
training, servicing, and statistical techniques. In order for a software organization to
ISO 9000 for Software
become registered to ISO 9001, it must establish policies and procedures to address
each of the requirements just noted (and others) and then be able to demonstrate
that these policies and procedures are being followed. For further information on ISO
9001, the interested reader should see [HOY98], [SCH97], or [SCH94].

8.11 THE SQA PLAN
The SQA Plan provides a road map for instituting software quality assurance. Devel-
oped by the SQA group, the plan serves as a template for SQA activities that are insti-
tuted for each software project.
A standard for SQA plans has been recommended by the IEEE [IEE94]. Initial sec-
tions describe the purpose and scope of the document and indicate those software
process activities that are covered by quality assurance. All documents noted in the
SQA Plan are listed and all applicable standards are noted. The management section
of the plan describes SQA’s place in the organizational structure, SQA tasks and activ-
The SQA plan
ities and their placement throughout the software process, and the organizational
roles and responsibilities relative to product quality.
The documentation section describes (by reference) each of the work products
produced as part of the software process. These include

• project documents (e.g., project plan)
• models (e.g., ERDs, class hierarchies)
• technical documents (e.g., specifications, test plans)
• user documents (e.g., help files)

In addition, this section defines the minimum set of work products that are accept-
able to achieve high quality.
The standards, practices, and conventions section lists all applicable standards
and practices that are applied during the software process (e.g., document standards,
coding standards, and review guidelines). In addition, all project, process, and (in
some instances) product metrics that are to be collected as part of software engi-
neering work are listed.
The reviews and audits section of the plan identifies the reviews and audits to be
conducted by the software engineering team, the SQA group, and the customer. It
provides an overview of the approach for each review and audit.