Medium Size Software, Inc. SQA Plan: The Batch Processing Application.

Medium Size Software, Inc.

SQA Plan:The Batch Processing

Application

TBPA Project Team

• Nick Zimmerman• J. Tyson Moore• Tyson Yager• Alan Sherrill• T. Alan Rail• Seth Schultz

Overview

• Project Description• Management, Organization,

Responsibilities• Documentation• Standards, Reviews, and Testing• Problem Reporting• Tools and Methodologies

Purpose

• Medium Size Software, Inc.– Medium-sized software company

• The Batch Processing Application– Flagship product– A batch processing application for a niche

market with a wide customer base– Quarterly updates based on customer and

company feedback

• SQA Plan– Details of iterative development approach

Reference Documents

• Developer’s Guide• Developer’s Blog• MSS Coding Standards• Schaum’s Outline Series: Software

Engineering

Management

• Group development with individual leadership– All members will help with work, but

each person has specific responsibility for the direction of a primary task

– Level of involvement in each primary task section varies and may be adjusted as needed by Project Leader

Management

• Project Leader– Coordinates all team efforts and

analyzes overall progress; member of Medium Size Software projects lead committee.

• Customer Relations– Coordinates all requirements elicitation

events regarding customer requests for added functionality, as well as customer reviews of releases. Determines priority for all customer issues.

Management

• Development Team– Coordinates all implementation and

architecture work.

• Communications– Coordinates the maintenance and

development of communication technologies for customer interaction, including bug-tracking web sites and quarterly webcasts.

Management

• Functionality Research– Coordinates research for potential

added functionalities and implementation efficiency improvements.

• Testing and Release Management– Coordinates pre-release testing as well

as initial management of quarterly releases.

Primary Tasks

• Requirements analysis• User response• Bug tracking• Revision of architecture• Implementation• Testing• Reviews• Documentation

Documentation

• Software Design Documents (UML, OCL)• Software Requirements Specifications• Testing Plan• Testing Report• Developers’ Guide• Developers’ Blog• User’s Guide

Standards, Practices, Metrics

• Obviously iterative development approach• Medium Size Software, Inc. Coding

Standards will be used to ensure maintainable coding implementation. Schaum’s Outlines: Software Engineering will assist in metrics, planning, and quick reference of project analysis. EV analysis along with LOC counting will be used for metrics analysis, presented in meetings and with management and customers through formal reports and “dashboards.”

Reviews and Audits

• Team code reviews will take place as part of the team’s biweekly “All Hands” meetings (held in well-lit locations).

• Customer Relations and Communications teams will work with the Functionality Research and Implementation teams to assist in pre-release reviews and walk-throughs.

• Reports on these meetings as well as customer feedback from webcasts and online customer responses will also be gathered, analyzed, and reported on for future development use.

Testing

• Internal testing for each developed iteration will be handled case-by-case and agreed upon by the project team based on the development plan for that particular iteration and following Medium Size Software, Inc. standard testing practices.

Testing

• Offer beta test version for download by customers (decrease testing cost, allow extra feedback from customers - ensures we are correctly implementing the functions they want) (also boosts customer interest and loyalty, who have to wait 3 months between official releases)

Problem Reporting

• Problems will be reported primarily by customers – Post-release webcasts, held two weeks

after each quarterly release. – A feature request and bug reporting web

site will be used by customers to submit feature requests and application issues.

• These will be reported on by the Communications coordinator at each bi-weekly team meeting.

Tools, Techniques, Methodologies

• Special techniques in requirements elicitation

• Bi-weekly team meetings• Customer interaction/Requirements

Elicitation– Webcasts– Online feature request and bug reporting– BatchCon

• Maintain enthusiasm• Continue momentum• Marketing likes it

Code, Media Control

• Code Control– Concurrent versioning

• Subversion• Secure storage

• Media Control– Central code repository

• Secured development server• Frequent back-up

Training

• New members and current members will be trained as needed under the direction of the Team Leader

• Used to help continue to foster innovation to keep releases fresh and useful (which keeps the customer base happy)

The Bottom Line

• We will show how we care about what the customer wants.

• We have a large niche customer base, but we are only a medium sized company.

• When some larger company decides they want to compete for our niche, we will have worked to build a loyal base that won't be led astray.