www.sims.monash.edu.au is development: quality standards documentation ims9300 is/im fundamentals

www.sims.monash.edu.au

IS development:

Quality

Standards

Documentation

IMS9300 IS/IM FUNDAMENTALS

www.sims.monash.edu.au/subjects/ims93002

Lecture Objectives

• At the completion of this topic, you should :– understand the need for, and the role of, quality in systems

development

– be able to define the terms ‘quality’ and ‘standards’;

– be aware of the quality attributes which may be applied to system development products and process;

– be aware of standards and reviews and their relationship to quality

– be familiar with major documents produced in the course of IS development

– understand some major considerations in planning documention


Some definitions of Quality

• Degree of excellence (Oxford)• Fitness for purpose (AS1057)

– includes quality of design, the degree of conformance to design, it may include such factors as economic or perceived values

• Ability to satisfy stated/implied needs (ISO8402)• Conformance to requirements (Crosby, Horch)


Determining Quality ..

• when having a meal in a restaurant• when purchasing a car• when buying a computer

The requirements vary immensely, and some of the success measures are very hard to quantify

Quality means different things to different people .. and it varies in different situations


Why should it concern us?

• Customers expectations and demands are increasing

• Competitors provide it• Substantial savings demonstrated

QUALITY

EFFICIENCY

PRODUCTIVITYCOMPETITIVE POSITION

COST SAVINGS


• “Effort spent on software maintenance is greater than that spent on software development.”

• “An error is typically 100 times more expensive to correct in the maintenance phase on large projects, than in the requirements phase.”

Boehm, B. (1981) Software Engineering Economics

Error Detection


Error Detection

The cost of detecting and correcting errors rises greatly during

the systems development cycle.

In addition to this is the cost to the organisation of having an incorrect system

Initiation Analysis Design Implementation

$


Quality Costs

Review,Inspection,

Re-do,

User complaints, Downtime,Loss of sales, Re-testing,

Re-documenting, Re-training,Overtime, Customer complaints,

Financial losses, Employee turnover

The tip of the Iceberg

The hidden costsof not having quality

Obvious upfront coststo the organisation


Quality Requirements

• Correctness - Does it accurately do what is intended?

• Reliability - Does it do it right every time?• Efficiency- Does it run as well as it could?• Integrity - Is it precise and unambiguous?• Usability - Is it easy to use?


Quality Requirements

• Maintainability - Is it easy to fix?• Testability - Is correctness easy to check and

verify?• Flexibility - Is it easy to adapt and extend?• Portability - Can it be easily converted?• Reusability - Does it consist of general purpose

modules?• Interoperability - Will it integrate easily with

other systems?


The Quality Process

• The quality process involves the functions of:– Quality control - monitoring a process and

eliminating causes of unsatisfactory performance

– Quality assurance - planning and controlling functions required to ensure a quality product or process


Implementing a Quality System

• Quality must start at the top - Executive sponsorship is vital.

• Everyone must be involved and motivated to realise that they have a responsibility towards the final product, its use, and its quality.

• Improve job processes by using standards, and preparing better documentation (using project control methodologies).

• Use a QA group.• Use reviews.


Standards

• King’s standard (flag) as a point of reunion in battle (Oxford English Dictionary)

• agreed point of reference

• exemplar of a unit of measure – eg. a measuring rod

• authoritative exemplar of correctness, or

quality


Standards applied

• Documents/ publications - form, technology• Communication channels - meetings, records

(minutes), information distribution • Security – confidences, privacy, ethics• Behaviour – dress code, punctuality, follow up• Testing/ rigor - analysis, design, software, hardware

agreement to impose standards


Standards (formal)

• Two levels of standards

– Industry / National / International

– Organisational• Industry (IT procurement)

– Capability Maturity Model (Humphrey 1989)• National / International

– Standards Australia (AS 3563)

– International Standards Organisation (ISO 9000)• Organisational

– The organisation may adopt or tailor industry, national or international standards.


Other standards in IS Development projects

• deliverable – requires some previous task to have been completed in order for the deliverable to be created

• milestone – indicator (finite document/ finite action) of how far you’ve come, how far to go


Reviews

• Reviews are used in the quality control and quality assurance functions. There are two main forms of review:– management reviews

– technical reviews

• The review is part of quality control and must produce a report so that the quality assurance function can be satisfied.


Management or Project Review

• deliverable checked to baseline to see it meets the quality assurance requirements.

• This may involve simply noting that a technical review (meeting quality assurance requirements) has passed a particular deliverable.


Technical Reviews

• Structured meeting where a piece of work, which has previously been distributed to participants, is checked for errors, omissions, and conformance to standards.

• All deliverables need review. • The report may be a checklist which

indicates that the deliverable passes/fails the quality requirements for that type of deliverable.


•Not necessarily a piece of paper.•Any permanent medium used to communicate to other people can be classed as documentation

What is documentation?


Documentation

• to inform – user manual• to communicate – system specifications• to convey knowledge – DFD, ER Diagram• to authorise – credentials, ID• to control or regulate relationships between people

– contracts, task specification• to represent an action or deed – meeting minutes• to provide evidence – system manual


Typical IS documentation

– Data dictionary

– System specifications

– Feasibility report

– System manual

– Users manual

– Data dictionary

– Process models – DFD

– Data models – database schema


Documents as deliverables

– Specified document, formal outline, eg. proposal

– Formal detailed requirements within document which must be presented

– Dependent upon underlying tasks being completed in order to create document

– Project management tool


Bad documentation

– Confusing, inconsistent layout

– Important points buried, not highlighted

– Insufficient reference aids

– Insufficient consideration of the intended audience, purpose

– Use of jargon, without definitions or explanation

– Inappropriate layout for the material being discussed

– Verbose, or too brief

– Difficult to update

– Bulky – overwhelming physical format


Developing the concept of an audience

• the tone, style, language and emphasis you should use

• the relative level of technological experience

• general background, training, education• possible attitudes towards your message• muticultural backgrounds


Developing the concept of a purpose

To correctly understand the purpose of a document you need to answer 2 questions:

• What are the specific problems you are addressing?

• What questions will the audience want answered?


Information Systems Documentation

• User Manual• Systems Manual• Data Manual• Program Specification Manual• Operations Manual


Good documentation:– reduces the need to refer problems to system

developers– overcomes users’ fears of equipment and software– ensures successful first encounters with a system– enables users to find what they want and

understand it when they find it– is accurate and complete– is written for the intended audience and purpose– has good reference aids (table of contents,

thorough index, cross-referencing)

Good Documentation


Document organisation - principles

• Make the organisation of material apparent to readers

• Tell them what you are going to tell them before you tell them

• Organise the document in ways expected by readers:

• chronological order• most important to least important• order of need• order of difficulty• question / answer order• alphabetical order


Planning a Cost-time Schedule for documentation

• Why? - Often documentation is forgotten, ignored or dismissed as not being important.

• Aim - to develop an estimate of the time required for documentation DURING development .. not a trivial task.

• Time vs Cost - be realistic about your estimates ..

• Time saved in the documentation task will be wasted many times over explaining things not included or not clearly described in the documentation provided.


Reference

• http://www.acs.org.au/national/pospaper/acs131.htm• http://www.iso.ch• WHITTEN, J.L., BENTLEY, L.D. and DITTMAN, K.C. (2001) 5th ed.,

Systems Analysis and Design Methods, Irwin/McGraw-HilI, New York, NY. Chapters 5, 8

• HOFFER, J.A., GEORGE, J.F. and VALACICH (1999) 2nd ed., Modern Systems Analysis and Design, Benjamin/Cummings, Massachusetts.Chapter 9

• ANDERSON, P.V. (1995). Technical writing: A reader-centred approach, 3rd ed. Harcourt, Brace & Co., Fort Worth.

• BROCKMAN, J. R. (1990). Writing better computer user documentation - From paper to hypertext. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.


References (2)

Standards Association of Australia (1991). Australian Standard 3563.1 -1991: Software Quality Management System. Part 1 Requirements

Standards Association of Australia (1991). Australian Standard 3563.2 -1991: Software Quality Management System. Part 2 Implementation Guide


ADDITIONAL NOTES

Document planning


User manual

• Purpose:– a contractual obligation– a marketing tool– a training tool– a reference for non-technical people– a memory in case key staff leave

• Contents:– what the system is about (narrative);– how to use the hardware how to carry out tasks -

details of manual procedures involved; how to enter data, produce output, interpret output;

– how to correct mistakes– how to solve typical problems;– how to ensure security;– how to perform backup and recovery.


Systems manual

• Purpose:• to enable technical staff to understand the system so that they

can:

– modify the system– evaluate the system’s behaviour– fix errors in the system

• Contents:

– overview of the system– descriptions of all components– system specifications – controls, errors, audit trails.


• enables (technically-oriented) developers and maintainers to:

– understand what data is used and where.– identify the effects of changes relating to data.

•Contents:– Files - schemas, sub-schemas, file layouts.

– Inputs/Outputs - reports; inputs

– Data Elements

– Data Analysis - logical and physical data model

Data Manual


Program specification manual

• Purpose:– to support communication between analyst/designer and

programmer;– to describe in detail what the program does

> for initial development;> for maintenance.

• Contents:– design specification (narrative describing the purpose and

general functions of the program),– listing of each program (for maintenance purposes),– layouts of files or database area used, – layouts of screens and reports,– test plan, test data, test conditions, test results


Operations manual

•Purpose:Large scale systems may need operations support. If so, a separate operations manual is needed to instruct operations staff in operating and controlling the new system.•Contents:

– system overview (purpose/functions of the system)– processing flow– system start-up/shut-down– restart and recovery procedures– security/backup procedures– tape/disk library instructions– user contacts and procedures– priority of jobs– report distribution information


• Audience - sets the tone, style, language and emphasis

– level of computer sophistication– background, training, or education– attitude towards your message– cultural background

• Purpose - why is the documentation necessary?

– identifies the content– indicates the level of detail required

• Medium

– paper-based manuals and reference cards– on-line documentation– aural and visual training materials

Planning your documentation


Audience

• Type of documentation Audience

• User Manual users - new, intermediate, experienced

• System Manual client, maintenance team

• Data Manual (Data Dictionary) developers, maintenance team

• Program Manual developers, maintenance team

• Operations Manual operators, technical staff


Documentation organisation

• Chunking - the rule of seven • Titles - briefly describe upcoming information• Relevance - put related information together• Consistency – style, voice, emotion• Hierarchy of structure - Chapters, Sections, Topics• Integrated graphics – appropriate, support text• Accessible detail - access routes to different levels

of detail (overall/general, specific, fine detail)


• Manuals– Most common ... not good for trivial problems.

• Brochures– Main capabilities are highlighted ... emphasises

simplicity and elegance, not the detail of manuals. 4 - 8 pages fully describing the system.

• Quick reference guides– 90% of the time 90% of the needs of 90% of the

readers can be met by a simple summary card.• On-line help

– Ideal reminders ... useful as an aid for experienced user BUT are not a replacement for manuals

Choose appropriate media


Online vs paper-based documentation

• Online easier to distribute and maintain• Printing costs reduced• Online enables different search paths to the same

information• Easier for user to become disoriented• Online documentation must be written differently• Online documentation must be consistent with paper-

based documentation


Reference Aids

• Information contained in a large, complex document is often inaccessible

• Use:– Glossaries

– Indexes (very important)

– Contents page

– Others

• Numbering systems• Page, Sections, paragraphs, items• Section dividers - tabbed card, coloured pages, • Section/chapter summaries


Colour and graphics

• Use a minimum number of colours• Be consistent and familiar (eg. red for hot) in your use of colour

codes• Don't rely on colour alone to discriminate between items

• Graphics can make a document more effective:

– points in a text can be emphasised

– can increase reader's interest

– can replace, clarify or simplify the text


Layout and Pagination

• Layout:– Be consistent in your layout

– Use type size (at least 4 points different) or bolding to indicate relative importance or weight

• Page:

– Use a page size suited to the environment that the document is going to be used in

– Make sure page numbering is clear


Specify the document

Draft and edit the document

Review the document

Publish the document

Maintain the document

Not OK

OK

The Documentation Process


Effective documentation check list

• Objective clearly stated• Target audience identified• Consistent approach used (wording, structure,

layout) - templates help• The principles of documentation organisation

and development have been followed • Maintenance process in place• Put yourself in the users’ position - can you

easily find what you’re looking for?

www.sims.monash.edu.au is development: quality standards documentation ims9300 is/im fundamentals

Documents

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