Concepts: Process Quality
Process quality refers to the degree to which an acceptable process,
including measurements and criteria for quality, has been implemented and
adhered to in order to produce the artifacts.
Software development requires a complex web of sequential and parallel steps.
As the scale of the project increases, more steps must be included to manage the
complexity of the project. All processes consist of product activities and
overhead activities. Product activities result in tangible progress toward
the end product. Overhead activities have an intangible impact on the end
product, and are required for the many planning, management, and assessment
tasks.
The objectives of measuring and assessing process quality are to:
- Manage profitability and resources
- Manage and resolve risk
- Manage and maintain budgets, schedules, and quality
- Capture data for process improvement
To some degree, adhering to a process and achieving high process quality
overlaps somewhat with the quality of the artifacts. That is, if the process is
adhered to (high quality), the risk of producing poor quality artifacts is
reduced. However, the opposite is not always true-generating high quality
artifacts is not necessarily an indication that the process has been adhered to.
Therefore, process quality is measured not only to the degree to which the
process was adhered to, but also to the degree of quality achieved in the products
produced by the process.
To aid in your evaluation of the
process and product quality, the Rational Unified Process (RUP) has included pages such as:
- Activity: a description of the activity to be performed and the steps
required to perform the activity.
- Guideline: techniques and practical advice useful for performing the
activity.
- Artifact Guidelines and Checkpoints: information on how to develop,
evaluate, and use the artifact.
- Templates: models or prototypes of the artifact that provide
structure and guidance for content.
See Key Concepts:
Activity, Key
Concepts: Steps and Key
Concepts: Artifact Guidelines and Checkpoints for additional information.
In general, everyone is responsible for implementing and adhering to
the agreed-upon process, and to make sure the quality of the artifacts produced achieve
the agreed-upon quality. However, specific roles, such as the Project
Manager, may have specific tasks that identify and impact the process quality. See
Best Practice: Verify Quality,
the section titled "Who Owns Quality" for further information.
Also see Concepts: Measuring Quality, Product Quality,
and Discipline: Introduction to Project
Management for additional
information.
For information about customizing the RUP, see Concepts:
RUP Tailoring.
| 