IS development: Quality Standards Documentation

Lecture Objectives IS development: Quality Standards Documentation www.sims.monash.edu.au IMS9300 IS/IM FUNDAMENTALS 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 2 Some definitions of Quality Determining 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) 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 3 4 Why should it concern us? Error Detection Customers expectations and demands are increasing Competitors provide it Substantial savings demonstrated PRODUCTIVITY QUALITY EFFICIENCY COMPETITIVE POSITION COST SAVINGS 5 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 6

Error Detection Quality Costs The cost of detecting and correcting errors rises greatly during the systems development cycle. $ Initiation Analysis Design Implementation In addition to this is the cost to the organisation of having an incorrect system 7 Obvious upfront costs to the organisation The hidden costs of not having quality The tip of the Iceberg Review, Inspection, Re-do, User complaints, Downtime, Loss of sales, Re-testing, Re-documenting, Re-training, Overtime, Customer complaints, Financial losses, Employee turnover 8 Quality Requirements 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? 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? 9 10 The Quality Process Implementing a Quality System 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 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. 11 12

Standards Standards applied 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 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 13 14 Standards (formal) Other standards in IS Development projects 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. 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 15 16 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. 17 18

Technical Reviews What is documentation? 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 19 20 Documentation Typical IS 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 Data dictionary System specifications Feasibility report System manual Users manual Data dictionary Process models DFD Data models database schema 21 22 Documents as deliverables Bad documentation 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 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 23 24

Developing the concept of an audience Developing the concept of a purpose 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 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? 25 26 Information Systems Documentation Good 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) 27 28 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. 29 30

Reference References (2) 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. 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 31 32 User manual ADDITIONAL NOTES Document planning 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. 33 34 Systems manual Data 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. 35 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 36

Program specification manual Operations 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 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 37 38 Planning your documentation Audience 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 39 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 40 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) 41 Choose appropriate media 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 42

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 43 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 44 Colour and graphics Layout and Pagination 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: 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 45 46 The Documentation Process Effective documentation check list Specify the document Draft and edit the document Review the document OK Publish the document Not OK Maintain the document 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? 47 48