Subjective Questions

ANSWERED13.        Outsourcing has become very popular nowadays in software industry. What steps will u take to ensure that the product received from sub-contractors are of good quality ?ANS     1)Check the product meets the specifications2)Check its compliance with your system3)Check for quality. If that is what was expected 

1 ) Create the outsourced supplier agreement & Statement of work. Define SLA2). Ensure that the supplier process and quality procedures are in line with what is needed by your customer. If not suggest improvements.3). Clearly outline all the interfacing documents in one spreadsheet. Mention who is responsible, whether the document is mandatory or optional, what is the agreed upon format.4) Outline the Config management, codedelivery methods5) Establish a UAT process. 6) Establish the project completion processThe above process will complete the QA part. 1) Prepare a checklist that will cover all aspects of outsourced supplier deliveryhttp://techrepublic.com.com/i/tr/downloads/home/qa_checklist_outsourcing.pdf2) Complete UAT, report defects.3) complete project completion or signoff.  

What are the steps that you would follow while doing Regression testing?ANS     Given: a program P originally tested with testset T producing results R and a modifiedversion of the program P’• Identify the changes to P• Select T’ a subset of T to re-execute P’• Test P’ with T’ and reestablish correctness ofP’ with respect to T’• Create new tests T’’ as necessary• Create a new test history consisting of theresults from executing• T’ the revised test history• May need to update expected results• T’’ the newly expanded test history• If the selection criterion is conservative,then(T - T’) is part of the old test history thatis still valid• Some test cases may become obsoleteif the domain changes 

Nothing much to add here, There will be a standard regression test procedure that is needed to be outlined, I assume the above is valid 

Explain what is formal technical review and how is it conducted?ANS     U.2.1 Establish a review strategy before completing the project plan. U.2.1.1 Select an appropriate set of review guidelines as part of the SQA plan developed in Task U.1.13.U.2.1.2 Identify review points for the project.U.2.1.3 Schedule review points as project tasks.The project manager and staff should select review points for the project. Questions answered include: Where in the process flow should reviews be conducted? How many reviews should be conducted for each CPF activity? The project plan/schedule should identify review points explicitly and should allocate effort and duration to each. In addition, the plan should allocate effort to the work required to respond to issues uncovered during review. U.2.2 Initiate formal technical reviews as project deliverables are produced.Formal technical reviews are conducted as deliverables are produced. In essence, the reviews become SQA "exit conditions" for movement to the next CPF activities and tasks.

U.2.3 Conduct a formal technical review to uncover errors in a software engineering deliverable.U.2.3.1 Assign a review leader to coordinate the review.U.2.3.2 Distribute review materials [work product(s)] to reviewers.U.2.3.2 Set the review agenda and select appropriate checklists.U.2.3.3 Review work product(s) to uncover errors.U.2.3.4 Conduct the review meeting.U.2.3.5 Record any errors and/or issues that are raised during the review meeting.U.2.3.6 Decide the outcome of the review.U.2.3.7 Ensure that proper review records are kept.U.2.3.8 Collect any defined metrics for the review.Intent: The intent of this task is to uncover errors in any work product produced as a consequence of a software engineering taskMechanics: See Pressman, R.S., A Manager’s Guide to Software Engineering, McGraw-Hill, 1993, p. 328 - 334.Application of Formal Methods: walkthrough or inspection approachApplication of CASE Tools: t.b.d.SQA Checklist:1. Are reviews scheduled as part of the project timeline?2. Have review team members prepared in advance?3. Are written records maintained for each review?Do’s & Don’tsDo: Review small work products, not massive deliverables. The review should generally take no more that 60 - 90 minutes.Do: Train team members in review technique and psychology before conducting reviews.Do: Keep the tone light.Don’t: Tolerate people who will not prepare in advance. They must.Don’t: Review the person. Review the product.Don’t: Let reviews turn into a personnel appraisal.Helpful HintsReviews are actually a technical meeting. Therefore, if you avoid the problems that cause meeting to fail, you’ll avoid the problems that cause reviews to fail. Be sure that you have an agenda before starting the review. Be certain that you define a strong review leader. Take notes. Don’t let the review turn into a problem solving session. The purpose of a formal technical review is to uncover errors, not necessarily to resolve them.Deliverables:1. Technical review summary report2. Issues list

The above covers lot of detail, Try to narrow down. basically they want Inspection process. 

8. The procedure of tool selection was given (define needs, train the user, get feedback etc). The tools in your organization were selected using that procedure but still the tools were ending up as shelfware, as in, the people are not using the tools after deployment. How will you, as a QA manager, select tools which become popular in the org. ANS     1) Brainstorm with the employees as to what are tools that they require to do their job effectively. You can even visit other organizations to see what tools they use and how effective it is and make a recommendation. Employees consent should be got before using the tool2) Get managements approval3) Train the users with those tool. Have a dedicated and skilled person for training and solving problems related to the tool4) Deploy those tools5) Measure the effectiveness of the tools to see if they have added any value to the work products or process. 

Straight from the Book... so I guess this is correct.

2.  Who is responsible for keep tracking of changes in the software?     Who has the authority to change?     How do you ensure that change control is properly carried out.? (8 marks)

ANS     QA Analyst keeps track of changes. Changes can be initiated by the s/w organization( regarding the change in technology for faster performance) or by the customer ( regarding the change in technology for it may not be compatible with the other systems)

 Change control is carried out by implemention source code control and document control..... Select a proper tool for SCM that will be consistently used by all developers.Select a document control system for versioning.  SQA or Quality manager can assume the authority for change.... This person is responsible to ensure that all changes are well tracked and coordinated by implementing process or using Change control tools like Telelogic Synergy or IBM ClearCase. Change control also encompasses, tracking defects, RCA and Tracking production deployments. 

If a defect occurs in the software product, whom do you held responsible for the defect & why ?  ANS     Process should be held responsible not the workers.Why???? 

Every defect should undergo a RCA using Fishbone or similar methods. Once you identify the process that caused the defect, you should take immidiate steps to implement process improvement. In a Quality organization, process are responsible for defects not workers or employees. Because if processes are properly implemented , the probablity of defects goes down. Putting blame on people will not achieve the desired results.

11. List atleast one Measures / Metric for the following (10 marks)ANS     Reliability,  no of abnormal terminationsSoftware productivity,  locTest completion criteria, shld have executed 90%of the codeCustomer satisfaction, end user survey(ease of use of the user manuals) Defects no of defects per locManagement commitment for Quality support in resources (human, funding) in quality improvement pgmsPortability no of defects per changes made in the o/s on which the s/w package runs UsabilitySecurityProcess improvementTestability (max 1 sec response time) performance of the product

For last question, the answers you have given appear correct.

 I dont know if you got a chance to browse this website, it has some subjective answers under "CSQA Articles". That may help you in answering questions.

The best way to use this site is "Search" for the terms... For eg, if you are looking for subjective answer on "Vision, Mission, Goals" Just put some Search terms like you would in Google.

The links on this site are hand picked, meaning they are not just here as fillers, they give more info on some KD or help in subjective answers.

The best way to solve subjective answers is by adding few terms from CBOK and using your experience.

18  Your organization is in testing a new version of sw.  A large number of defects have been unearthed in testing which may result in a delayed release.  The mgt wants you to present the measures you have taken as QA mgr in the development of the software towards a quality product.  You have to present to the mgt on the initiatives of your team in building quality into the sw How would you justify ur actions to the mgt.ANS:      Give them a detailed outline of the plan regarding the following questionsMake a list of defects in the software unearthed during the testingConducting a brainstorming session to find out the root causes for the defects Constructing a control chart to find solutions to the problemsMake a plan of the steps involved in solving the problems as to who is responsible for whatKeep them posted on the improvements made in the productsGive them the test reports. Test reports includes the number of defects that still exist. Prepare a detailed chart on the level of improvements made.

The above points are valid, however check the following article http://www.csqa.info/drp/qa_manager_it_director_conflict_resolution

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13  A potential customer of your organization requires a sw that can be provided only with new tools and technology and currently available in ur orgn.  Your mgt has decided to accept the contact.  How should the project be planned for successful completion?ANS:      Reallocate the resource for the projectGet a detailed requirement from the customer so that they could be measured and tested to see if the objectives are met or not.Design the product with the help of all the developers, code, test and implement in the production environment and monitor their progress to see if they are met.

Since this is a new tool & technology there are risks involved, Namely --

 1. Reliability & Robustness- Coz there is not enough history that sofware is reliable and wont break

2. Skills - New technology implies that experience level is less and turnaround till will be more due to learning curve.

3. End user experience - New tools and technology is likely to change the end user experience and they will need to be educated as well.

4. Maintainence - Once deployed to production, depending upon the usage , unexpected issues can occur.

5. Hardware / Software needs - New technology will have to be well tested on the hardware / software and there may be a need to procure new resources.

The project has to be planned so that above risk items are mitigated during the planning process.

1. Reliability and Robustness - Find reliable support team, either with third party or vendor, and clearly decide the SLAs. Ask for documentation and best practices that your develpment team can follow.

2. Arrange for comprehensive training program for all development team. Make sure every aspect of software is covered and there are resources who can back up each other if required.

3. Get clear with requirements and if there is an existing system educate the user how the new technology will change the current process. End users need to know if there are issues who is the right person to contact. Make a short documentation of common list of errors that they may encounter & how to get help on each.

4. Get a oncall person to be available during the deployment and post deployment. It is better if some experience person can conduct the production deployment even if it means hiring vendor or third party.

5. Vendor documentation should be followed and if there are any deviations from the supported hardware of software, it should be certified from the vendor or it should be researched & tested that it would work . A seperate task should be assigned for this at the start of project and any gray areas should be resolved during the initiation step of the project.

Other things to consider.

1. Development and test regions should be ready.

2. Proper planning needs to be done to ensure , enough buffer is left for unexpected issues. Plan needs to be reviewed and revised at every step of  the project & before entering into next phase.

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benchmarking question

http://www.csqa.info/benchmarking_question

Hi

The points above are valid, but for risk management there are standard steps, like

 Risk identification,

Risk Assessment / Analysis

Risk response planning

I believe this should be in CBOk, or refer risk management training on this site....you have to put above points under these headings.

The answer to this question is present in CSQA domain 8 under risk management: Risk of integrating new technology