Improving software quality using Six Sigma DMAIC-based approach: a case study

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 842-856 ◽  
Author(s):  
Racha Karout ◽  
Anjali Awasthi
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Software Quality ◽  
Six Sigma ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cycle Times ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Quality Aspects ◽  
Culture Of Quality

Purpose Managing quality is a vital aspect in software development world, especially in the current business competition for the fast delivery of feature rich products with high quality. For an organization to meet its intended level of excellence in order to ensure its success, a culture of quality should be built where every individual is responsible of quality and not just the software testing team. However, delivering software products with very few bugs is a challenging constraint that is usually sacrificed in order for a company to meet other management constraints such as cost, scope and scheduling. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors present a Six Sigma DMAIC-based framework for improving software quality. Different phases of DMAIC methodology are applied for quality improvement in one of the largest software applications for “RK” company (name anonymized) in Canada where critical to quality aspects are identified, production bugs classified and measured, the causes of the large number of production bugs were specified leading to different improvement suggestions. Several metrics were proposed to help “RK” company control its software development process to ensure the success of the project under study. Findings This paper shows how companies can use a systematic approach such as DMAIC to eliminate errors and improve efficiency. It helps them to identify and implement improvements that leads to an increased confidence in the quality of the product produced at all levels. Originality/value By applying DMAIC at “RK” company the authors were able to demonstrate how DMAIC can help organizations improve the quality of their software products. As a result, reduce cost and cycle times, achieve customer satisfaction and improve profit margin.

scholarly journals Quality in Software Development: a pragmatic approach using metrics

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Acton ◽  
Derrick Kourie ◽  
Bruce Watson
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Software Quality ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Main Disadvantage ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Gaining Insight

As long as software has been produced, there have been efforts to strive for quality in software products. In order to understand quality in software products, researchers have built models of software quality that rely on metrics in an attempt to provide a quantitative view of software quality. The aim of these models is to provide software producers with the capability to define and evaluate metrics related to quality and use these metrics to improve the quality of the software they produce over time. The main disadvantage of these models is that they require effort and resources to define and evaluate metrics from software projects. This article briefly describes some prominent models of software quality in the literature and continues to describe a new approach to gaining insight into quality in software development projects. A case study based on this new approach is described and results from the case study are discussed.

Software Development Process Standards for Very Small Companies

2019 ◽  
pp. 681-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rory V. O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Small Companies ◽  
Small Organizations ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Companies ◽  
Project Scheme ◽  
Engineering Standards ◽  
Standards Adoption

For very small software development companies, the quality of their software products is a key to competitive advantage. However, the usage of software engineering standards is extremely low amongst such very small software companies. A primary reason cited by many such companies for this lack of quality standards adoption is the perception that they have been developed for large multi-national software companies and not with small and very small organizations in mind and are therefore not suitable for their specific needs. This chapter describes the design and development of the software process lifecycle standard for very small entities. This chapter presents a unique insight from the perspective of some of the standards authors on the development of the ISO/IEC 29110 standard, including the rationale behind its development and the innovative design of implementation guides to assist very small companies in adopting the standards, as well outlining a pilot project scheme for usage in early trials of this standard.

Software Development Process Standards for Very Small Companies

2018 ◽  
pp. 6927-6938
Author(s):  
Rory V. O'Connor
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Small Companies ◽  
Small Organizations ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Companies ◽  
Project Scheme ◽  
Engineering Standards ◽  
Standards Adoption

For very small software development companies, the quality of their software products is a key to competitive advantage. However, the usage of Software Engineering standards is extremely low amongst such very small software companies. A primary reason cited by many such companies for this lack of quality standards adoption is the perception that they have been developed for large multi-national software companies and not with small and very small organizations in mind and are therefore not suitable for their specific needs. This chapter describes the design and development of the software process lifecycle standard for very small entities ISO/IEC 29110. This chapter presents a unique insight from the perspective of some of the standards authors on the development of the ISO/IEC 29110 standard, including the rationale behind its development and the innovative design of implementation guides to assist very small companies in adopting the standards, as well outlining a pilot project scheme for usage in early trials of this standard.

scholarly journals Lean Six-Sigma: the means to healing an ailing NHS?

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 1976-1988 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bancroft ◽  
Krish Saha ◽  
Di Li ◽  
Gabor Lukacs ◽  
Xavier Pierron
Keyword(s):  
Patient Care ◽  
Six Sigma ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Lean Six Sigma ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Staffing Levels ◽  
Accident And Emergency ◽  
Timely Fashion ◽  
Performance Challenges

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine England’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) arm of the National Health Service (NHS). It considers the positive impact that Lean has had and Six-Sigma can have in A&E departments to improve the quality and reliability of the service offered, in an area that is facing performance challenges. Design/methodology/approach Independent variables average monthly temperature data (degrees Celsius) obtained from the Met Office and weekly A&E data, patient volume is analysed alongside the dependent variable, the percentage of patients seen in 4 h or less. Findings The model produced a robust positive impact when Lean Six-Sigma is adopted, increasing the likelihood of A&E dependents meeting their performance objective to see and treat patients in 4 h or less. Research limitations/implications Further variables such as staffing levels, A&E admission type should be considered in future studies. Additionally, it would add further clarity to analyse hospitals and trusts individually, to gauge which are struggling. Practical implications Should the NHS further its understanding and adoption of Lean Six-Sigma, it is believed this could have significant improvements in productivity, patient care and cost reduction. Social implications Productivity improvements will allow the NHS to do more with an equal amount of funding, therefore improving capacity and patient care. Originality/value Through observing A&E and its ability to treat patients in a timely fashion it is clear the NHS is struggling to meet its performance objectives, the recommendation of Six-Sigma in A&E should improve the reliability and quality of care offered to patients.

Lean Six Sigma leadership in higher education institutions

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 638-650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Lu ◽  
Chad Laux ◽  
Jiju Antony
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Six Sigma ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Lean Six Sigma ◽  
Quality Of Education ◽  
Leadership Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Leadership Framework

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate whether a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) leadership model could be effectively utilized to resolve efficiency and effective issues like rising costs, quality of education, graduation and retention rates encountered in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the modern era. Design/methodology/approach The authors systematically reviewed the literature on key concepts of LSS and leadership in HEIs in to develop a theoretical model using an inductive theory-building approach in accordance with the exploratory nature of the study. Findings The results of the study proposed a conceptual LSS leadership framework, which provides a basis for testing of LSS leadership representations in HEIs. The results suggest that LSS leadership has advantages for HEI to overcome currents issues and challenges. Research limitations/implications This research is a theoretical study based on the existing literature that identified characteristics that may be adopted in higher education. The proposed LSS leadership framework is based upon leadership, statistical thinking, continuous change and improvement. This model is based upon service and the concepts of adaptive, rather than technical work, of leaders in higher education. Practical implications The proposed LSS leadership framework brings new aspects and perspectives of leadership in HEIs. LSS leadership model has its practical meaning in providing a fundamental base for HEIs to overcome challenges, fulfill missions, and sustain improvements. Social implications HEIs are a foundation for principles of democracy, equality and diversity. HEIs have been a path for citizens but HEIs are facing challenges that are reducing the ability of individuals to improve themselves. Leadership of HEI needs to incorporate new principles to adapt to a changing society. Originality/value LSS project leaders have achieved improved bottom line results and customer satisfaction in a wide range of industries, but LSS application in the HEIs remains to be explored. This paper proposes an effective LSS leadership model, which can help improve the quality of education, reduce non-value added costs and enhance operational efficiency of HEIs.

Software Engineering and Software Quality Management

2014 ◽  
Vol 926-930 ◽  
pp. 2642-2645
Author(s):  
Wen Hong Liu ◽  
Chun Yan Wang ◽  
Li Ge
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Software Quality ◽  
Software Reliability ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Quality Management ◽  
Management Method

As the rapid development of social informatization, software reliability and security are highly required. Only applying high-quality software products can increase work efficiency. Quality is the life of software. How to enhance the quality of software products and how to use effective quality management method is an urgent need. This paper discuss the key point of software engineering and software quality management, and this is the basis of software quality ensurance model.

scholarly journals Why and how to investigate interaction design of software development tools

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Juliana Jansen Ferreira ◽  
Clarisse Sieckenius de Souza ◽  
Renato Cerqueira
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Software Modeling ◽  
Modeling Tools ◽  
Inspection Method ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Development Tools ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Software Development Tools

The existence of some relationship between the usability of software development tools and the quality of end users’ interaction with the product these tools contribute to build would not be surprising. Should this be the case, a developer's problematic use experience with these tools would increase the workload of HCI experts, whose aim is to promote high quality user experience with software products. Yet, this connection has not deserved much attention from researchers, and it is unclear how investigations should be conducted to verify if it is true. Our contribution in this paper is a first step in this direction. We propose an inspection method to characterize communicability and usability aspects of software modeling tools. By combining both aspects and articulating our analysis around tool, notations and people, we provide valuable conceptual links that, we argue, may in the long run of subsequent research contribute significantly to verify the (extent of the) relation between HCI quality of development tools and developed products.

scholarly journals Measuring Software Quality Product Based on Fuzzy Inference System Techniques in ISO Standard

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atrin Barzegar
Keyword(s):  
Software Quality ◽  
Fuzzy Inference System ◽  
Fuzzy Inference ◽  
Quality Model ◽  
Inference System ◽  
Iso Standard ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Product ◽  
The Impact

The success of a software product depends on several factors. Given that different organizations and institutions use software products, the need to have a quality and desirable software according to the goals and needs of the organization makes measuring the quality of software products an important issue for most organizations and institutions. To be sure of having the right software. It is necessary to use a standard quality model to examine the features and sub-features for a detailed and principled study in the quality discussion. In this study, the quality of Word software was measured. Considering the importance of software quality and to have a good and usable software in terms of quality and measuring the quality of software during the study, experts and skilled in this field were used and the impact of each factor and quality characteristics. It was applied at different levels according to their opinion to make the result of measuring the quality of Word software more accurate and closer to reality. In this research, the quality of the software product is measured based on the fuzzy inference system in ISO standard. According to the results obtained in this study, it is understood that quality is a continuous and hierarchical concept and the quality of each part of the software at any stage of production can lead to high quality products.

scholarly journals Measuring the Quality Of the Development Process Academic System with E-GQM Method

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarwosri Sarwosri ◽  
Umi Laili Yuhana ◽  
Siti Rochimah ◽  
Rizky Januar Akbar ◽  
Maidina Choirun Nisa
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Software Process ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Software Development Process ◽  
Software Development Project ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Academic System

In a software development project, aspects of software quality are very important. All stakeholders expect high quality of software. To ensure the quality of software products, it is also necessary to ensure that the process that is carried out have a quality. Research that is mostly done is in terms of assessing the quality of software products. But the software process is also very important to be assessed from their quality too. In every software development process, the developer needs guidance in carrying out every aspect of it. In each of these aspects, it must be determined what goals are to be achieved and how to measure whether those goals have been achieved or not. One method that can be used for this is the Extended Goal Question Metric method. In this method, for each development process in software, will be determined what aspects must be achieved, from each aspect there are defined a number of goals to measure these aspects. For each goal, one or more goal will be determined one or more questions that are relevant to that. For each Question an appropriate metric will be determined. The next step is mapping between G to Q and Q to M. The measurement is done by calculating the goal value obtained from the metric calculation. From this metric, the value of each Goal will be obtained, whether it was achieved or not. Tests were carried out on the software process for the development of academic system features at DPTSI ITS. The value of each goal has exceeded 0.51 (for a scale of 0-1) so that it achieved the quality of the Software development process. The total average score was 0.889. 

scholarly journals General guidelines for biomedical software development

F1000Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Bastiao Silva ◽  
Rafael C. Jimenez ◽  
Niklas Blomberg ◽  
José Luis Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Software Components ◽  
Specific Topic ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
New Strategies

Most bioinformatics tools available today were not written by professional software developers, but by people that wanted to solve their own problems, using computational solutions and spending the minimum time and effort possible, since these were just the means to an end. Consequently, a vast number of software applications are currently available, hindering the task of identifying the utility and quality of each. At the same time, this situation has hindered regular adoption of these tools in clinical practice. Typically, they are not sufficiently developed to be used by most clinical researchers and practitioners. To address these issues, it is necessary to re-think how biomedical applications are built and adopt new strategies that ensure quality, efficiency, robustness, correctness and reusability of software components. We also need to engage end-users during the development process to ensure that applications fit their needs. In this review, we present a set of guidelines to support biomedical software development, with an explanation of how they can be implemented and what kind of open-source tools can be used for each specific topic.

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