Software Reviews & Audits

I N T R O D U C T I O N How to Perform Reviews & Audits is a plain-english, simplified version of IEEE Std 1028-1988 - Standard for Software Reviews and Audits. This how to guide encompasses the range of review and audit activities undertaken during a project. Reviews and audits comprise the following five modules: Management review. The formal evaluation of a project level plan or project status relative to that plan by a designated review team. Technical review. The evaluation of specified software modules and documents aimed at ensuring that the software modules and documents comply with the applicable standards while conforming to the specifications. The tech-nical review may provide recommendations after the exami-nation of alternatives. Walkthrough. An evaluation process that can result in recommendations for improvement or identification of alternatives to the current software modules or documents being developed. Audit. Provide objective evidence of compliance of products and processes with standards, guidelines, specifications and procedures. Includes audits of the quality management system. Inspection. Rigorous formal evaluations designed to detect and identify defects in the reviewed material. Normally conducted after the event and initiated by persons outside of the project team. S C O P E How to Perform Reviews & Audits applies to all project documents, software conduct specific reviews or audits - that need is defined by the project and quality plans. Also applies to the audit of the quality management system. O B J E C T I V E S How to Perform Reviews & Audits provides definitions and uniform requirements to enable project staff to perform the necessary reviews and audits of products and processes. Contribution to IS Quality. An essential element in the development of project documentation is the verification and validation that their contents are true and accurate. It is recognised in the literature of software quality that the authors of documents and code inherently do not wish to find errors in their own work. They will often consciously or unconsciously overlook errors and inaccuracies. It is therefore not advisable to leave the review of project documentation to those who produce it. It is important for such checking to conducted in a consistent and systematic manner. If this is done, project documentation will serve the development process in the way in which they are intended. This how to guide is an valuable aid for project and quality managers to address the important process of performing reviews and audits. It is is an easy to use checklist, as defined by IEEE Std 1028, and template to achieve this end.