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optional · CSS study notes

Software Quality Assurance

CSS CS Optional — Paper-I, Section-B, Topic V.

🔥 Frequency: 2 of last 7 papers (2021, 2025) — often via CMMI.

🔑 What SQA Is

  • Process-oriented, preventive — ensures product AND process follow standards.
  • Distinct from testing (product-oriented, detective — finds defects after the fact).

📌 SQA Plan Defines

  • Applicable standards
  • Review/audit procedures
  • Documentation requirements
  • Metrics (e.g. defect density)

📌 SQA Activities

  • Technical reviews, audits, standards enforcement, metrics tracking — continuous, across whole SDLC.

📌 5 Quality Attributes (name at least 5)

  • Reliability — correct over time
  • Usability — easy to learn/use
  • Efficiency — good use of resources
  • Maintainability — easy to modify/extend
  • Portability — moves to new environment easily
  • (also: Security, Scalability, Testability)

📌 CMMI — 5 Maturity Levels (in order)

  1. Initial — ad hoc, unpredictable
  2. Managed — basic project management in place
  3. Defined — standardized across org
  4. Quantitatively Managed — measured statistically
  5. Optimizing — continuous improvement
  • CMMI goal = enhance process maturity, NOT directly "increase quality."

🔥 Past Papers

  • 2021 Q7(c) — list 5 quality attributes (5 marks)
  • 2025 MCQ — main goal of CMMI

⚠️ MCQ Trap

  • CMMI goal = process maturity, not "software quality" (quality is downstream result).
  • SQA = preventive; Testing = detective.

📜 Past-Paper Questions & MCQs (CSS 2016–2026)

2021 · Paper-I · Q7(c) · 5 marks

Q. What do you mean by software quality? List at least five quality attributes.

Ans.

  • Software quality is the degree to which software meets the stated requirements and user expectations and is free of defects.
  • Quality attributes:
    • Correctness: it does what the requirements specify.
    • Reliability: it works without failure over time.
    • Efficiency: it uses time and resources well.
    • Usability: it is easy to learn and use.
    • Maintainability: it is easy to modify and fix.
    • Portability: it runs on different environments.
    • Security and testability also count.