PurposePurpose of this post is to describe the Software Project Audit Process which is capable of capturing different activities which take place throughout a Software Project life-cycle. The main purpose of this process is to audit the quality of the deliverables at the client site. After the auditing, the quality level of the audited activity will be presented using a measurement called Metric. The process will be used by both the Development team and the Software Project Audit team to derive their own metrics to measure the quality status of a software product in its life cycle. Eventually, the trends of such metrics will be used to predict or change the Projects' way forward by identifying any potential failures which can happen in the future. Also in this post i will explain the several guidelines used by the Software Project Audit Process for Project Progress calculation, mapping Payment Milestones with Project deliverables and Project Artifact reviewing. Further, it will explain the way how the process differ from typical software development life cycle and how it has been automated by integrating several testing tools and testing methodologies as well as embedding best industry standards. ScopeScope of this post is to provide an insight about ;
Definitions, Acronyms and Abbreviations Process OverviewIt is often said that if something cannot be measured, it cannot be managed or improved. There is immense value in measurement, but you should always make sure that you get some value out of any measurement that you are doing. What is a Metric? It is a standard of measurement which can be used to measure the software quality. It gives a confidence in the software product. They are typically the providers of the visibility of the Software Product you need. Why Measure? When used appropriately, metrics can aid in software development process improvement by providing pragmatic, objective evidence of process change initiatives. Although metrics are gathered during the test effort, they can provide measurements of many different activities performed throughout a Project. In conjunction with Root Cause Analysis, Test Metrics can be used to quantitatively track issues from points of occurrence throughout the Development Process. In addition, when metrics information is accumulated, updated and reported on a consistent and regular basis, it ensures that trends can be promptly captured and evaluated. What to Measure? When considering the metric driven process, it can be divided into two parts. The first part is to collect data, and the second is to prepare metrics/charts and analyze them to get the valuable insight which might help in decision making. Information collected during the Software Development Process can help in:
Normally, the metric driven process involves certain steps which are repeated over a period of time. It starts with identifying what to measure. After the purpose is known, Data can be collected and converted into the metrics. Based on the Analysis of these metrics appropriate action can be taken, and if necessary metrics can be refined and measurement goals can be adjusted for the better. Data presented by Development/Testing Team, together with their opinion, normally decides whether a product will go into client or not. So it becomes very important for Development Team/Test Teams to present Data and opinion in such a way that Data looks meaningful to everyone, and decision can be taken based on the Data presented. Every Software Project should be measured for its schedule and the Quality Requirement for its release. There are lots of charts and metrics that we can use to track progress and measure the quality requirements of the release. The below figure shows some of the main metrics which can be derived at specific level of the Software Development Life-cycle.  Various Metrics derived at different levels of Software Development Process Metrics in Brief Download the complete Metrics Brief 
Metrics AnalysisMuch as the time is spent gathering or maintaining metrics, enough time should be spent to review and interpret on a regular basis throughout the test effort, particularly after the application is released into production. During review meetings, the project team should closely examine all available data and use that information to determine the root cause of identified problems. It is important to look at several metrics, as this will allow the project team to have a more complete picture of what took place during a test. Let's assume that as part of the Software Project Audit Process, the following metrics are collected by the SPA team.
For instance, if the test team has generated the following metrics:  Looking at the graphs one can safely deduce the followings; Defect Severity Index Trend What does the graph indicate? The defect severity index is sloping down consistently. This indicates an increasingly favorable trend. As the test cycle progresses (from cycle 1 to cycle 10), the severity index is sloping which suggests increasing quality of the application (as lesser number of critical and high severity defects are being reported). This is what it could mean: While a fall in the defect severity index is definitely a good trend, looking at this index in isolation could be misleading. Following factors need to be considered in order to have a meaningful analysis. Number of defects logged - let us consider an example where the test team executed two cycles of testing (assuming other things as constant). The number of defects logged against each of these cycles along with the calculated severity index is shown below.  At first thoughts, when we compare cycle 1’s Severity Index with cycle 2’s Severity Index, cycle 2 looks to be favorable (as the severity index is lower). If you go into the details of the number of defects logged and their severity, the picture turns out to be the opposite. While the total number of Severity 1 and Severity 2 defects for cycle 1 is 15, the number of Severity 1 and Severity 2 defects for cycle 2 is 20. In terms of quality, cycle 1 is better than cycle 2 as cycle 1 has lesser number of high severity defects (though the total number of defects logged in cycle 1 is more than cycle 2 defects and the severity index is greater than cycle 2 severity index). Test coverage has a similar impact. A lower test coverage coupled with reducing severity index would not be a healthy trend.  Defect Severity - let's consider another example where the test team executed two cycles of testing (assuming other things as constant). The severity of defects logged against each of these cycles along with the calculated severity index is shown below. Looking at the severity index, it looks like cycle 1 is better than cycle 2 (as the severity index is low for cycle 1 compared to cycle 2). However, cycle 2 is better than cycle 1 as total number of Severity 1 and Severity 2 defects is zero compared to a total of 8 severity 1 and severity 2 defects of cycle 1. Just because the severity index is low, do not believe the quality of the application is better than the earlier cycle. Process AutomationHere i will describe about the testing methodologies, process and tools to be used while automating the typical software development life-cycle in order to deriving the metrics. Testing Methodology According to the Automated testing process, every development activity is mirrored by a test activity. The testing process follows a well-proven testing methodology called W-model. Following picture explains, the way of testing activities of W-model involve with the standard software development life-cycle.  While the execution of the project, either developers or SPA team can generate the related metrics. Skills Required to Generate MetricsDuring the different stages of a software project, several roles and parties will be involve with development, reviewing and testing activities. Below image shows the different stages of a software project, the main activities which should perform during those stages, the roles/parties should involve and the metrics which derive and maintain in those stages  Process of Setting Up a Metric The life-cycle of a Metric or the process involved in setting up the metrics:  When implementing this process, several testing tools and techniques can be used along with the automated testing process in order to generating, maintaining and evaluating the metrics derived at specific level of the Software Development Life-cycle. Integration of Testing Tools / Process Below you find a list of tools /process which can be used when automating the typical SD life-cycle suits to the Software Project Audit Process.
Guideline for Review of ArtifactsSoftware Project Audit Process is not a QA process. It is an Audit of the quality of the deliverables at the client site Industry Guideline on Defects  Acceptance Rejection of Deliverables An acceptable client delivery should be 3-4 defects without any blocker, critical or major issues. If there are any known issues with the delivery. Any client deliverable will be prone to rejection under following scenarios. In a client deliverable if there is;
In such situation, the SPA team should stop the review and bring that to the attention of Project Stakeholders. Increasing Defect Severity It is required to increase the severity of a defect by the SPA team, if the defect was kept open for more than 1 month. The Defects with “Differed” status should not be changed. NOTE: Automatic update of defect severity should be added to the SPA dashboard, till then, SPA team needs to update the defect severity manually in any preferred way they feel comfortable with. Payment MilestonesThe metrics discussed above are directly linked with payment milestones of a project. Below Table describes the several output documentations needed to be provided by both vendor and the SPA team at such payment sign off point.  Software Project Audit Process Flow  Guideline for Project Process CalculationIn Software Project Audit Process following methodology is used for calculation of Project Progress.
Payment Milestone Progress Suppose a payment milestone which consists with n no. of deliverables called D1, D2, D3, … , Dn. If the respective progresses of those deliverable are as P1, P2, P3 … , Pn, then the total progress of the payment milestone can be calculated as follows;
Assumption: Each deliverable indicates equal percentage completion of a relevant payment milestone. E. g: Assume a project with 2 deliverables called D1 and D2 . The current statuses of those deliverables are as follows;
Then the progress of the payment milestone can be calculated as follows; Total progress of the payment milestone = (90 + 60) / 2 % = 75% So it can be concluded that the payment milestone is 75% completed. Total Project Progress Suppose a project consists with n no. of payment milestones called M1 , M2 , M3 , … , Mn and their respective weightages are as W1, W2, W3, … , Wn. If the respective progresses of those payment milestones are as P1 , P2 , P3, …, Pn , then the total progress of the project can be calculated as follows; Total project progress = ((P1 * W1) +(P2 * W2) +(P3 *W3)+ … + (Pn * Wn) ) / 100 %  E. g: Consider a project with 5 payment milestones called M1 , M2 , M3 , M4 and M5.
then the total progress of the project can be calculated as follows;
Total progress of the project = (90*10 + 80*20 + 90*40 + 75*25 + 40*5)/100 % = 81.75% So it can be concluded that the Project is 81.75% completed.
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