Date of Award

1999

Document Type

Thesis

Publisher

Edith Cowan University

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science Honours

School

School of Computer Science

Faculty

Faculty of Communications, Health and Science

First Supervisor

Stuart Hope

Abstract

In recent years it is becoming increasingly more apparent that quality even more than productivity is emerging as the key issue in the development of software. The quality systems currently employed by most software companies however arc simply not up to the task, traditional quality systems focus upon conformance to company standards, automation to eliminate human error and in some cases quality improvement teams. These traditional quality assurance methods lead to quality as defined from the organizations point of view, all work performed is done to their standards, however a what it is that makes a quality product is defined by the consumer. The companies quality standards, only serve to make it easier for the company to maintain the product at later dates, they in no way assure the end user that the product is fit for their purpose. Quality Function Deployment is a step in the right direction, towards defining quality from the customer's point of view. It is designed to ensure that the company takes into consideration their users needs, and helps with analysis of these stated needs to uncover any missing or unstated needs. Once the true listing of customer's needs has been established, QFD helps the company to prioritize the listing from the customer's perspective, enabling the product to meet all of their most important needs. The QFD (quality function deployment) process continues onwards throughout the entire software development lifecycle, providing a comprehensive method to ensure that the quality specified by the user is delivered to them throughout the developed product. The aim of this study is to examine the current trends, advancements and methods of various QFD systems and combine them into a QFD model specifically targeted at the software development environment.

Share

 
COinS