Software Quality Management
The notion of "quality" is not as simple as it may seem. For any engineered product, there are many desired qualities relevant to a particular project. The section explains software quality fundamentals, including the main SQM processes: quality assurance, verification, validation, review, and audit.
Reviews and Audits
Audits
The purpose of a software audit is to provide an independent evaluation of the conformance of software products and processes to applicable regulations, standards, guidelines, plans, and procedures. The audit is a formally organized activity, with participants having specific roles, such as lead auditor, another auditor, a recorder, or an initiator, and includes a representative of the audited organization. The audit will identify instances of nonconformance and produce a report requiring the team to take corrective action.
While there may be many formal names for reviews and audits such as those identified in the standard (see IEEE1028- 97), the important point is that they can occur on almost any product at any stage of the development or maintenance process.