Quality Management

From Perfectionism and Rigidity to Pragmatism and Flexibility

The emergence of e-business has radically changed the software development constraints: compressed time scale ("Web time"), large number of unknown users, frequent changes and higher risks are some examples of this new context.

The quality approach has to take these factors into account. It must be aimed at the real world, not strive towards perfection. However, the risk taking must be permanently monitored and kept under control. In order to meet this challenge, TESSERRACK has extended its quality system towards risk analysis and process maturity with the CMMI model.

To meet short development times, more steps are performed in parallel. Hence, control points have to be distributed over phase overlaps. In addition, risk analysis is more focused on prevention and relies on a comprehensive list of generic risks for e-business projects.

With an increased number of project actors and a geographically distributed organization, the communication and reporting processes are of key importance. They are closely related to the configuration and change management processes. Thus, the project manager keeps continuous visibility on the project situation.

Product quality factors such as usability, scalability and flexibility now play a more and more important role for design issues and testing strategy.

Experienced organisation with a good internal knowledge of their abilities and limitations are in a position to operate successfully and on a long-term basis in the e-business context.