Tuesday Afternoon Conference Sessions (1:00 - 2:00 PM)

PSQT Track Presentations (1:00 - 2:00 PM)

A Requirements-Based Approach to Delivering eBusiness and Enterprise Applications
Scott Jeffries

Concepts:

More Information to come soon!!!

Presentation Outline:

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A Practical Approach to Achieving the Goals of the Software Quality
Assurance KPA

Marie L. Daugherty

Concepts:

Software Quality Assurance seems to be one of the most challenging Level 2 KPAs to achieve.  Numerous CPA IPI assessments have sighted problems with this KPA, even when the others are satisfied.  Per the CMM for Software, “The purpose of Software Quality Assurance is to provide management with appropriate visibility into the process being used by the software project and of the products being built.  Software Quality Assurance involves reviewing and auditing the software products and activities to verify that they comply with the applicable procedures and standards and providing the software project and other appropriate managers with the results of these reviews and audits.”   On the surface this does not seem difficult, yet many organizations still miss achieving Level 2 by just this one KPA.   In this presentation, we will talk about practical ways to meet the goals of this KPA. 

Presentation Outline:

·         Discuss and define Software Quality Assurance (SQA)
·         Discuss and define SEI Level 2 SQA Key Process Area
·         Discuss high level key activities, practical techniques and sample formats for the SQA Process

Learning Objectives:

·         Understand the goals of the CMM for SW Level 2 SQA Key Process Area
·         Understand the basics of the SQA process
·         Know some practical techniques for applying that process

Biography:

Marie Daugherty has over 18 years of experience in software quality assurance, IV&V, process improvement, software engineering, and management in commercial organizations for both private industry and the Government.  Marie joined Averstar in 1997.  In her role as Program Manager, she is responsible for managing the efforts of the IV&V and independent test teams for a major contract with NASA.  She is also actively involved in the development of SEI and SQA related courses for Averstar.   Marie earned a M.S. in Technical Management from Johns Hopkins and a B.S. in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, with a minor in Economics.

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Change Management: The "Why" and "How"
Chris Murphy

Concepts:

This presentation will discuss the various reasons why Change Management is essential to successful developments.  The discussion will reinforce existing ideas on the need for change management and will provide new insight into other problems that may be encountered in lieu of adequate change management.  A detailed process along with actual forms and tools that are ready to use is also presented.

Presentation Outline:

·         Why do we need Change Management?
·         What about Defect Management?
·         Relationships between various processes
·         Tool considerations
·         Challenges

 Learning Objectives:

·         Why Change Management is essential to every group involved in a development
·         How Defect and Change Management are related
·         What type of items are covered by Change Management
·         The different levels of approval authority and their importance
·         How to implement a full-up working process, including tools
·         How Change Management interacts with other processes

Biography: 

Chris Murphy started his engineering path while working for the U.S. Geological Survey.  Among his accomplishments was the design and construction of a data acquisition system used to map ice flows in Antarctica.  Moving away from the dirty jeans of geology, Chris headed for the suits of a major downtown Denver law firm.   There, he transitioned the multi-office firm from mainframes to the client-server architecture of Novel.  After completing this project, Chris then aimed for higher projects – literally.  He joined Hughes Aircraft Company as a systems integration and test engineer for ground stations that flew satellites.  During the 10 years that Chris was at Hughes (later Raytheon), the QA department grew from 13 people to more than 80, and the process definition grew at the same pace. Chris was in charge of many aspects of the Change and Defect Mgmt process.  Needing a change back on the ground, Chris joined iXL, an Internet Strategy company, as the Quality Assurance Director where processes from the past had to be created for the future.  Because there were no processes in place, it was Chris’ job to define, implement, and rollout Change and Defect Management throughout the office.  As of this writing, the next two projects after rollout have successfully embraced the process.

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