Quality News

Is ISO 9001 relevant to software?

Today, software customers are clearly going global
and are demanding quality.  Given the stakes involved, it is important
for software organizations to understand all the rules for self-improvement
and for doing business in the international marketplace.  The ISO
9001 standard has become a basic part of these rules.

How does ISO 9001 apply to software?

ISO 9001 is an international “quality management system” standard–a standard
used to assess an organization’s management approach regarding quality.

ISO 9001′s focus is directed internally at an organization’s processes
and methods and externally at managing (controlling, assuring,…) the
quality of products and services delivered.

When viewing the key factors affecting the outcome of software development
(shown below in figure 1), ISO 9001′s focus is on all factors except “technology”.



Figure 1: Delivering Quality
Software – macro process (click figure for expanded view)

Scope of ISO 9001:

ISO 9001 is a generic international standard, adopted on a country-by-country
basis, and written for use by the widest possible audience.  As a
result, the standard provides requirements (what needs to be done)
and does not issue specific prescriptive solutions (how to do it).

Being so broadly focused, the ISO 9001 standard does not offer details
about its application to specific domains of expertise.  To assist
in the application of the standard for specific domains, a series of guidelines
are available; e.g., ISO 9000-3 is a guideline for the software development
industry.

Relevance of ISO 9000-3

ISO 9000-3 provides “guidance” on implementing an ISO 9001 compliant set
of processes (collectively referred as a “quality system” or as a “quality
management system”).



ISO 9000-3 is an international guideline.  Guidance is for software
development, supply and maintenance environments.  The guideline is
primarily written for “custom” (contract driven) software markets.
It can easily be adapted for other market needs such as commercial-off-the-shelf
(COTS), internal software development, etc..

ISO 9000-3 virtually mirrors the provision of ISO 9001–it does not
add to, or otherwise change, the requirements of ISO 9001.

ISO 9000-3 is not intended to be used as an internal/external audit
tool.  Its intent is to guide software organizations with their
ISO 9001 implementation and process change efforts: in short, software
organizations are audited against ISO 9001 (not ISO 9000-3).

An example of the type of guidance provided by ISO 9000-3 is shown in
the following table.
Read more here