3/15/2016

Pre-Project Software Quality

Components
Chapters 5 & 6

Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

Chapter 5

Contract review

Contract review process and stages

Contract review objectives
Implementation of contract review
Contract review subjects
Contract review for internal projects

Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

3/15/2016

1. Introduction

Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

A Word about Contracts

Contracts are vitally important.

Basis for considerable litigation when delivered software does
not perform as expected.
Bad contracts arise out of poorly defined requirements and
unrealistic budgets and schedules. Result: poor quality
software.
Preventive Quality Assurance starts with a discussion of
Contracts.

Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

3/15/2016

A Word about Contracts

Author discusses two contracts:

1. a proposal draft contract, and
2. contract draft.

Purpose: to arrive at a realistic budget and

timetable and discovering pitfalls early.
Then, to arrive at final contract draft with these
important parameters revealed.
The overall contract-review process originates in
the customer-supplier relationship for both
external and internal projects.
Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

Chapter Objectives

At the conclusion of studying this chapter, we should be able to:

Explain the two contract review stages
List the objectives of each stage of the contract review
Identify factors that affect the extent of the review
Identify the difficulties in performing a major contract review
Explain the recommended avenues for implementing a major
contract review
Discuss the importance of carrying out a contract review for
internal projects.

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3/15/2016

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5.2 Common Contract Situations

Why do software companies sign contracts with customers?

Participation in a tender
We pay you $X to deliver this product

Proposal submission according to customers RFP

Discussed. Common!

Receipt of an order from a companys customer

Most common

Internal request from another department in the

organization
Very common

Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

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Contract objectives and stages

Carry out the Contract Review process in two stages:

Review proposed draft prior to submission to potential customer
Review final proposal draft and customers requirement documents
and explanations of requirements, costs, resources, maybe with
partners /subcontractors.

Review of contract prior to signing

Review draft on basis of the proposal and understandings reached
during the contract negotiation sessions.

Major activities and elaborate checklists are often used!

Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

3/15/2016

5.3 Contract Review Objectives

To make sure that the following activities have been satisfactorily carried out:
1.Customer requirements clarified and documented
Some documents (most) may well be vary vague. These vague
items
must be clarified and spelled out clearly! Author suggests an additional
supplementary document

2.Alternative approaches for carrying out the project examined

Should be captured. Oftentimes the use of contract groups, reusable
strategies, and more may be valid approaches. These need to be spelled
out to avoid any future misunderstanding as to who does what.
3.Formal aspects of the relationship between the customer and the software
firm specified
Extremely critical. How are communications to take place? Frequency?
How are deliverables deployed? Customer responsibilities? Customer testing?
Change control procedure identified?

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5.3 Contract Review Objectives

To make sure that the following activities have been satisfactorily

4. Development risks identified
HUGE area! Risk may be technical (dont have know-how), environmental (developed under
unusual circumstance...), political, social (different ethnic groups), personal (people get sick, die,
have babies, need assistance, etc.), project complexity, software methodologies / technologies to be
used, on and on and on.
Many projects have failed due to poor assessment of risk! MOVING RISK back to earlier

stages in development was a primary motivation of iterative and incremental

development. The UP does it, and all modern techologies also do it.
5.Project resources and timetable adequately estimated
Do we need subcontractors? What constraints might they have? Global partners? Their constraints?
Resource estimation and the projects budget: Does the software firm have the viability to deliver on schedule?

6.The firms capacity with respect to the project examined

availability of professional competence and development facilities?
CMMi ...

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Pearson Education Limited 2004

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5.3 Contract Review Objectives

To make sure that the following activities have been satisfactorily carried out:
7.The customers capacity to fulfill his commitments examined
How about the customers organization? Their financial
capacities? Will
they be able to train new people on new
system? Recruit new people? Can
they install and assume operational control for a delivered system? Maintenance?
Handover?

8.Definition of Partner and Subcontractor Participation

These conditions must be clearly defined. Payment schedules?
Cooperation between project management and teams? Communications?

9.Protection of proprietary rights defined

Who owns the software? Especially critical for future use and
modification. Is this reusable software reused in other parts of the software
development firm? Consider proprietary files?

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Contract Draft Review Objectives

To make sure that the following activities have been

satisfactorily carried out:
1. No unclarified issues remain in the contract
draft
2. All understandings reached subsequent to the
proposal are correctly documented
3. No new changes, additions, or omissions that
have not been fully discussed have entered the
contract draft
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Pearson Education Limited 2004

3/15/2016

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5.4 Implementation of a Contract Review

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Who Performs the Review?

Various people depending on the nature of the

project
Leader or another member of the proposal team
Members of the proposal team
An outside professional or company staff member
who is not a member of the proposal team
A team of outside experts.
Usually a contract review team composed of outside experts
may be used especially for major proposals.
May be needed for a smaller project, but often not.

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3/15/2016

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Implementation of Contract Review for Major Proposal

This is a big deal for major proposals.
For very complex, large-scale, very technical areas, new professional
areas for the company developers, issues if there are many organizations
such as partners, subcontractors, etc.
Book offers Implementation of a contract review process for a major
project usually involves substantial organizational difficulties.
Getting parties together, vested interests, etc. HUGE.
May require lots of professional work and time from busy people!

Contract reviews must be

Scheduled;
Distribute portions to appropriate roles for review
Contract review team leader needs to be appointed.
Many responsibilities: recruitment of team members; distribution of review tasks, coordination
between review team and proposal team; follow up activities; Summarization.

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Pearson Education Limited 2004

Internal Projects

Important to note that projects normally take place via

general agreements and goodwill;
There may be mild or superficial contract review, if
any, or none at all.
Fraught with problems!
Due to the loosy-goosey way contracts are done.
Classroom experiences? IST at UNF?
Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

3/15/2016

5.6 Types of internal projects

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Many software projects are for internal use in an organization.

The developer is the supplier; the consumer is the customer.
Typical internal projects may be:

(1) Administrative or operative software to

be applied internally
(2) Software packages originally intended to be
sold to the public as off-the-shelf packages
(3) Firmware to be embedded in the
companys products
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Very prone to failure!

Subject

Disadvantages to the internal customer

(1) Inadequate definition

of project requirements

* Implementation deviates from the needed

applications
* Low satisfaction
* Unrealistic expectations about project
feasibility

(2) Poor estimate of the

required resources
(3) Poor timetable

* Missing scheduled dates for beginning

the distribution of new products

(4) Inadequate awareness

of development risks

* Customer unprepared for project risks

and their consequences

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Subject

Disadvantages to the internal customer

(1) Inadequate definition * Higher change requirements

of project requirements
* Wasted resources due to introducing
avoidable changes
(2) Poor estimate of the * Substantial deviations from budget
required resources
* Friction between units induced by
requirements for budget additions
(3) Poor timetable
* Development activities are under time
pressures and suffer from low quality
* Delays in freeing staff for their next
project
(4) Inadequate awareness * Tardy initiation of efforts to overcome
of development risks
difficulties
Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

Tugas Kelompok

Tugas Review Question Chapter 5

5.3, 5.4, 5.5
Dikumpulkan sebelum pertemuan berikutnya.

Galin, SQA from theory to implementation

Pearson Education Limited 2004

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