Towards continuous process development: designing SQA function for large organisation needs

Established Software Quality Assurance function is expected to be an information channel in an organisation. Senior management gets information on how well-defined processes are followed, designers get feedback on the quality of their work and process developers get information on the need to improve the existing processes. Just setting up an SQA organisation is not enough in managing these tasks. Designing and implementing an SQA function in an organisation is a complex task that requires careful planning, capable resources and plenty of commitment. The paper outlines the background of SQA, presents a definition for SQA goals and also presents experiences of designing an SQA function to a Fixed Switching unit of Nokia Telecommunications.