A quality characteristic’s departure from its intended level or state without any association to conformance to specification requirements or to the usability of a product or service (see also “blemish”, “defect”,and “nonconformity”).

A process in which the statistical measure being evaluated is in a state of statistical control, i.e., the variations among the observed sampling results can be attributed to a constant system of chance causes (see also “out-of-control process”)

Measure of performance. Indicators are usually ratios comparing the number of occurrences a certain phenomenon and the number of times the phenomenon could have occurred

Ability of a team to have access to information, computers, financial figures, etc. Accountability-a scale which measures the level of accountability for a team's actions and results

A manual testing technique in which program documents [specifications (requirements, design, source code or user's manuals are examined in a very formal and disciplined manner to discover errors, violations of standards and other problems. Checklists are a typical vehicle used in accomplishing this technique. See: static analysis, code audit, code inspection, code review, code walkthrough

Such as measuring, examining, testing, gaging one or more characteristics of a product or service, and comparing these with specified requirements to determine conformity

Unnaturally large fluctuations in a pattern

The period of time in the software life cycle during which a software product is integrated into its operational environment and tested in this environment to ensure that it performs as required

A term used to illustrate an obstacle to achieving quality: the supposition that quality and productivity improvement is achieved quickly through an affirmation of faith rather than through sufficient effort and education. W. Edwards Deming used this term, which was initially coined by James Bakken of Ford Motor Co., in his book Out of the Crisis

(1) (ANSI/IEEE) A program statement that causes a computer to perform a particular operation or set of operations. (2) (ISO) In a programming language, a meaningful expression that specifies one operation and identifies its operands, if any

(1) (IEEE) The complete set of instructions recognized by a given computer or provided by a given programming language. (2) (ISO) The set of the instructions of a computer, of a programming language, or of the programming languages in a programming system. See: computer instruction set

The insertion of additional code into a program in order to collect information about program behavior during program execution. Useful for dynamic analysis techniques such as assertion checking, coverage analysis, tuning

The tendency of two or more variables to produce an effect in combination which neither variable would produce if acting alone

(1)(ISO) A shared boundary between two functional units, defined by functional characteristics, common physical interconnection characteristics, signal characteristics, and other characteristics, as appropriate The concept involves the specification of the connection of two devices having different functions. (2) A point of communication between two or more processes, persons, or other physical entities. (3) A peripheral device which permits two or more devices to communicate

Evaluation of: (1) software requirements specifications with hardware, user, operator, and software interface requirements documentation, (2) software design description records with hardware, operator, and software interface requirements specifications, (3) source code with hardware, operator, and software interface design documentation, for correctness, consistency, completeness, accuracy, and readability. Entities to evaluate include data items and control items

A requirement that specifies an external item with which a system or system component must interact, or sets forth constraints on formats, timing, or other factors caused by such an interaction

Someone within your organization, further downstream in a process, who receives the output of your work/Or/The recipient, person or department, of another person’s or department’s output (product, service, or information) within an organization (see also “external customer”)

Is a graphical representation of all the factors in a complicated problem, system, or situation. It is typically used in conjunction with one of the other quality tools, particularly the affinity diagram. Frequently the header cards from the affinity diagram are used as the starting point for the interrelations digraph

Numeric categories with equal units of measure but no absolute zero point, i.e., quality scale or index

1 (NBS) Test data that lie outside the domain of the function the program represents. (2) These are not only inputs outside the valid range for data to be input, i.e., when the specified input range is 50 to 100, but also unexpected inputs, especially when these unexpected inputs may easily occur; e,g., the entry of alpha characters or special keyboard characters when only numeric data is valid, or the input of abnormal command sequences to a program

A problem-solving tool that uses a graphic description of the various process elements to analyze potential sources of variation , or problems. [Same as Cause and Effect Diagram,,, or Fishbone Diagram] 

A pioneer in quality control activities in Japan. In 1943, he developed the cause-and-effect diagram. Ishikawa, an ASQ Honorary member, published many works, including What is Total Quality Control?, The Japanese Way, Quality Control Circles at Work, and Guide to Quality Control. He was a member of the quality control research group of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers while also working as an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo

A set of five individual but related international standards on quality management and quality assurance developed to help companies effectively document the quality system elements to be implemented to maintain an efficient quality system. The standards, initially published in 1987, are not specific to any particular industry, product, or service. The standards were developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a specialized international agency for standardization composed of the national standards bodies of 91 countries