The American Supplier Institute’s trademarked term for the quality engineering methodology developed by Genichi Taguchi. In this engineering approach to quality control, Taguchi calls for off-line quality control, on-line quality control, and a system of experimental design to improve quality and reduce costs

Developed a set of practices known as Taguchi Methods, as they are known in the U.S., for improving quality while reducing costs. Taguchi Methods focus on the design of efficient experiments, and the increasing of signal to noise ratios. Dr. Taguchi also articulated the developed the quality loss function. Currently, he is executive director of the American Supplier Institute and director of the Japan Industrial Technology Institute

Dr. Deming cautions against tampering with systems that are "in control." It is very common for management to react to variation which is in fact normal, thereby starting wild goose chases after sources of problems which don't exist. Tampering with stable processes actually increases variation

A commitment by the Product Quality Planning Team that the design can be manufactured, assembled, tested, packaged, and shipped in sufficient quantity at an acceptable cost, and on schedule

A procedure to determine whether a quantity subjected to random variation differs from a postulated value by an amount greater than that due to random variation alone

A formal document developed from a test plan that presents detailed instructions for the setup, operation, and evaluation of the results for each defined test. See: test case

[a]. (Pressman) Acceptance testing performed by the customer in a controlled environment at the developer's site. The software is used by the customer in a setting approximating the target environment with the developer observing and recording errors and usage problems

(NBS) A dynamic analysis technique which inserts assertions about the relationship between program variables into the program code. The truth of the assertions is determined as the program executes

[B].(1) (Pressman) Acceptance testing performed by the customer in a live application of the software, at one or more end user sites, in an environment not controlled by the developer. (2) For medical device software such use may require an Investigational Device Exemption [ICE] or Institutional Review Board (IRS] approval

A testing technique using input values at, just below, and just above, the defined limits of an input domain; and with input values causing outputs to be at, just below, and just above, the defined limits of an output domain. See: boundary' value analysis; testing, stress

Testing technique to satisfy coverage criteria which require that for each decision point, each possible branch (outcome] be executed at least once. Contrast with testing, path; testing, statement. See: branch coverage

The process of determining the ability of two or more systems to exchange information. In a situation where the developed software replaces an already working program, an investigation should be conducted to assess possible comparability problems between the new software and other programs or systems. See: different software system analysis; testing, integration; testing, interface. program variables. Feasible only for small, simple programs

(NBS) The application of test data derived through functional analysis extended to include design functions as well as requirement functions. See: testing, functional

Executing the program with all possible combinations of values for program variables. Feasible only for small, simple programs

(ISO) Testing a new or an alternate data processing system with the same source data that is used in another system. The other system is considered as the standard of comparison. Syn: parallel run.

(NBS) Testing to satisfy coverage criteria that each logical path through the program be tested. Often paths through the program are grouped into a finite set of classes. One path from each class is then tested. Syn path coverage. Contrast with testing, branch; testing, statement; branch coverage; condition coverage; decision coverage

(NIST) Rerunning test cases which a program has previously executed correctly in order to detect errors spawned by changes or corrections made during software development and maintenance

This is a determination of whether or not certain processing conditions use more storage (memory] than estimated

Designed in a manner such that the information is displayed in a understandable fashion enabling the operator to correctly interact with the system?

Testing designed to challenge a system's ability to manage the maximum amount of data over a period of time. This type of testing also evaluates a system's ability to handle overload situations in an orderly fashion

Testing which encompasses upper and lower limits, and circumstances which pose the greatest chance finding of errors. Syn: most appropriate challenge conditions. See: testing, boundary' value; testing, invalid case; testing. special case: testing, stress; testing, volume

A testing technique using input values that seem likely to cause program errors; e.g., "0", "1", NULL, empty string. See: error guessing

(NIST) Testing to satisfy the criterion that each statement in a program be executed at least once during program testing. Syn: statement coverage. Contrast with testing, branch; testing, path; branch coverage; condition coverage; decision coverage; multiple condition coverage; path coverage

A testing technique using valid [normal or expected] input values or conditions. See: equivalence class partitioning

(defect-based)--the probability that all defect opportunities produced at a particular step in the process will conform to their respective performance standards

The time that begins when resources are assigned to assess a product's feasibility and ends when the first production unit is delivered

Team member who keeps track of time spent on each agenda item during team meetings. This job can easily be rotated among team members

A plan that lists tasks, assignments, events, and timing required to provide a product that meets customer needs and expectations

Models that are the result of applying improvement opportunities to the current (AS IS) business environment

Pertaining to design methodology that starts with the highest level of abstraction and proceeds through progressively lower levels. See: structured design

Participation of the highest-level officials in their organization’s quality improvement efforts. Their participation includes establishing and serving on a quality committee, establishing quality policies and goals, deploying those goals to lower levels of the organization, providing the resources and training that the lower levels need to achieve the goals, participating in quality improvement teams, reviewing progress organizationwide; recognizing those who have performed well, and revising the current reward system to reflect the importance of achieving the quality goals

TQM is management and control activities based on the leadership of top management and based on the involvement of all employees and all departments from planning and development to sales and service. These management and control activities focus on quality assurance by which those qualities which satisfy the customer are built into products and services during the above processes and then offered to consumers / A term initially coined by the Naval Air Systems Command to describe its Japanese-style management approach to quality improvement. Since then, total quality management (TQM) has taken on many meanings. Simply put, TQM is a management approach to long-term success through customer satisfaction. TQM is based on the participation of all members of an organization in improving processes, products, services, and the culture they work in. TQM benefits all organization members and society. The methods for implementing this approach are found in the teachings of such quality leaders as Philip B. Crosby, W. Edwards Deming, Armand V. Feigenbaum, Kaoru Ishikawa, and J. M. Juran / Managing for quality in all aspects of an organization focusing on employee participation and customer satisfaction. Often used as a catch-all phrase for implementing various quality control and improvement tools

(TQM/TQL) Both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the foundation of the continuously improving organization. TQM/TQL is the application of quantitative methods and human resources to improve the material and services supplied to a organization, all the processes within an organization, and the degree to which the needs of the customer are met, now and in the future. TQM/TQL integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts and technical tools under a disciplined approach focused on continuous improvement

(ANSI) (1) A command, message, or input record that explicitly or implicitly calls for a processing action, such as updating a file. (2) An exchange between and end user and an interactive system. (3) In a database management system, a unit of processing activity' that accomplishes a specific purpose such as a retrieval, an update, a modification, or a deletion of one or more data elements of a storage structure

A structured software design technique in which system structure is derived from analyzing the flow of data through the system and the transformations that must be performed on the data

A chart used to break any task, goal, or category into increasingly detailed levels of information. Family trees are the classic example of a tree diagram

A control chart in which the deviation of the subgroup average, X-bar, from an expected trend in the process level is used to evaluate the stability of a process

(1) (ISO) An operation table for a logic operation. (2) A table that describes a logic function by listing all possible combinations of input values, and indicating, for each combination. the output value