Common ways of controlling the quality of software applications and systems (methodology & tools)

Integral part of all systematically managed software development or maintenance projects is emphasis on continuous quality of all project activities. Because final quality of project deliverables (new or enhanced applications, preconfigured solutions as ie. SAP) is a very big influencer of project success and therefore also important influencer of long-term relationship between customer and contractor(s), this document focuses on ways how to proactively prevent from mistakes (within the whole software development lifecycle) and on techniques helping to establish better quality control of important deliverables through systematic approach, high quality tools and suitable metrics in software testing discipline. This document gradually exposes typical project areas where it is necessary to keep control on quality of project members' outputs, perceives testing in context of typical project consequences, offers practical recommendations in testing methodology, tools as well as widely tested technologies, and explains trends and risks in testing domain. The goal of this document is not only to document a wide range of possibilities given by frequently used testing techniques or tools but also to offer a practical guidance in deployment of test discipline. This document was written by comparing author's professional experience in software quality management with knowledge gathered by reading information sources attached to this document. This document consists of concrete conclusions of this comparison.