Welcome to the Whittington & Associates
e-Newsletter!
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Our newsletters provide guidance on ISO 9001,
AS9100, ISO 13485, ISO/TS 16949, TL 9000, ISO
14001,
ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ISO 22000, and related ISO
standards, as well as, Six Sigma.
If you have any questions about the articles
appearing in this issue, or you want to suggest
topics for future issues, please let us
know.
New BOK for Software Quality Engineer
The Certified Software Quality Engineer
(CSQE) body of knowledge (BOK) has been
recently updated so that the most current
knowledge areas will be tested in future
examinations.
Part of the updating process was to conduct a
job analysis survey to determine whether the
current topics in the BOK are still relevant
to the role of a Software Quality Engineer
and to identify any new topics that have
emerged since the BOK was last issued.
The results of the CSQE job analysis survey
showed that all of the topics in the 2002 BOK
are still relevant to the job role of a
Software Quality Engineer in 2008. However, a
few new topics were added to the 2008 BOK
because of changing industry needs.
The new 2008 CSQE topics are identified
below.
I. General Knowledge
B. Ethical and Legal Compliance: New focus on
copyright and intellectual property rights,
data privacy, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
D. Leadership Skills
3. Communication Skill: New focus on using
techniques for working in multi-cultural
environments and describing the impact that
culture and communications can have on
quality.
E. Team Skills
1. Team Management: New focus on distributed
work environments.
II. Software Quality Management
A. Quality Management System
4. Outsourcing: New focus on designing
appropriate criteria for evaluating suppliers
and subcontractors.
B. Methodologies
2. Process Improvement Models: New focus on
basic elements of lean tools and Six Sigma
methodology.
4. Defect Prevention: Special training will
be framed to focus on training for defect
prevention rather than general training for
software quality engineers.
III. Systems and Software Engineering
Processes
A. Life Cycles and Process Models: New focus
on Feature Driven Development and Test Driven
Development.
D. Requirements Management
1. Participants: In addition to testing the
role of customers in requirements
elicitations, the roles of developers,
testers, quality, and management will also be
tested.
E. Software Analysis, Design, and Development
5. Software Development Methods: Pair
programming, extreme programming, and other
new development methods will be tested.
IV. Project Management
A. Planning, Scheduling, and Deployment
2. Project Scheduling: New focus on scrum and
burn-down charts.
B. Tracking and Controlling
4. Program Reviews: Program reviews were
tested in relation to V&V programs in the
past, and will now be tested in a broader
context, not just V&V.
V. Software Metrics and Analysis
B. Process and Product Measurement
3. Metrics Reporting Tools: Metrics reporting
tools will be tested in this section, not
with Communications Skills.
VI. Software Verification and Validation
(V&V)
E. Customer Deliverables: New focus on
marketing and training materials of customer
deliverables.
VII. Software Configuration Management
(No new topics for this section of the 2008
CSQE Body of Knowledge)
To see the full 2008 ASQ CSQE Body of
Knowledge, go to this
web page at the ASQ web site.
Transition to ISO 9001:2008
Transition to ISO 9001:2008ISO 9001:2008 is
still expected to be published by the end of
this year. However, changes to the existing
ISO 9001:2000 standard are considered minor
and, in principle, there will be no new
requirements.
What is expected in the updated quality
standard are clarifications to the existing
requirements of ISO 9001:2000, as well as,
changes that are intended to improve
consistency with the ISO 14001:2004
environmental standard.
According to the International Register of
Certificated Auditors (IRCA), there will be a
36-month transition period following the
publication of the revised standard, so
certification bodies can follow their normal
cycle and not issue ISO 9001:2008
certificates until the time of
re-certification.
This extended transition period is to prevent
additional costs being incurred, either by
the certification body or by the client.
After this period, certification to ISO
9001:2000 will no longer be valid. Prior to
this date, certification to both ISO
9001:2000 and ISO 9001:2008 will carry the
same weight.
AIAG Actionline Article on FMEA 4th Edition
Our July 2008 newsletter announced the
availability of the 4th Edition of the
Potential Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
(FMEA) Reference Manual. The June/July 2008
issue of the AIAG Actionline contained an
article describing the key updates in the 4th
Edition.
The improvements include:
Formatting and organization
Process-driven rather than form-driven
Additional examples and explanations
Management support
Importance of teams
Scope and content definition
Changes in the ranking tables
Linkages between DFMEA and PFMEA
To read the FMEA article by Michael Down, go
to the Actionline web site.
Predictive Maintenance
Jonathan Katz begins his Industry Week
article with the statement, "Plant floor
machines have so much to say." He goes on to
explain that trapped inside every machine is
a wealth of information that can tell
maintenance technicians if small hiccups
might develop into large problems.
Tapping into this machine information is
becoming easier with predictive maintenance
tools. Machine maintenance is evolving from
prescheduled routine tasks to the use of more
precise indicators that increase maintenance
efficiency.
Scheduled maintenance is an effective way to
reduce machine downtime and prevent costly
repairs. However, it doesn't take into
account the ever-changing plant floor
environment.
Technologies have been developed that use
embedded machine sensors and remote
monitoring to identify and prevent
maintenance issues. These sensors collect
data on variables such as temperature,
vibration, and motor current.
With this information, you can gain insight
into the rate of machine degradation and
historical data can be used to predict future
problems. To read the full article, see Maintenance Seers at the Industry Week
web site.
Webinars on Software Best Practices
The CAI's IT Metrics and Productivity
Institute is hosting a series of free weekly
webinars on software best practices. Each
webinar will feature an expert speaker who
has extensively researched, and successfully
applied, best practice principles to the
development and maintenance of software.
For example, the webinars in August 2008 are:
8/13/08 - Root Cause Analysis: What Is It and
How Do I Do It?
8/14/08 - Essential Measurements for Software
Projects
8/19/08 - ITIL Early Adoptors: Initial
Results
8/20/08 - IT Silver Bullets - Tools and
Techniques
8/21/08 - Top 10 Pitfalls in Agile Software
Development
8/26/08 - Best Practices for Determining
Project Requirements
8/27/08 - How To Effectively Lead An Offshore
Team
For detailed information on each webinar,
including registration information, go to
this ITMPI
web site.
New APQP 2nd Edition
The Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
reference manual provides common guidelines
for a product quality plan and control plans
leading to product that satisfies customer
expectations.
The new APQP 2nd edition explains all the
steps necessary to plan for successful
product approval submission and for common
communication of program status between the
supplier, organization, and OEM. This
guidance manual employs the process approach
and provides recommendations for a reduction
in the complexity of product quality
planning, including developing and
implementing control plans.
Exclusively available from the Automotive
Industry Action Group (AIAG), the APQP
reference manual contains guidelines that
support the requirements as described in
ISO/TS 16949 and the applicable Customer
Specific Requirements. The 2nd Edition APQP
reference manual was updated to:
Incorporate the customer-focused process
approach
Present lessons learned and best practices
Address all requirements of the
Production Part Approval Process (PPAP)
Update the Control Plan form and to
reflect appropriate terminology
To order the new APQP reference manual, go to
this AIAG
web page.
Whittington & Associates provides training, consulting and auditing services for
management systems based on
ISO 9001, ISO/TS16949, ISO/TS 29001, TL 9000, AS9100, ASS9110, AS9120, ISO 13485,
ISO 27001, ISO 20000, and ISO 14001.
