SQA & SQC in CMMI Requirement Development(RD)

The CMMI Requirements Development process area describes three types of requirements:- customer requirements, product requirements, and product-component requirements.

SQA role To observe that documented standards, processes, and procedures are followed. SQA would also establish software metrics in order to measure the effectiveness of this process. A common metric for measuring the Requirements process would be the number of errors (found during system testing) that could be traced to inaccurate or ambiguous requirements (note: SQC would perform the actual system testing but SQA would collect the metrics for monitoring and continuous improvement).

SQC role SQC takes an active role with Verification (this is a process itself that is described later). Verification of the requirements would involve inspection (reading) and looking for clarity and completeness. SQC would also verify that any documentated requirement standards are followed. Note there is a subtle difference between SQA and SQC with regard to standards, SQC’s role is in verifying the output of this process (that is the Requirement document itself) while SQA’s role is to make sure the process is followed correctly. SQA is more of an audit role here, and may sample actual Requirements whereas SQC is involved in the Verification of all Requirements. The type of requirement need not be just the functional aspect (or customer\user facing requirements) they could also include product and\or component requirements.