The term Quality Index Multiplier is given the value you use to reduce all of
the measurements to a common denominator. Each of your quality
measurement yields a number that by itself only represents the result of the
area you are measuring.
For example, when you measure the number of passed test cases, you will have a
result of 86 out of 100. The number 86 by itself cannot be combined with
the other measurements from the other quality areas. However, if you
multiple 86 by .01 (or convert it to a percentage) you will get .86.
The key is to find the Quality Index Multiplier for each of the areas of
quality you measure so they yield like values that are meaningful and that can
be compared against each other.
In
the sample Methods Quality Index spreadsheet, I compute this index for
four quality areas. The following graph is the result of all of the
indexes combined.
Each of the Index multipliers is different and they reflect the company's
commitment to quality in that area. For example, if your company puts a
lot of emphasis on bug severity, then the multiplier needs to be weighted to
reflect that.
After you've computed all of your indexes, then just average them out.
Armed with this information you can go to management and report, with a high
degree of confidence, the true measurement of the quality of the software
produced by your company.
As
you can see, the steps needed to develop a Quality Assurance Index are not
hard. It just takes a little bit of thinking and some time to create the
multipliers.
In
our workshop, I spend as much time as possible to explain this concept since
it will ultimately reflect the quality of your software.
