Quality Procedures for Hardware and Software

How to Use This Book The primary purpose of this book is to assist small companies, involved in both hardware and software, to devise and evolve their own quality systems. There are a number of national and now international standards which outline the activities for which procedures and records need to be specified. They are described and compared in Chapter 2, and the subsequent guidance in the book is intended to assist in meeting them. Although, at first sight, the operations of a hardware equipment developer may seem very different from those of a software house, the basic requirements of a quality system, such as the BS 5750 and ISO 1987 series of documents, are the same. For this reason the same standard can be called for in both areas and it will be seen, in Part 2, that suitable procedures can be derived to meet both types of operation. Quality standards (BS 5750, AQAP, ISO 9000 series) distinguish between companies carrying out, on the one hand, both design and manufacturing fixed functions and, on the other hand, those who only manufacture to specifications. In practice, the lesser requirements (those applying to manufacture to fixed specifications) are common to both levels of standard and the additional controls pertaining to design are added to obtain the higher standard. Chapter 2 explains the differences in detail.

Autorentext
David J. Smith, past Chairman of the Safety and Reliability Society is the author of six successful works on reliability, quality, software and statistics. He has been directly associated with this branch of engineering, in the process and telecommunications industries, for over 20 years and is well known for his courses and workshops on these subjects. He currently runs his own consultancy.

Inhalt
How to Use This Book.- 1. The What and Why of Quality Systems.- 1 Why Quality Systems?.- 2 Comparison of Current Standards.- 3 What Type of System?.- 2. A Structure of Manuals and Procedures.- 4 Designing One's Own Quality System.- 5 Other Working Documents.- 3. Other Essential Guidance.- 6 The Overview of Quality.- 7 Auditing the System.- 8 Collecting Quality Costs.- 9 Obtaining Quality System Standards Approvals.- 4. Sample Quality Manuals.- 2 Quality Manuals.- 5. Sample Procedures.- 41 Quality Procedures.- Sources of Information.