Chapter 16 Staff training and certification

Outline The objectives of training and certification The training and certification process Determine professional knowledge requirements Determine training and updating needs Planning training and updating programs Define positions requiring certification Planning the certification processes Delivery of training and certification programs Follow-up subsequent to training and certification

Role Keeping staff abreast ( على اطلاع ) of the latest professional knowledge available is the key to achieving quality in development and maintenance. Professional training, retraining and updating are mandatory if the gap between required and current professional knowledge is to be kept as narrow as possible. The importance of professional training as a vital component of any SQA system is stressed.

3S Example Break the projects schedule because of Lack of training Lack of members qualifications

Training and Certification Objectives Conform with the goals of SQA Management: Level of staff knowledge and skills Improve their efficiency and effectiveness

Training and Certification Process Targets of the process Fill the need of veteran ( القدامى ) staff and new employees Keeping track of developments program up to date

Training and Certification Process 1.Determine the professional knowledge requirements for each position 2.Determine the professional training and updating needs 3.Plan the professional training program 4.Plan the professional updating program 5.Define positions requiring certification 6.Plan certification processes 7.Deliver training, updating and certification programs 8.Perform follow-up of trained and certified staff.

Determine professional knowledge requirements Profession: system analyst, programmer, software development team leader, programming team leader, software maintenance technician, software tester, software testing team leader. Knowledge requirements: knowledge and skills of software engineering topics; knowledge of SQA topics.

Determine professional knowledge requirements Knowledge and Skills: Software development tools CASE tools Programming language version Related procedure and work instructions Knowledge and SQA: Procedures Maintenance activities

Determine training and updating needs How to determine? Compare: Staff’s current knowledge Updated knowledge requirements

Type of Training Training: for new employee Retraining: for employees assigned to new positions or receiving new assignments Updating: for staff members as demanded by their position Follow-up provides major input in redefining training needs.

Plan the professional training program

SQA Programs Training new employees: Organize periodically, 12 months, all new staffs Updating programs: Once-twice a year Who prepare training and update program? SQA unit Others responsible for SQA issues

Positions requiring certification Examples: software development team leader, programming team leader, software maintenance technician, software testing team leader, internal quality auditor. - Varies by firms or organization.

Certification One of the procedure used to guarantee the suitability of candidates

Certification Committee Defines the list of position required certification Defines the certifications will be: Effective permanently Limited period (renewal)

Planning Certification Process Details of the certification process are UNIQUE to the organization Certification process requires approval as defined in the certification procedure

Typical certification requirements Professional education: academic or technical degrees Internal training courses Professional experience in the organization (may be partially or completely replaced by experience in other organizations) Assessment of achievements and ability in periodic appraisals ( تقييم الإنجازات والقدرة في تقييم دورية ) Evaluation by the candidate’s direct Demonstration of knowledge and skills by means of a test or a project

Functions of the certification committee Who? Senior software development staff Maintenance staff

Responsibilities To perform certification process and grant certification to those who qualify To follow-up certification activities (such as mentoring) carried out by others To update certification requirements in response to developments in the organization as well as the profession To revise the list of positions requiring certification

Delivery of training and certification programs Who? Organization’s training unit Vocational or academic institutions

Delivery of training and certification programs Topics include software engineering, SQA & management skills, as needed by the firm. Courses can be short lectures, demonstrations, lengthy courses. Can be conducted by organization’s training unit, academic institutions, vocational institutions. See (Frame 16.2) at page 343

Follow-up of trained and certified staff performance -Collection of regular performance metrics -Questionnaires completed by trained and certified staffs, superiors, customers and others. -Analysis of outstanding achievements & failures. -Specialized review of software products

Information Provided by Follow-up All training activities and certification procedures conducted – records of the performance of the participants in the program. Information about special cases of training activities that proved to be either highly successful or clearly unsuccessful in improving staff performance. Information about proven cases of failures of certified staff in the performance that point to clearly inadequate certification requirements.

Q & A