IT Quality Assurance Research Paper
Introduction
An organization is composed of different departments, having varied levels of quality dynamics. Our company, National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) appreciates the need to raise the quality levels in the various departments so that it’s at par and in line with the individual companies’ strategic objectives. NPCC is committed to offering in-house applications that aim at raising the mentioned quality levels. This could be achieved through the automation of the processes within the various departments. Besides, automation, NPCC offers web pages applications software using.NET aimed at improving quality at the department level. Improvement in service in the petroleum sector facilitates the need for up-to-date information management and governance for higher production.
NPCC takes into consideration the client’s involvement in quality control regarding accessibility of the oil product at a reasonable cost, reliable products, and the required amount at the time of need. Besides, our company does close monitoring of the organization’s key performance indicators, KPI’s, since they are handy in ensuring that the goals are achieved at the right time. The principle of total quality control involves five technical, administrative functions, which are; the commitment to the management, the creation of a collective understanding of quality control approach, training, project team and extra training. The programs applicable in quality assurance provide relevant and organized methods of collecting, keeping, and analyzing of data, and giving a report on product quality to help the management in decision-making stages. In most cases, the product quality relies on the level of information the company management has.
Programming is a computer language used in the development of software intended for a specific functionality (Tripathy & Acharjya, 2014). The majority of petroleum industries, for example, Vegas oil and gas, Nigerian national petroleum corporation among others, frequently engages linear programming operations and planning models. NPCC uses old techniques like LP planning and operations models to program its operations for its clients. Another programming technique incorporated in petroleum industries is the mathematical programming though its use has been outdated.
Project Management
Application of computer-based programs in the petroleum processing system and management of workforce supports the positive performance of the organization and optimal productivity. The NPCC uses LP operations and planning models to control the system within the different departments. The IT quality assurance responsibly applies relevant software in monitoring the performance of the whole system and systematically assigns tasks to the respective variables (Rech & Bunse, 2009). The project management strategies included in software improves activity allocation as well as an implementation process sequence for better performance in the firms through control of system parameters requiring extreme precision.
Coordination
Regarding coordination, NPCC will raise the quality through the use of scheduled activities. Scheduling calls for the systematic operations of activities with their due date, and order of inception. The IT department designs programs that coordinate entire workflow in the organizations. As a result, of this coordination, the NPCC will increase the productivity of the industry (Chemuturi, 2011). Adequate organization and planning of the production responsibilities to give to the company employees reduce redundancy and time wastage in shifting from one process to the next consequently improving the production rates.
System Analysis
The use of KPI’s has always been helpful while carrying out analysis on the quality performance of a department. NPCC will use KPI’s techniques to measure and analyze the system performance for its installed software applications to raise the quality. Reduction in bad workmanship in the production line of petroleum involves full time and quality inspection responsibilities of the IT department. At the same time, NPCC shall incorporate superintendents in the production lines to ensure the security of the system (Chemuturi, 2011). The quality control department uses the principle of inspection and sampling in the extraction of defective sections in processing line as revealed by the IT department in their programs.
Database Structure
Documentation of information is essential for most of the software application providers. NPCC will document its information and store them in cloud storage for the various departments it serves. For primary control of statistical variables, NPCC shall use quality control programs to enable it to monitor and record accurate information about production processes in the line. The statistical process control tool speedily tracks data involved in the production process (Rech & Bunse, 2009). NPCC shall extract information and store it in its database to help the various departments to make a timely decision on the applicable production process and elimination of the faulty sections before the spread of the defect to other sections.
Systems and Web Sites Development
NPCC shall create relevant programs, for example, the.NET framework to sustain productivity in the firm. Quality assurance and control regulators rely on such information to determine the extent of adherence and improvement reached by the company about the performance targets. The development of websites by the IT department for the organization boosts the performance and management processing components. The transmission of information from the units and monitoring of the entire system remains under one platform that improves performance in service delivery (Allspaw & Robbins, 2010).
Testing Applications
The concept of IT testing reveals the possible defects and failures of the software, thus, decisively accelerating relevant modifications. NPCC will carry out constant website test to help in identifying the weak points in the production line attributed to management and mechanical failures that reduce the production rates. The resultant data helps in adjustments intended to improve petroleum processing processes and service delivery of the staffs. The testing will help the management in organizing appropriate training of the personnel (Calder & Watkins, 2012).
Maintaining and Modifying
NPCC will get involved in quality managements to sustain a quick analysis and evaluation of the functional parts of the entire system, thereby attaining recommended reliable operation on environmental safety and maintenance needs. The implementation of quality control parameters in the IT department incorporates useful programs that facilitate modification of the system components for effective operation efficiency (Chemuturi, 2011).
Research and Development
Research and development involve scientific investigation of applicable techniques for the coordination of industrial processing activities. The processes create practical economic solutions that improve alternative manufacturing processes (Tripathy & Acharjya, 2014). Implementation of quality assurance in research and development includes quality management structures in the organization as a sequence of activities, recruitments and staff training that improves service delivery and productivity. NPCC shall include research and development component in its quality assurance to ensure system calibration and performance checks as well as the analytical tasks intended to improve the performance of the system and the workforce in the organization.
IT Governance
The adoption of IT governance depends on the existing standards like the AS8015- 2005 or ISO/ IEC 38500- 2008 relating to corporate governance in Australia outlines legal and ethically relevant IT management concepts. These concepts enable the organization to realize overall success in the use of information technology within information system department. The standard applies to all categories of enterprises through the provision of concepts used to attain an adequate quality of data in the system information sector. Additionally, NPCC will incorporate the application of COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology) models consisting of thirty-seven principles that defines the input and output parameters. The processes further contain process objective and activities which are both performance measures and simplified maturity models. The models align the interoperable frameworks in a way to achieve better service delivery (Spohrer, 2016; Calder & Watkins, 2012).
Risks of QA in IT Governance
Challenges attributed to the development of quality assurance are diverse depending on the level of management. For instance, under previous involvement, the system often fails as the software may not competently eliminate ambiguity and ensure sustained testability. However, lateness compels system to apply the catch-up concept in understanding the requirement as opposed to the success realized by the timely introduction of the software in the market. Development overrules quality assurance as the staff influences team roll and the QA elements in a prominent manner. The vision of the organization has often become confused due to the application of weak software configuration management in the system designated for the test (Spohrer, 2016).
Impact of Quality Assurance in IT Governance
Quality assurance provides related concepts to the stakeholders and the client on how the company meets quality requirements. These requirements are met by attaining efficient and effective IT quality systems that reduce the extent of wastes encountered in the production process and any need for rework. This efficiency in production leads to achieving an overall social and financial advantage to the organization. The concept of quality assurance and governance also improves the decision-making framework for the construction projects. This improvement comes through the remarkable regulations that govern participation in the project, controls the communications within the project team and stakeholders. Thus, give direction to the project outcome and deliverables at reduced risk levels. The implementation of appropriate IT governance software in the management of petroleum company's resources improves interdepartmental migration integrity on the scaled platform within a few months of consistent use. Success in gaining the audit tests relies on the adequate implementation of IT processes in the enterprise management programs.
Through education, the client technical management team about the principles applicable in IT governance results into a sense of duty that boosts daily management of the large workforce within the company. Next, quality assurance information system ensures that IT governance department attains relevant international quality documents to support principle functions of the organization. The system in place needs to maintain up-to-date inventory records of quality documents in the group. These records include; the concept of determining, developing, implementing and monitoring the processes involved through Plan-Do-Check- Act (P-D-C-A) project cycle (Nurcan, 2010).
Information Technology Operations
IT operations include processes and programs that monitor and control operations of IT, infrastructure and services to a daily routine of industrial activity management. A combination of IT operation aspects facilitates project controls and activity flow within the departments. IT operation controls inculcate accountability and responsibility among the staff as well as other stakeholders. The IT systems enable the player to create relevant and applicable strategies that conform to their production and marketing plans for the enterprise. Organization’s IT department creates functional software that helps the administration to allocate production resources efficiently and conduct an inspection of the system to identify faulty components (Allspaw & Robbins, 2010). The concept of networking improves service delivery through rapid data transmission. Finally, the IT department also maintains proper functioning of system servers that controls the batches that support the manufacturing processes in the production line.
Recommendation
Realization of improved performance of the employee and system efficiency relies on the adoption of improved accountability strategies under the proper planning framework to achieve benefits attributed to quality assurance in information systems within the IT department. The management ought to set realistic expectations that instill the spirit of responsibility and appropriate communication sequence among the stakeholders. Timely engagement of relevant resources will enable the management to attain optimal performance in IT within the industry's operation plans (El-Reedy, 2011). The enactment of reduced upfront planning under unrealistic processing lines accelerates the desire for improvements in the management of IT infrastructure.
Conclusion
The research promptly attains relevant design concepts necessary for efficient QA in the information systems within the company. Through principle contributions of different models applicable in the construction industry, the progress in quality controls for an improved service delivery to the customers’ satisfaction and stakeholders determine the response of the business community. Besides, the QA analysis of IT department in petroleum industry increases performance efficiency in the units of governance and policy implementation.
References
Allspaw, J., & Robbins, J. (2010). Web Operations. Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly Media.
Calder, A., & Watkins, S. (2012). IT Governance. London: Kogan Page.
Chemuturi, M. (2011). Mastering Software Quality Assurance. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Ross.
El-Reedy, M. (2011). Construction Management for Industrial Projects. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Nurcan, S. (2010). Intentional Perspectives on Information Systems Engineering. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Rech, J., & Bunse, C. (2009). Model-Driven Software Development. Hershey: Information Science Reference.
Shelly, G., & Rosenblatt, H. (2012). Systems Analysis and Design. Boston: Course Technology Cengage Learning.
Spohrer, K. (2016). Collaborative Quality Assurance in Information Systems Development. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Tripathy, B., & Acharjya, D. (2014). Global Trends in Intelligent Computing Research and Development. Hershey, Pa: Information Science Reference.
