Quality is built on implementing best practices, but quality is maintained through monitoring that implementation. Managing quality effectively requires information; monitoring the results of implementing best practices measures not only the quality of the product but also the quality of the processes. Trending that data allows the processes to be changed before quality begins to suffer.

With a physical product a lapse in quality may be easy to detect. With software the evidence is more likely to be hidden, but it's there if you know where to look.

PRQA's range of static analysis tools gives your development team a snapshot of the code base; identifying specific issues that exist now. Over time, small issues that are easily detected using static analysis may accumulate to present a quality concern. Gathering this data over time, therefore, can generate trends which can be used to identify emerging quality issues.

A maturing code-base develops many version branches, potentially creating vast amounts of data that must be handled intelligently. By understanding the code structure in the Source Repository or Version Control System, and combining it with the information produced through static analysis, PRQA has developed effective solutions to maintain quality at every level of software development.

Quality processes are measured by the results they produce. How do you measure yours?