Taguchi, Genichi Developed a set of practices known as Taguchi Methods, as they are known in the U.S., for improving quality while reducing costs. Taguchi Methods focus on the design of efficient experiments, and the increasing of signal to noise ratios. Dr. Taguchi also articulated the developed the quality loss function. Currently, he is executive director of the American Supplier Institute and director of the Japan Industrial Technology Institute.

Tampering Not differentiating between common and special cause variation and changing the process.

Test case. (IEEE) Documentation specifying inputs, predicted results, and a set of execution conditions for a test item. Syn: test
case specification.

Test design. (IEEE) Documentation specifying the details of the test approach for a software feature or combination of software features and identifying the associated tests. See: testing functional; cause effect graphing; boundary value analysis; equivalence class partitioning; error guessing; testing, structural; branch analysis; path analysis; statement coverage; condition coverage: decision coverage; multiple-condition coverage.

Test documentation. (IEEE) Documentation describing plans for, or results ot the testing of a system or component, Types include test case specification, test incident report, test log, test plan, test procedure, test report.

Test driver. (IEEE) A software module used to invoke a module under test and, often, provide test inputs, control and monitor execution, and report test results. Syn: test harness.

Test log. (IEEE) A chronological record of all relevant details about the execution of a test.

TEST OF SIGNIFICANCE A procedure to determine whether a quantity subjected to random variation differs from a postulated value by an amount greater than that due to random variation alone.

Test phase. (IEEE) The period of time in the software life cycle in which the components of a software product are evaluated and
integrated, and the software product is evaluated to determine whether or not requirements have been satisfied.

Test plan. (IEEE) Documentation specifying the scope, approach, resources, and schedule of intended testing activities. It identifies test items, the features to be tested, the testing tasks, responsibilities, required resources, and any risks requiring contingency planning. See: test design, validation protocol.

Test procedure. (NIST) A formal document developed from a test plan that presents detailed instructions for the setup, operation, and evaluation of the results for each defined test. See: test case.

Test report. (IEEE) A document describing the conduct and results of the testing carried out for a system or system component.

Test. (IEEE) An activity in which a system or component is executed under specified conditions, the results are observed or recorded and an evaluation is made of some aspect of the system or component.

Testability. (IEEE) (1) The degree to which a system or component facilitates the establishment of test criteria and the performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met. (2) The degree to which a requirement is stated in terms that permit establishment of test criteria and performance of tests to determine whether those criteria have been met.

Testing, acceptance. (IEEE) Testing conducted to determine whether or not a system satisfies its acceptance criteria and to enable the customer to determine whether or not to accept the system. Contrast with testing, development; testing, operational. See: testing, qualification.

Testing, alpha [a]. (Pressman) Acceptance testing performed by the customer in a controlled environment at the developer's site. The software is used by the customer in a setting approximating the target environment with the developer observing and recording errors and usage problems.

Testing, beta [B].(1) (Pressman) Acceptance testing performed by the customer in a live application of the software, at one or more end user sites, in an environment not controlled by the developer. (2) For medical device software such use may require an Investigational Device Exemption [ICE] or Institutional Review Board (IRS] approval.

Testing, compatibility. The process of determining the ability of two or more systems to exchange information. In a situation where the developed software replaces an already working program, an investigation should be conducted to assess possible comparability problems between the new software and other programs or systems. See: different software system analysis; testing, integration; testing, interface. program variables. Feasible only for small, simple programs.

Testing, design based functional. (NBS) The application of test data derived through functional analysis extended to include design functions as well as requirement functions. See: testing, functional.

Testing, development. (IEEE) Testing conducted during the development of a system or component, usually in the development environment by the developer. Contrast with testing, acceptance; testing, operational.

Testing, formal. (IEEE) Testing conducted in accordance with test plans and procedures that have been reviewed and approved by a customer, user, or designated level of management. Antonym: informal testing.

Testing, functional. (IEEE) (1) Testing that ignores the internal mechanism or structure of a system or component and focuses on the outputs generated in response to selected inputs and execution conditions. (2) Testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specified functional requirements and corresponding predicted results. Syn: black-box testing, input/output driven testing. Contrast with testing, structural.
testing, interface. (IEEE) Testing conducted to evaluate whether systems or components pass data and control correctly to one another. Contrast with testing, unit; testing, system. See: testing, integration.

Testing, operational. (IEEE) Testing conducted to evaluate a system or component in its operational environment. Contrast with testing, development; testing, acceptance; See: testing, system.

Testing, parallel .(ISO) Testing a new or an alternate data processing system with the same source data that is used in another system. The other system is considered as the standard of comparison. Syn: parallel run.

Testing, path. (NBS) Testing to satisfy coverage criteria that each logical path through the program be tested. Often paths through the program are grouped into a finite set of classes. One path from each class is then tested. Syn path coverage. Contrast with testing, branch; testing, statement; branch coverage; condition coverage; decision coverage.

Testing, qualification. (IEEE) Formal testing, usually conducted by the developer for the consumer, to demonstrate that the software meets its specified requirements. See: testing, acceptance; testing, system.

Testing, regression. (NIST) Rerunning test cases which a program has previously executed correctly in order to detect errors spawned by changes or corrections made during software development and maintenance.

Testing, system. (IEEE) The process of testing an integrated hardware and software system to verify that the system meets its specified requirements. Such testing may be conducted in both the development environment and the target environment.
testing, unit. (1) (NIST) Testing of a module for typographic, syntactic, and logical errors, for correct implementation of its design, and for satisfaction of its requirements. (2) (IEEE) Testing conducted to verify the implementation of the design for one software element; e.g., a unit or module; or a collection of software elements. Syn: component testing.

Testing, usability. designed in a manner such that the information is displayed in a understandable fashion enabling the operator to correctly interact with the system?
testing, volume. Testing designed to challenge a system's ability to manage the maximum amount of data over a period of time. This type of testing also evaluates a system's ability to handle overload situations in an orderly fashion.

Testing, worst case. Testing which encompasses upper and lower limits, and circumstances which pose the greatest chance finding of errors. Syn: most appropriate challenge conditions. See: testing, boundary' value; testing, invalid case; testing. special case: testing, stress; testing, volume.

Testing. integration. (IEEE) An orderly progression of testing in which software elements, hardware elements, or both are combined and tested, to evaluate their interactions, until the entire system has been integrated.

Testing. performance. (IEEE) Functional testing conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specified performance requirements.

Testing. special case. A testing technique using input values that seem likely to cause program errors; e.g., "0", "1", NULL, empty string. See: error guessing.

Testing. statement. (NIST) Testing to satisfy the criterion that each statement in a program be executed at least once during program testing. Syn: statement coverage. Contrast with testing, branch; testing, path; branch coverage; condition coverage; decision coverage; multiple condition coverage; path coverage.

Testing. valid case. A testing technique using valid [normal or expected] input values or conditions. See: equivalence class partitioning.

Testing. (IEEE) (1) The process of operating a system or component under specified conditions, observing or recording the results, and making an evaluation of some aspect of the system or component. (2) The process of analyzing a software item to detect the differences between existing and required conditions, i.e., bugs, and to evaluate the features of the software items. See: dynamic analysis, static analysis, software engineering.

TGR Things Gone Right.

TGW Things Gone Wrong.

TOPS Team Oriented Problem Solving

Total Quality Management (TQM) TQM is management and control activities based on the leadership of top management and based on the involvement of all employees and all departments from planning and development to sales and service. These management and control activities focus on quality assurance by which those qualities which satisfy the customer are built into products and services during the above processes and then offered to consumers.

Total Quality Management Managing for quality in all aspects of an organization focusing on employee participation and customer satisfaction. Often used as a catch-all phrase for implementing various quality control and improvement tools.

Total Quality Management/Total Quality Leadership (TQM/TQL) Both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the foundation of the continuously improving organization. TQM/TQL is the application of quantitative methods and human resources to improve the material and services supplied to a organization, all the processes within an organization, and the degree to which the needs of the customer are met, now and in the future. TQM/TQL integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts and technical tools under a disciplined approach focused on continuous improvement.

TQM Total Quality Management: A management approach of an organization centered on quality.

Trace. (IEEE) (1) A record of the execution of a computer program, showing the sequence of instructions executed, the names and values of variables, or both. Types include execution trace, retrospective trace, subroutine trace, symbolic trace, variable trace. (2) To produce a record as in (1). (3) To establish a relationship between two or more products of the development process: a.g., to establish the relationship between a given requirement and the design element that implements that requirement.

Traceability analysis. (IEEE) The tracing of (1) Software Requirements Specifications requirements to system requirements in concept documentation, (2) software design descriptions to software requirements specifications and software requirements specifications to software design descriptions, (3) source code to corresponding design specifications and design specifications to source code. Analyze identified relationships for correctness, consistency, completeness, and accuracy. See: traceability, traceability matrix.

Traceability matrix. (IEEE) A matrix that records the relationship between two or more products; ag., a matrix that records the relationship between the requirements and the design of a given software component. See: traceability, traceability analysis.

Traceability The ability to trace a product back through the process , and identify all sub-processes, components, and equipment that were involved in its manufacture.

Traceability. (IEEE) (1) The degree to which a relationship can be established between two or more products of the development process, especially products having a predecessor-successor or master-subordinate relationship to one another; ag., the degree to which the requirements and design of a given software component match. See: consistency. (2) The degree to which each element in a software development product establishes its reason for existing; e.g., the degree to which each element in a bubble chart references the requirement that it satisfies. See: traceability analysis, traceability matrix.

Transition Period Time when an organization is moving away from an old way of thinking to the new way.

Tree diagram A chart used to break any task, goal, or category into increasingly detailed levels of information. Family trees are the classic example of a tree diagram.

TRIZ Theory of Inventive Problem Solving

Trojan horse. A method of attacking a computer system, typically by providing a useful program which contains code intended to compromise a computer system by secretly providing for unauthorized access, the unauthorized collection of privileged system or user data, the unauthorized reading or altering of files, the performance of unintended and unexpected functions, or the malicious destruction of software and hardware See: bomb, virus, worm.

Type I error Rejecting something that is acceptable. Also known as an alpha error.

Type II error Accepting something that should have been rejected. Also known as beta error.

u chart A control chart showing the count of defects per unit in a series of random samples.

UPPER CONTROL LIMIT A horizontal line on a control chart (usually dotted) which represents the upper limits of process capability.

Usability. (IEEE) The ease with which a user can operate, prepare inputs for, and interpret of a system or component.

User. (ANSI) Any person, organization, or functional unit that uses the services of an information processing system. See: end user.

User's guide. (ISO) Documentation that describes how to use a functional unit, and that may include description of the rights and responsibilities of the user, the owner, and the supplier of the unit. Syn: user manual, operator manual