DHS EAGLE Dynamics Research Team - Quality Control Solution DHS EAGLE

Quality Assurance

DRC’s employs the best practices of the Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model (SEI CMM) Level 3 compliant quality assurance product and process audit procedures, and our independently registered ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System (ISO QMS) for Quality Control (QC). DRC has been independently and formally assessed at SEI CMM Level 3 and independently registered ISO 9001:2000 ISO QMS. Our approach is based on repeatable best practices and fully documented procedures and checklists, flexible to ensure responsiveness.

DRC will apply its fully documented CMM Level 3-compliant processes for any software QA to all software design, development, implementation and integration services incident to our Functional Category and our proven ISO 9001:2000 QMS (with measurable objectives to promote continuous improvement) to the full range of business and technical management services that we will provide to EAGLE Task Orders.

DRC’s Quality Control Audits and Reviews & Quality Control Process Documentation - DRC’s QC review and audit process involves formal audit of projects’ system and/or software work products and activities to verify compliance with all DRC and DHS requirements, procedures, and standards. Our QC program enables project staff, management, clients, and DRC senior management to analyze review and audit results. QC will send a formal Report of Audit containing the results of each QA Review or Audit to the DRC EAGLE QA Lead, The EAGLE PM, and the Senior Vice President of the Federal Solutions Group. Using DRC’s CMM Level 3-compliant Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) template, each project will define and document the specific standards, processes, procedures, checklists, reports, roles, tasks, and inspection schedules into a TO QAP.

All DRC CMM Level 3-compliant QC, QA, and Review policies, plans, procedures, processes, checklists, and support work products are fully documented and formally configuration managed via DRC’s organizationally standard process management tool, processMax. The processMax tool, from pragma Systems, is the industry leading, web-based software project management solution, and to date, DRC has instantiated more than 60 program portals using processMax. It serves as DRC’s process asset repository with total document management, including version control, change control, and process history. It also includes integrated workflow to notify project personnel of a wide variety of process-related events, including documents available for QC review and approval, and when QC corrective action items are assigned.

Quality Control Reviews - As shown in DRC’s Quality Control Reviews Approach to Monitoring Project Performance (exhibit 1), in addition to the various client-facing QC reviews that DRC performs on our projects, such as monthly In-Process Reviews (IPRs) and milestone driven Integrated Baseline Reviews (IBRs), and in addition to independent CMM/CMMI based appraisals, we also employ a number of comprehensive internal QC reviews to ensure a self-implementing approach to monitoring our projects’ performance.

Corrective Actions - After the execution of all DRC quality audits, the QA auditor, the project PM, and applicable project staff will conduct a formal review of the auditor’s documented Report of Audit and discuss discrepancies or variances. Within ten business days the staff rectifies any identified issues with DRC’s QA auditor, ensuring all anomalies are addressed. Otherwise, the staff will enter a formal Action Item (AI) detailing necessary corrective action into processMax, assigning a closure date and responsible party, and report progress on all processMax AIs to senior management monthly. We escalate hard to resolve AIs one level at a time until resolution is achieved per our QA Policy and Audit Escalation Procedure.