Software Quality Assurance (SQA) is defined as:

"A systematic, planned set of actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that the software development process or the maintenance process of a software system product conforms to established functional technical requirements as well as with the managerial requirements of keeping the schedule and operating within budgetary confines." (Galin, cited in Food for Thought, 2005)

During the 1970's, companies had difficulty delivering software within the constraints of schedule, budget, and quality (Food for Thought, 2005). The problem grew worse over time. Many projects undertaken in the 1980's and 90's were complete disasters, failing to deliver anything, grossly exceeding budget and schedule deadlines, and delivering poor quality. Also, during the 1980's a "software crisis" occurred in which the spending on software maintenance exceeded spending on creating new software products. The problems in software development and the "software crisis" brought about the emergence of SQA.

The...
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