The TickIT Programme

What is TickIT; A brief description

TThe TickIT initiative came about as a result of a report commissioned by the British Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to review the state of software quality and development in industry. This report showed that there was a reluctance on the part of the software producers to adopt ISO9000 as it was pitched at a high level of generality, the terminology was difficult to interpret for software and the guidance documentation was confusing. As a result of the findings of this report, the British Government decided to appoint the British Computer Society (BCS) to lead an initiative called TickIT. The aim of this initiative was to create a detailed method for organisation, procedures and rules for a Software Sector Certification Scheme (SSCS) which would cover the assessment and certification of an organisation's software quality management scheme to ISO9000/BS5750.

Since May 1993 the responsibility of the TickIT scheme was transferred from DTI to DISC. DISC is that part of the British Standards Institute (BSI) responsible for standards development in the IT sector.

DISC is committed to working on the maintenance and enhancement of the TickIT scheme so that the principles of the scheme continue to be observed in the face of external changes:

• To the requirement of suppliers and customers
• In development technology
• In the boundaries of its application, for example to the service management (post development) suppliers in the sector
• In the content of the ISO 9000 series.

TickIT is mainly aimed at the UK market, but there are similar schemes in other countries for example in the Netherlands there is a scheme developed by KEMA in association with FENIT, the Dutch Society of IT-companies (see references).

Principles and objectives of the TickIT scheme

TickIT is a certification scheme developed to apply ISO9001, but with the advantage of having been "tuned" to deal with the special requirements of software development.

It's main principles and objectives are:

• The interpretation of ISO 9000 for the sector
• The need to ensure continuing conformity for certified suppliers
• The necessity to perform assessments with experienced and skilled assessors, as witnessed by their ability to satisfy examiners
• The benefit of accredited training and examination for entrants on the assessor register.

However, since the scope of TickIT is identical to ISO 9001, there is virtually no content relating to process improvement, except in the context of changes resulting from corrective and preventive actions.

The TickIT Guide

TickIT also includes a guide. This provides guidance in understanding and applying ISO 9001 in the IT industry. It gives a background to the TickIT scheme, including its origins and objectives. Furthermore, it provides detailed information on how to implement a Quality System and the expected structure and content relevant to software activities. The TickIT guide also assists in defining appropriate measures and/or metrics.

The DISC TickIT Office has just recently released issue 3.0 of the TickIT Guide. It has been extensively revised and updated to reflect the many changes in the industry.

The Ticket Guide includes the following sections:

• Customer Guide
• Supplier Guide
• Auditor Guide

The Customer Guide is aimed at software sector organisations requiring ISO 9001 certification and also includes guidance on the standard's application to support and service activities. Its main statements regarding software product quality can be summarised as follows:

• The Requirements Specification is the major interface between customer and supplier. It provides both the baselines against which validation and acceptance tests are carried out and [acts as] the primary input to the supplier's design process. The customer should define everything that the supplier needs to know to produce a system, which is acceptable to the customer.
• Verification, validation and testing activities seek to ensure that a product ....performs as expected, and is suitable for its intended purpose.... The customer should [confirm that] quality is being built into the product as well as ensuring that the right product is built. ....The final product acceptance criteria [should be] agreed by the customer and supplier as soon as possible.

The Auditor Guide is intended to be used by third-party assessment bodies, in order to harmonise audit practices. Second-party assessment bodies may also find it of use.

Future Developments

The ISO 9000 standards are expected to undergo major restructuring, with much more recognition of the relationship between quality management and continuous improvement. ISO 9000-3 is being restructured to correspond to the current ISO 9001 and is expected to disappear when the new ISO 9001 (2001) is released. The software life-cycle process standard ISO 12207 is a potential replacement for the software sector.

References

For more information about TickIT we recommend the following books and Internet web sites :

BOOKS

Department of Trade and Industry and the British Computer Society, TickIT, Guide to Software Quality Management System Construction and Certification, Issue 3.0, 1997

KEMA/FENIT, Guidelines for Evaluation and Implementation of Quality Management Systems in Information Technology Businesses (in Dutch), February 1996

WEB SITES

http://www.avnet.co.uk/tesseract/QiC/TickIT/

http://www.ivf.se/tekomr/progtek/tickit/tick_bes.htm