Established Software Quality Assurance function is expected to be an information channel in an organisation. Senior management gets information of how well-defined processes are followed, designers get feedback of the quality of their work and process developers get information of the needs to improve the existing processes. Just setting up an SQA organisation is not enough in managing these tasks. Designing and implementing an SQA function in an organisation is a complex task that requires careful planning, capable resources and plenty of commitment. This paper outlines the background of SQA, presents a definition for SQA goals and also presents experiences of designing an SQA function to Fixed Switching unit of Nokia Telecommunications.

Neither this paper nor any version close to it has been or is being offered elsewhere for publication. All necessary clearances have been obtained for this paper. If accepted, the paper will be made available in camera ready form by June 15th, 1998, and it will be personally presented at the EUROMICRO 98 conference by the author or one of the co-authors. The presenting author(s) will pre-register for EUROMICRO 98 before the due date of the camera-ready paper.