W3C

QA Framework: Operational Examples & Techniques

W3C Working Draft 11 March 2002

This version:
http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/2002/framework-20020311/qaframe-ops-extech
Latest version:
http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/qaframe-ops-extech
Previous version:
(N/A, this is the first WG-only version)
Editors:
Dimitris Dimitriadis (dimitris@ontologicon.com)
Kirill Gavrylyuk (kirillg@microsoft.com)
Lofton Henderson (lofton@rockynet.com)
Contributors:
See Acknowledgments.

Abstract

This document is part of the of the Quality Assurance (QA) Activity. It contains examples and techniques of QA related activities within the W3C as well as guidance as to how this work should be carried out. The document complements "QA Framework: Operational Guidelines" [QAF-OPS], by specifying or illustrating how to meet the operational and process-related checkpoints of that document.

Status of this document

This version is a WG-only draft.

This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest status of this document series is maintained at the W3C.

This document is a W3C Working Draft (WD), made available by the W3C Quality Assurance (QA) Activity for discussion by W3C members and other interested parties. For more information about the QA Activity, please see the QA Activity statement.

This version is the first preliminary draft -- basically an outline and statement of intended content. There are no other previous drafts. It is expected that updated WD versions of this document will be produced regularly, along with other members of the Framework documents family. Future progression of this document beyond Working Draft is possible, but has not yet been determined.

Please send comments to www-qa@w3.org, the publicly archived list of the QA Interest Group [QAIG]. Please note that any mail sent to this list will be publicly archived and available, do not send information you wouldn't want to see distributed, such as private data.

Publication of this document does not imply endorsement by the W3C, its membership or its staff. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use W3C Working Drafts as reference material or to cite them as other than "work in progress".

A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Anatomy of this document
3. Conformance test suites
    3.1 DOM
    3.2 SVG
    3.3 XSLT
    3.4 XML
    3.5 Others tbd
4. Operational guidelines in action
    4.1 Guideline 1: Integrate Quality Assurance into Working Group activities
    4.2 Guideline 2: Define resources for Working Group QA activities
    4.3 Guideline 3: Synchronize QA activities with the milestones for WG deliverables
    4.4 Guideline 4: Define the QA process
    4.5 Guideline 5: QA Process: Plan test materials development
    4.6 Guideline 6: QA Process: Plan test materials publication
    4.7 Guideline 7: Plan the transfer of test materials to W3C if needed
    4.8 Guideline 8: Plan for test materials maintenance
5. General remarks
6. Conformance
7. Acknowledgments
8. References


1. Introduction

This document contains examples and techniques of QA-related activities within the W3C as well as guidance as to how the quality processes of the Working Groups (WGs) should be carried out. It complements "QA Framework: Operational Guidelines" [QAF-OPS], by specifying or illustrating how to meet the operational and process-related checkpoints of that document.

The operational guidelines document should be considered a prerequisite to this one. In addition to containing all of the checkpoints to which the content of this document pertain, it explains principles underlying the conduct of WG quality processes.

2. Anatomy of this document

Following the outline of the operational guidelines document as far as possible, this document still allows for deviations, especially considering that there have been QA-related activities in the W3C that were initiated before the QA activity (for example DOM and SVG). Common features in these frameworks will be pointed out, as well as proposed principles that should be followed in the future. Instead of pointing to each existing QA-related framework in the W3C, a short description of each such activity will be given together with links, but the subsequent parts of the document will elaborate on the principles and how they have been realized in various efforts.

3. Conformance test suites

Here, a short description of each W3C QA-related activity will be given, together with some external to the W3C.

Each subsection is planned to indicate the following:

3.1 DOM

3.2 SVG

3.3 XSLT

3.4 XML

3.5 Others tbd

4. Operational guidelines in action

This sections looks at the guidelines and checkpoints in "Operational Guidelines", and how they have been used in the various frameworks. Where appropriate, pointers to relevant discussions and documents will be provided.

Each header will link back to the relevant part of "Operational Guidelines"..

Also, under each header, there will be at least one example where this done in a good way.

Finally, we look at ways where the checkpoints have been satisfactorily addressed, or indicate ways to do so if they have not. (@@per-checkpoint examples/techniques?)

4.1 Guideline 1: Integrate Quality Assurance into Working Group activities

4.2 Guideline 2: Define resources for Working Group QA activities

4.3 Guideline 3: Synchronize QA activities with the milestones for WG deliverables

4.4 Guideline 4: Define the QA process

4.5 Guideline 5: QA Process: Plan test materials development

4.6 Guideline 6: QA Process: Plan test materials publication

4.7 Guideline 7: Plan the transfer of test materials to W3C if needed

4.8 Guideline 8: Plan for test materials maintenance

5. General remarks

Experiences drawn from previous efforts, obvious pitfalls, good examples, open issues, and so forth.

6. Conformance

[@@tbd@@]


7. Acknowledgments

The following QA Working Group and Interest Group participants have contributed significantly to the content of this document:

8. References

ISSUES-LIST
QA Activity Issues List, maintained by the QA Working Group, available at http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/#issues.
MATRIX
W3C-wide conformance activity survey covering all the WGs, "The Matrix", available at http://www.w3.org/QA/TheMatrix.
PROCESS
W3C Process Document, 19 July 2001, available at http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Process-20010719/.
QA-GLOSSARY
Comprehensive glossary of QA terminology. (Under construction.)
QAF-OPS
"QA Framework: Operational Guidelines", Working Draft companion version to this document, available at [...].
QAF-SPEC
"QA Framework: Specification Guidelines", Working Draft companion version to this document, available at [...].
QAF-TEST
"QA Framework: Test Materials Guidelines", not yet published.
QAIG
Quality Assurance Interest Group of the W3C QA Activity, which may be found at http://www.w3.org/QA/IG/.
QAWG
Quality Assurance Working Group of the W3C QA Activity, which may be found at http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/.
RFC2119
Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels, March 1997, available at http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt.
SPEC-EXTECH
"QA Framework: Specification Examples and Techniques", not yet published.
STYLE-MAN
"W3C Manual of Style", summarizing the style and publication rules for W3C technical reports, available at http://www.w3.org/2001/06/manual/.
TAXONOMY
QA Activity test taxonomy, a classification scheme for conformance test materials, available at http://www.w3.org/QA/Taxonomy.
TEST-EXTECH
"QA Framework: Test Materials Examples and Techniques", not yet published.
W3C-TR
Location of all published W3C technical reports, see http://www.w3.org/TR/.
WCAG10
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, version 1.0, W3C Recommendation, 5 May 1999, available at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/.