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2. Process Overview

Figure 1, Inspection Process Activity Diagram, illustrates an activity diagram for the inspection process. Activities to be performed in each phase are discussed in detail in the following sections.

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Note: Clear diamonds represent optional path; see descriptions below.

Figure 1 - Inspection Process Activity Diagram

2.1 Planning

The purpose of this phase is to:

• Organize the inspection, in terms of making key decisions about:
  • The participants to be involved (how many and which areas of expertise should be represented).
  • Exactly which materials are to be inspected (making sure that critical areas of the system are covered, that the materials make sense as a coherent piece, and that the amount of material is appropriate for the time available).
  • Facilities (whether meeting rooms are available for the team on the appropriate dates).
• Ensure that the work product is ready to inspect and that the team's time will be well spent on understanding and assessing the quality of the document.

Activities to be completed during this phase are performed by the moderator and include:

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Determining whether an overview meeting is needed.

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Calculating the time required for inspection, based on the amount of material that needs to be reviewed, and assuming each inspection meeting will last no more than 2 hours in duration.

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2.1.1 Defining the Review Perspectives, Quality Focus, and Checklists

It is important to remember that, while the inspection process itself should not change, the details of how it is applied in different contexts should change. The greatest benefit can be received from an inspection by using the process appropriately and by understanding how to focus it on the specific areas of concern for the various work products being inspected.

To ensure the right quality focus during the planning phase, the moderator:

• Identifies the key stakeholders in the work product, i.e., those persons who use, helped to produce, or interface with the technical aspects of the system described in that work product.
• Selects team members so that the expertise of each stakeholder is present on the team.
• Reflects on the high-level quality goals of the team – which characteristics are of highest priority, e.g., reliability, robustness, performance, maintainability, cost.
• Ensures that items on the checklist(s) for use by the team remind the inspectors to focus on indicators of those quality goals.

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2.2 Overview

The purpose of this phase is to provide inspectors with the background information needed to properly inspect the technical work product, which may include:

• An overview of the work product itself.
• Special considerations of which the review team should be aware.
• How the work product fits into the overall system/mission being developed.
• New or unique development techniques that have been or will be used in its construction.

Activities to be completed during this phase include:

1. Conduct of the overview meeting (moderator).
2. Presentation of background information (author or other knowledgeable subject matter expert, as appropriate).
3. Assignment of roles to inspectors, if not already done (moderator).
4. Recording of the total time spent in the overview meeting to allow for later analysis of the effort and cost of the inspection (moderator).

2.3 Preparation

The purpose of this phase is to give inspectors time to:

• Learn and understand the work product.
• Identify potential defects.
• Prepare to fulfill their assigned roles.
• Prepare for the meeting by logging or otherwise marking potential defects and other issues that should be discussed by the inspection team.

Activities to be completed during this phase include:

(1) Each inspector should:

      (a) Review the assigned checklist to refresh memory of the issues that should be focused on during the review.
      (b) Examine the materials for understanding and possible defects.
      (c) Prepare for the assigned role (reader, recorder, moderator), if applicable.
      (d) Record the total time spent in preparation and communicate that to the moderator.
      (e) Provide an indication to the moderator that individual preparation work has been completed and that the individual is ready for the team meeting.

(2) The moderator reviews the degree of preparation work done by inspectors and:

      (a) Organizes the inspection meeting by making note of where the problem areas seem to be (and where there is sure to be some discussion during the meeting).
      (b) Makes the "GO" or "NO GO" decision on the inspection meeting, i.e., determines whether the team can proceed and is likely to have an effective discussion or whether the meeting and discussion should be postponed until additional preparation work can be done.
      (c) Records the total time spent on preparation by the team to allow for later analysis of the effort and cost of the inspection.

2.4 Inspection Meeting

The purpose of this phase is to:

• Find, classify, and record defects.
• Record and assign open issues.

Activities to be completed during this phase include:

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2.5 Third Hour

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• Individual work done by inspectors to resolve discrepancies and open issues.
• Meeting held at author's request to discuss solutions or improvements.

Activities to be completed during this phase include:

• Resolution of open issues:
  • Complete assigned action item(s) on a timely basis.
  • Provide information to author.
  • Provide time spent in third hour to moderator.
• Discussion of solutions or improvements:
  • Attend third-hour meeting.
  • Provide time spent in third hour to moderator.
• Informing moderator of time spent.

2.6 Rework

The purpose of this phase is to remove known defects from the work product.

• Major defects are required to be removed.
• Minor and trivial defects are removed at author's discretion, as cost and time allow.

Activities to be completed during this phase include:

1. Resolution of all major defects found during the inspection meeting by the author.
2. Resolution of minor and trivial defects at author's discretion, as time and cost allow.
3. Recording of time spent for rework.

2.7 Followup

The purpose of this phase is to:

• Assure that all major defects detected during the inspection have been corrected.
• Check for the possible introduction of new defects during the correction process.
• Assure that all open issues are resolved in one of the following ways:
  • Decided to be a non-issue, with no action required.
  • Communicated to the author as a defect.
  • Recorded as a problem report or change request.

Activities to be completed during this phase include:

1. Verifying that all major defects have been corrected and checking for introduction of possible new defects during correction process (moderator and author).
2. Ensuring that all open issues are resolved and that problem reports and change request are filed (moderator).
3. Verifying that all exit criteria for inspection are met;  if issues remain open or defects are not corrected, work product is returned to rework (moderator).
4. Recording of time spent for rework and followup (moderator).
5. Communication to the inspection team and cognizant manager the outcome of the inspection (moderator).

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5. Lessons Learned

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A documented lesson from the NASA Lessons Learned database notes the following: 

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