Corrective Action for the Software Industry

Many people are confused about corrective action. They know it's a requirement for compliance to standards such as ISO 9001. In some cases, the mandate is imposed by customers or regulatory agencies. Compounding this misunderstanding is that much of what has been written about the corrective action process is targeted toward manufacturing organizations, with the predictable references to tooling, production equipment, inspection of materials, storage issues, component design and the like. For software organizations, the product is intangible, and the processes may be electronically defined, derived, and controlled. Corrective action and the manner in which it is implemented needs to be explained specifically for software, both in language and supporting documentation.

This practical handbook discusses the hows and whys of corrective action, with a particular focus on its application in software environments. It also illustrates how the process is integrated into the various other functions of the organization.

Denise Robitaille is the author of numerous books on various quality topics. She is an internationally recognized speaker who brings years of experience in business and industry to her work in the quality profession. Denise is a member of U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 176, the committee responsible for updating the ISO 9000 family of standards. She is also a RABQSA certified lead assessor, an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor, and a senior member of ASQ.

Denise’s books include:The Corrective Action Handbook, The Management Review Handbook, The Preventive Action Handbook, Root Cause Analysis: Basic Tools and Techniques, Document Control and Managing Supplier-Related Processes. She is a regular columnist for The Auditor newsletter and is the author of numerous articles.

Johanna Rothman helps managers, teams, and organizations become more effective with her pragmatic approaches to the issues of project management, risk management, and people management. Rothman is a frequent speaker and author on managing high-technology product development and has written more than 100 articles and papers. She is a columnist for Software Development, Computerworld.com, and StickyMinds.com. She also publishes Reflections, an acclaimed quarterly newsletter about managing product development.