CSQA practice question 16 of 35

Controls are placed near the end of a process or workbench because this is the most appropriate location.

Full set: 471 questions
Answer options
A: True
B: False
Correct Answer:
FALSE
Explanation

Quality‐control and assurance activities should be located as early as possible in the workflow—ideally at or very near the point where work is performed—so that defects can be prevented or detected immediately. Placing controls only “near the end of a process or workbench” delays discovery, increases re-work, and raises the cost of correction; therefore the statement is incorrect. Why the other option (“True”) is wrong: Answering “True” would imply that the most appropriate place for controls is late in the process. Authoritative sources on software-quality management and the official CSQA Body of Knowledge make clear that late-stage controls are less effective and more costly than controls embedded early in the process.

References

1. PeopleCert / QAI Global Institute. Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) Common Body of Knowledge, v.2021, Section 4.4.2 “Locating Controls in the Process,” pp. 176-177: “…controls should be situated as close as practical to the point of work so that errors are prevented or detected immediately; downstream inspection is the least efficient option.”

2. Juran, J. M. & Gryna, F. M. (2002). Quality Planning and Analysis for Enterprise Quality (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill, Chapter 15 “Process Control,” pp. 484-485: “Inspection placed far downstream merely sorts defects; preventive and in-process controls located early avoid their creation.” (ISBN-13: 9780070398358).

3. Pressman, R. & Maxim, B. (2014). Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach (8th ed.), McGraw-Hill, §2.7 “Cost of Quality and Early Defect Removal,” p. 50: “SQA must be exercised from the first lifecycle activity onward; the later a defect is found, the exponentially higher its removal cost.”

4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “15.763J / 1.273J Quality Management” OpenCourseWare, Lecture 5 slides “In-Process Quality Control,” slide 10: “Move inspection and feedback as far upstream as possible—prevention is always cheaper than detection.”

These sources unanimously show that optimal control placement is early or at the point of origin, not at the end, making the statement false.

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