FMEA – Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
The failure mode and effects analysis and a variant including criticality analysis (FMECA) are iterative activities, intended to analyze the effects and criticality of failure modes within a system. The application of these analyses to software is sometimes termed SFMEA and SFMECA where S stands fot software.
Testers must be able to contribute to the creation of the FMEA document. This includes understanding the purpose and application of these documents as well as being able to apply their knowledge to help determine risk factors.
Areas of application:
FMEA should be applied:
1. where the criticality of the software or system under consideration must be analyzed to reduce the risk of failure.
2. Where mandatory or regulatory requirements apply
3. To remove defects at an early stage
4. to define special test considerations, operational constaints, design decisions for safety critical systems
Implementation steps:
FMEA should be scheduled as soon as preliminary information is available at a high level and extended to lower levels as more details become available.
For each critical function, module or component, iteratively:
1. Select a function and determine its possible failure modes, i.e. how the function can fail.
2. Define the possible causes for those failures, their effects and design mechanisms for reduction or mitigation of failures.
Befenits and Costs:
FMEA provides the following advantages:
1. Expected system failures caused by software failures or usage errors can be revealed.
2. Systematic use can contribute to overall system analysis
3. Results can be used for design decisions and justifications
4. Results may be used to focus testing to specific areas of the software.
Thanks,
Arun
Arun Vijayaraghavan is a Senior QA working for one of the world's largest Investment Banks. Arun has extensive experience in Retail Banking, Investment banking and non-life insurance domains.
