AN OVERVIEW OF EXISTING QUALITY MODELS

There are numerous quality management practices available in industry. These practices can be categorized into five general groups.
1.Total quality management
2.Management quality standards interpreted for software intensive systems
3.Specific IT quality standards with process capability determination features
4.National level quality award criteria
5.World-class standards

Within these groups there are a number of IT industries specific standards (BS15000 ,ISO9000-3 , international models (ISO 9001-2000, CMMI ) and quality awards (Baldrige , EFQM ).
Different models, standards and awards emphasize different activities. Which model fits to a specific industry or organization depends on the organization strategic objectives and the business in which the organization is operating. For example Michael Tingey in his book Malcolm Baldridge and SEI/CMM for Software (1997) studied the standards and models for the types of activities emphasized, he discovered that Malcom Baldrige model puts a large emphasis on improving and then on planning. In comparison, the ISO9001 standard puts its highest emphasis on managing and then on implementing. The SEI SW-CMM model is the reverse of ISO9001—its largest emphasis is on implementing and then managing.