A form of document *Quality Control* in which a team of colleagues
assists an author in assessing the *Quality* of a documentary
work-product against pre-defined quality criteria.
Inspection is distinguished from reviews and walkthroughs by its formal approach to five aspects:
- A documented process of six to eight tasks;
- Specialist roles within the process, with a written job specification for each role;
- Process control by quantitative entry and exit criteria for the process, and sometimes for each task;
- Oracles" (such as source and related documents, and "best-practice" checklists) to assist in the identification of defects; and
- Collection and analysis of both product and process data to determine cost-effectiveness.
Additionally,
while reviews and walkthroughs concentrate solely on "defect detection"
within the document being dealt with, inspection provides explicit
formal mechanisms for "defect prevention" via improvement of processes
and of personal skills.
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