The process

The inspection process was developed by Michael Fagan^[1] in the mid-1970s and it has later been extended and modified.

The process should have entry criteria that determine if the inspection process is ready to begin. This prevents unfinished work products from entering the inspection process. The entry criteria might be a checklist including items such as "The document has been spell-checked".

The stages in the inspections process are: Planning, Overview meeting, Preparation, Inspection meeting, Rework and Follow-up. The Preparation, Inspection meeting and Rework stages might be iterated.

 

• Planning: The inspection is planned by the moderator.
• Overview meeting: The author describes the background of the work product.
• Preparation: Each inspector examines the work product to identify possible defects.
• Inspection meeting: During this meeting the reader reads through the work product, part by part and the inspectors point out the defects for every part.
• Rework: The author makes changes to the work product according to the action plans from the inspection meeting.
• Follow-up: The changes by the author are checked to make sure everything is correct.

The process is ended by the moderator when it satisfies some predefined exit criteria. The term inspection refers to one of the most important elements of the entire process that surrounds the execution and successful completion of a software engineering project.