Despite their diversity, the many factors that enter into the way the quality of telecommunications software is perceived can plainly be linked to the process by which the software is developed. This is fortunate, since the quality of the process is the more easily quantified. In focusing quality programs for telecommunications software on its development, we see that the quality of the final product is directly related to the technology used, the caliber of the staff using the technology, and the managerial controls applied to the entire process. The last of these is most visible in the standards applied to the project. Quality assurance for telecommunications software is the management of a quality program built upon these standards-the substance of the technology and managerial precepts evinced by the standards, and the methods of ensuring compliance to them.