June 2010 Edition
Computer Science Department, University of Cape Town
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Code of practice is a set of rules adopted by CSSA members with aim to benefits members and wider community. It serves an educational role and deals with how members exercise their professional competence. The code is a series of statements prescribing minimum standards of Practice and is concerned with Professional Responsibility. The code should be viewed as a whole and observed in spirits and not merely in word.
The code consists of a set of statements and rational behind each of them. Each statements defines elements of practice to be observed. They can be grouped into several element of practice:
Personal Development
Organisation and Management
Contracting
Privacy, Security and Integrity
Development of a System
Implementation
Live Systems
A summary of the Code of Practice is provided here. The full code is accessible on the CSSA website.
| Statement | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Make sure that members and their subordinates are kept up to date on new technologies, practices, legal requirements and standards | Others will expect this of you |
| Ensure that subordinates are trained and that this is based on equal opportunity basis | Improve subordinates effectiveness and advancement opportunities |
| Only accept work for which you are competent or else obtain additional expertise first | Be aware of your own limitation and your duty to the client |
| Seek opportunities for increasing efficiency | As a professional you should be eliminated inefficiencies and be innovative by using new methods. |
| Statement | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Plan, establish and review objectives for both yourself and your subordinates | Keep overall objectives of the project in mind and use well established management practices to keep track. |
| Ensure tasks are allocated to people according to their ability and competence | Need to balance competence of subordinate to the job, their need to learn new things and responsibility to the client |
| Establish and maintain channels of communication to seniors, equals and subordinates | Effective communication improves quality of the job and this can be improved by formal training |
| Be accountable for quality, timeliness and use of resources | Professionalism implies provision of agreed level of service, timeliness and within budget |
| Statement | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Seek expert advice in preparation of formal contract | Contract needs to meet the needs of both parties. Member should use specialists where necessary (e.g. Tax and risk evaluation) |
| Adequately cover all requirements and responsibilities | Professional status implies that all details are covered |
| Statement | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Ascertain and evaluate all risks with respect to cost, effectiveness and security level | Essential to determine what value would be lost if security is breached. Allocate to the areas of protection, detection, suppression and recovery. |
| Recommend appropriate security levels to risks | Risks can be mandatory (e.g. health and safety) or non-mandatory (e.g. security of data etc). |
| Apply, monitor and report on the effectiveness of the levels of security | People can become lax. Employment of new technology maybe appropriate (e.g. when combating new attacks) |
| Ensure all staff is trained to protect life, data and equipments in cases of disaster. | Safety of people is the first priority. Backup facilities for programs, data are essential because of consequential losses. |
| Need to take all reasonable steps to protect confidential information | People’s private information is at the root of an individual’s right to privacy |
| Competent people must be in charge of accuracy and integrity of data | Staff assigned to a job must be competent and adequately trained for the job. |
| An individual must have the right to review their data, correct it and appeal if necessary | Individual has a right to freedom. |
| Statement | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Exercise impartiality when evaluating each project | Impartiality is a Professional imperative |
| Effectively plan, monitor, adjust and report on all aspects of the project | Need to control all aspects of a project |
| Use standard procedures and ensure that documentation is available and used. | Professionalism implies using standard, accepted, appropriate procedures. People should know how, when, or who must do the work. |
| Specify system objectives, completion data, cost, security requirements and acceptance requirements. | Clear statement of objective, agreed by client must be the rationale of the project. |
| Client should participate in all stages of analysis, development and implementation | The system is for the client. The closer the client’s involvement the better the system will be |
| Tasks completed within job in a defined order | Plan the system logically |
| Specify and conduct program and system tests | Show system functions as intended, as well as detect and eliminate errors. |
| Ensure design is sufficiently documented to facilitate audit, maintenance, enhancement and comprehension by user | Ensure system is usable |
| I/O designed for easy use | Simple I/O ensures less errors and easier acceptance. |
| Data that is erroneous, redundant or out of date must be easily changed or deleted, if necessary | Data must be correct while the privacy of individual is respected. |
| Backup procedures for data and programs | Consequential losses need to be minimized |
| Ensure projects are technically sound, use most appropriate technology, while staying within time/cost constraints | Professional should solve the clients problem in the most appropriate manner |
| Statement | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Provide adequate provision for staff training | System will not work properly unless staff knows how to use it. Education of users empowers them and allays fears of new system. |
| Changeover to new operational system – plan it, monitor the transition, adjust if necessary and report | Ensure new operation works well |
| Statement | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Plan and operate efficient and reliable processing within the budget | Reliability and efficiency is expected of a professional |
| Monitor performance and quality. Hold review regularly to assess efficiency, effectiveness and security | Requirements of systems change with time hence the need for review |
| Plan for maintenance and enhancements | Correct errors and upgrade system |
| Keep good liaison with users and set up mechanism for dealing with queries | Ensure any problems are dealt with quickly and appropriately. |