Quality System Map

Metadata

Field	Value
Diagram title	Quality System Map
Related chapter	Chapter 6 — Systems Thinking for Quality Engineers
Part	Part I — Foundations of Modern Software Quality Engineering
MQE-BOK domain	Domain 1 — Foundations of Modern Software Quality Engineering
Diagram type	System relationship map
Skill level	Foundation
Model status	Original MSQE Educational Model; not an industry-standard architecture notation
Version	0.1.0
Status	Draft
Author	MSQE Project
Last updated	2026-08-08

Purpose

Give Quality Engineers a repeatable way to widen a discussion from a feature to the system conditions that shape a user outcome. The map supports system-level reasoning about interactions, dependencies, operation, and feedback.

Learning Objectives

After studying this diagram, the reader should be able to:

identify the system layers and relationships relevant to a customer outcome; and
trace how feedback from operation can change earlier decisions.

Diagram Source

This Mermaid representation follows the original MSQE Quality System Map defined in Chapter 6. It is a discussion lens, not a strict linear architecture or a replacement for formal modelling techniques.

Diagram

flowchart TB
    Users[Users and customer outcomes]
    Interfaces[Interfaces: UI, APIs, events, contracts]
    Services[Services and business capabilities]
    Data[Data: state, integrity, privacy, consistency]
    Infrastructure[Infrastructure: compute, network, storage, identity, configuration]
    Dependencies[Dependencies: teams, providers, shared platforms, contracts]
    Operations[Operations: deploy, observe, support, secure, recover]
    Feedback[Feedback: signals, customer evidence, incidents, reviews]

    Users --> Interfaces --> Services --> Data
    Services --> Infrastructure
    Data --> Infrastructure
    Interfaces --> Dependencies
    Services --> Dependencies
    Infrastructure --> Dependencies
    Infrastructure --> Operations
    Dependencies --> Operations
    Operations --> Feedback
    Feedback -. informs .-> Users
    Feedback -. informs .-> Interfaces
    Feedback -. informs .-> Services
    Feedback -. informs .-> Data
    Feedback -. informs .-> Infrastructure

Textual Interpretation and Accessibility

Begin with users and the outcome they need. Interfaces carry the flow to services, which use data and infrastructure. Dependencies influence interfaces, services, and infrastructure; operations deploys, observes, supports, secures, and recovers the system. Feedback from signals, users, incidents, and reviews informs earlier layers. The diagram is intentionally not a linear architecture: its additional dependency and feedback arrows highlight interactions a component-only view can miss.

Component Description

Map layer	Question it prompts
Users	What outcome matters, who can be harmed, and how will failure be perceived?
Interfaces and services	Which flows, contracts, business capabilities, and failure semantics shape the outcome?
Data and infrastructure	Which state, configuration, capacity, identity, and consistency conditions support the flow?
Dependencies and operations	Which suppliers, teams, response paths, and recovery conditions affect the outcome?
Feedback	Which evidence changes a future design or delivery decision?

Chapter 4 — Quality Throughout the Software Development Lifecycle
Chapter 5 — Shift Left, Shift Right & Shift Everywhere
Chapter 9 — The Modern Software Quality Engineering Framework

Diagram Review Checklist

The model is labelled as an MSQE educational model.
Relationships do not imply a fixed system architecture.
The Mermaid source and textual interpretation provide an accessible alternative.