A code quality audit is a systematic examination of your software’s source code to assess the robustness, security, and efficiency of the code. It can identify areas for improvement and ensure adherence to coding standards. This guide will detail how to conduct a code quality audit, as well as show you how Graphite Insights can simplify the process by providing key analytics and metrics.
What is a code audit and why is it necessary?
A code audit involves a thorough review of source code to find bugs, security vulnerabilities, or violations of coding standards before the software goes into production. This preventative measure saves costs related to post-deployment bugs and enhances the software's reliability.
Steps to perform a code quality audit
Step 1: Set audit objectives and scope
Begin by defining clear objectives for the code audit, such as improving performance, increasing security, or ensuring compliance with industry standards. Also, delineate the scope of the audit, specifying which parts of the codebase will be examined.
Step 2: Use Graphite Insights for initial analysis
Graphite Insights can be instrumental in the initial stages of a code audit. By leveraging its capabilities to track engineering velocity and review analytics, teams can identify areas where the code consistently meets or fails to meet quality standards.
- Metrics to monitor: Median review response time, average number of review cycles until merge, and average number of PRs reviewed per person.
- Custom insights: Graphite Insights allows the creation of custom views with specific queries, focusing on particular codebases, time periods, or teams, which is crucial for targeted audits.
Step 3: Perform code review audit trail analysis
With the data from Graphite Insights, analyze the code review audit trail. This involves looking at past pull requests (PRs) and their review metrics to understand how code changes were handled and any recurrent issues. You can also utilize the graphical representations in Graphite Insights to assess the number of PRs merged and reviewed over time, highlighting trends and anomalies.
Step 4: Detailed code audit analysis
Next, conduct a deep dive into the codebase using both automated tools, such as static code analysis tools, and manual reviews to scrutinize the code for potential flaws or inefficiencies, with feedback from various stakeholders, including developers, QA engineers, and security specialists, being incorporated to enhance the review process.
Step 5: Document findings and recommend improvements
Compile the findings from the audit into a comprehensive report. Outline the identified issues, their potential impacts, and recommended changes or improvements.
Step 6: Implement changes and monitor improvements
After the audit, implement the necessary changes based on the audit findings. Use Graphite Insights to monitor how these changes affect code quality and team performance over time.
Summary
Conducting a code quality audit is an important step in ensuring the health and performance of your software. By incorporating Graphite Insights, teams gain access to valuable data that can make the audit process more focused and effective. With its customizable dashboards and rich analytics, Graphite Insights provides a robust platform for identifying areas for improvement and tracking progress towards higher code quality.
