Definition
A formal group review quality improvement process for written material. It consists of two aspects, product (document itself) improvement and process improvement (of both document production and inspection).
[Source: =BCS]
Comment
An inspection is a formal process where roles and documentation are used to detect faults in a product. Inspections include a moderator for managing the process and inspectors to check a product against rules and standards. Metrics capture is part of the process. Inspections are a very useful way of detecting faults in documentation written by experienced individuals.
On many programmes and large projects, testing will take up a significant portion of the budget. But it will receive less management attention than an activity of this size warrants.