Benghazi University

Faculty of Information Technology

Software Engineering Department

Software Quality
Part2
(Software Quality Definitions & Concepts)

Prepared by: Mohamed A. Elorfi

Instructor: Salah Abdelsattar

Quality—A Pragmatic View
 The transcendental view argues that quality is something that
you immediately recognize, but cannot explicitly define.

 The user view sees quality in terms of an end-user’s specific

goals. If a product meets those goals, it exhibits quality.

 The manufacturer’s view defines quality in terms of the

original specification of the product. If the product conforms to
the specification, it exhibits quality.

 The product view suggests that quality can be tied to inherent

characteristics (e.g., functions and features) of a product.

 Finally, the value-based view measures quality based on how

much a customer is willing to pay for a product.

In reality, quality includes all of these views and more.

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 Quality definitions

• Webster's Definition of Quality

The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its
ability to satisfy stated or implied needs

• IEEE
1. The degree to which a system, component, or process meets specified
requirements.
2. The degree to which a system, component, or process meets customer or user
needs or expectations.
• Juran, (Manufacturer’s Perspective)
Software quality is fitness for intended use
• Phil Crosby, (Management’s perspective)
“Quality means “conformance to user requirements”.
• Edwards Deming, (Consumer’s perspective)
“striving for excellence” in reliability and functions by continuous improvement in the
process of development, support by statistical analysis of the causes of failure.

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• Watts Humphrey, of the SEI,
“achieving excellent levels of fitness for use, conformance to requirements,
reliability and maintainability.”

• Barry Boehm,
“Achieving high levels of user satisfaction, portability, maintainability, robustness,
and fitness for use”.

• Pressman
Conformance to:
1. explicitly stated functional and performance requirements,
2. explicitly documented development standards, and
3. implicit characteristics that are expected of all professionally developed
software.

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• James Martin,
“software quality means being on time, within budget and meeting user
needs”

• Tom McCabe, the software complexity specialist,

“high level of user satisfaction and low defect levels, often associated with low
complexity”

• John Musa of Bell Laboratories,

“combination of low defect levels, commitment of software functions to
users needs, and high reliability”

• Bill Perry, head of Quality Assurance Institute

“high levels of user satisfaction and adherence to requirements”.

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Comment:
It is apparent from a first look at these definitions that quality is a subjective
term with many definitions – covering different perspectives of various
stakeholders. However, a closer look and analysis of these definitions from
the perspective of intent reveals that they all essentially pointing in the same
direction – “quality is non-negotiable”. It is therefore important, for the
organizations - to manage quality using a defined and structured approach to
quality management.

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Why business should be concerned with Quality?

– Customers demand quality.

– Quality is critical for success.

– Quality is competitive issue now

– Quality gives you the global reach

– Quality is cost effective

– Quality helps retain customers and increase profits

– Quality is the hallmarks of world-class business

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Importance of Software Quality

• Software is a major component of computer systems

– (about 80% of the cost)
• Software is used for
– communication (e.g. phone system, email system)
– health monitoring,
– transportation (e.g. automobile, aeronautics),
– economic exchanges (e.g. ecommerce),
– entertainment,
– etc.
• Software defects are extremely costly in term of
– money
– reputation
– loss of life

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Software Quality
• Is achieved through a disciplined approach - called software engineering.
• Can be defined, described, and measured.
• Can be assessed before any code has been written.

Software quality challenges

• Defining it.
• Describing it (qualitatively).
• Measuring it (quantitatively).
• Achieving it (technically).

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Process and Product Quality

 Product: delivered to the customer

 Process: produces the software product
 Underlying assumption: a quality process leads to a quality product

 Process quality and product quality are closely related and process improvement
benefits arise because the quality of the product depends on its development
process.

 A good process is usually required to produce a good product.

 For manufactured goods, process is the principal quality determinant.

 For design-based activity, other factors are also involved especially the capabilities
of the designers.

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What is product quality?

• Quality, simply, means that a product should meet its specification

– The software product should deliver the required functionality
(functional requirements) with the required quality attributes (non–
functional requirements)
Software product quality factors
Development
Technology

Process Product People

Quality Quality Quality

Cost, Time and

Schedule

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Attributes of quality software product
 Auditability
The ease with which conformance to standards can be checked.
 Accuracy
The precision of computations and control. A qualitative assessment of
freedom from error. A quantitative measure of the magnitude of error. The
correct data values are recorded.
 Communication commonality
The degree to which standard interfaces, protocols, and bandwidths are
used.
 Completeness
The degree to which full implementation of required function has been
achieved. All data items are captured and stored for use. Data items are
properly identified with time periods.
 Conciseness
The compactness of the program in terms of lines of code.
 Consistency
The use of uniform design and documentation techniques throughout the
software development project.
 Data commonality
The use of standard data structures and types throughout the program.

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Attributes of quality software product
 Error tolerance
The damage that occurs when the programs encounters an error. Suitable
error prevention and detection procedures are in place. There are
procedures for reporting and correcting errors. Various audit procedures are
applied.
 Execution efficiency
The run-time performance of a program.
 Expandability
The degree to which architectural, data, or procedural design can be
extended.
 Generality
The breadth of potential application of program components.
 Hardware independence
The degree to which the software is decoupled from the hardware on which
it operates.
 Instrumentality
The degree to which the program monitors its own operation and identifies
errors that do occur.
 Modularity
The functional independence of program components.
 Operability
The ease of operation of a program.
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Attributes of quality software product
 Robustness
The extent to which software can continue to operate correctly despite the
introduction of invalid inputs.
 Security
The availability of mechanism that control or protect programs and data. The
system and its operations are protected from various environmental and
operation risks. There are provisions for recovery in the event of failure or
destruction of part or all system.
 Self-documentation
The degree to which the source code provides meaningful documentation.
 Simplicity
The degree to which a program can be understood without difficulty.
 Software system independence
The degree to which the program is independent of nonstandard
programming language features, operating system characteristics, and other
environmental constraints.
 Traceability
The ability to trace a design representation or actual program component
back to requirements.
 Training
The degree to which the software enables new users to apply the system.

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