ROBUST DESIGN FOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT - Software Design for Six-Sigma: A Roadmap for Excellence - page 466

CHAPTER 18

ROBUST DESIGN FOR SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT

18.1 INTRODUCTION

In the context of this topic, the terms “quality” and “robustness” can be used in-
terchangeably. Robustness is an important dimension of software quality, and it is
a hallmark of the software Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) process. The subject is
not familiar in mainstream software professionals, despite the ample opportunity for
application. This chapter will explore the application of the Taguchi robustness tech-
niques in software DFSS, introducing concepts, developing basic knowledge, and
formulating for application. 1
In general, robustness is defined as a design attribute that represents the reduction
of the variation of the functional requirements (FRs) or design parameters (DPs) of
a software and having them on target as defined by the customer (Taguchi, 1986),
(Taguchi & Wu, 1986), (Phadke, 1989), (Taguchi et al., 1989), and (Taguchi et al.,
1999).
Variability reduction has been the subject of robust design (Taguchi, 1986) through
methods such as parameter design and tolerance design. The principal idea of robust
design is that statistical testing of a product or a process should be carried out at the
developmental stage, also referred to as the “offline stage.” To make the software
robust against the effects of variation sources in the development, production, and
use environments the software entity is viewed from the point of view of quality and

1 Contact Six Sigma Professionals, Inc. at www.sixsigmapi.com for further details.