Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Quality Attribute Techniques Framework
Yin Kia Chiam
1
,
2
,
3
, Liming Zhu
1
,
2
, and Mark Staples
1
,
2
1
NICTA, Locked Bag 9013, Alexandria NSW 1435, Australia
{
yinkia.chiam,liming.zhu,mark.staples
}
@nicta.com.au
2
School of Computer Science and Engineering, K17, University of New South Wales,
Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
3
School of Computer Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Abstract.
The quality of software is achieved during its development.
Development teams use various techniques to investigate, evaluate and
control potential quality problems in their systems. These “Quality At-
tribute Techniques” target specific product qualities such as safety or
security. This paper proposes a framework to capture important charac-
teristics of these techniques. The framework is intended to support pro-
cess tailoring, by facilitating the selection of techniques for inclusion into
process models that target specific product qualities. We use risk manage-
ment as a theory to accommodate techniques for many product qualities
and lifecycle phases. Safety techniques have motivated the framework, and
safety and performance techniques have been used to evaluate the frame-
work. The evaluation demonstrates the ability of quality risk management
to cover the development lifecycle and to accommodate two different prod-
uct qualities. We identify advantages and limitations of the framework,
and discuss future research on the framework.
Keywords:
Quality Attribute Techniques, Product Quality, Software
Process Improvement, Process Tailoring.
1
Introduction
The process research framework presented by SEI's IPRC states that “In an
ideal future state, the use of processes is part of accepted practice to ensure
that acceptable levels of product qualities are in place during all stages of the
software and system development life cycle” [1, p.24]. It is during software de-
velopment that product qualities such as safety, performance, reliability and
security are determined. It is costly and time consuming to fix quality problems
at later development stages if a system fails to meet specified levels of product
quality. Research questions identified by the IPRC [1, p.27] in this area high-
light the importance of understanding how software processes can be created
to target product quality goals: “How do we select processes to meet specific
product quality requirements?” and “What process steps significantly influence
the achievement of a specified level of product quality?”.
Software engineers use a variety of specific techniques to investigate, evaluate,
and control potential quality problems throughout the development of a system.
