Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
In this paper, we call these “Quality Attribute Techniques” (QAT). These QATs
are usually technical engineering techniques [2] that are specific to individual
product quality issues. Examples of QATs for safety include hazard analysis
techniques such as Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Fault Tree
Analysis (FTA). QATs may be specific to a single phase of the development
lifecycle, or span multiple phases. However, QATs are usually not explicitly
detailed in software process models, and the relationship between QATs and
other process elements are not usually clearly shown. In order to create software
process models that target specific quality attributes, it is important to first
understand the important characteristics of QATs and how they relate to the
development process. If quality procedures are left implicit in software process
models, then tasks related to quality problems can be forgotten when individuals
leave development teams [3, p.2].
Most software process tailoring methodologies are designed to address varia-
tions in project context such as customer characteristics or the size of the product
or development team [4,5,6]. The research literature has not normally regarded
product quality as an important characteristic for software process tailoring. So,
although QATs are used in practice by software engineers, they are not currently
represented in detail or incorporated well in software development process mod-
els [2,7]. In practice, such information is usually informally described in process
documentation. The existence of a repository of codified knowledge about QATs
could help development teams to better understand the potential effect of using
various QATs to target key product qualities across all phases of the software
development process.
This paper proposes and evaluates a Quality Attribute Technique Framework
(QATF) for capturing important information about QATs. The QATF is in-
tended to provide a basis for creating a catalogue of QATs to support software
process tailoring to target a specific product quality attribute. Elements of the
QATF focus on information required for decision making during QAT selection
and integration with development processes. We have used safety techniques to
motivate the framework, and evaluate the framework using safety and perfor-
mance techniques. We use risk management as a general theory to encompass a
variety of product qualities. The following two research questions are the focus
of this paper:
1. What characteristics of QATs are useful to select QATs for inclusion in a
tailored software process that targets a specific product quality attribute?
2. What characteristics of QATs are useful to integrate QATs into software
development process models?
The outline of this report is as follows. Section 2 discusses work related to this
research. Section 3 describes the QATF. Section 4 presents an evaluation of the
QATF using safety and performance techniques. Section 5 discusses limitations
and advantages of the QATF arising from the evaluation. Section 6 presents
conclusions and discusses future research.
